Maritime Musings Offshore Shipbuilding Blogs

Prison Ship Martyrs’ Monument

Posted to Maritime Musings (by Dennis Bryant) on September 3, 2013

During the American Revolutionary War, British forces captured thousands of “rebels”. Those in uniform were accorded treatment somewhat akin to prisoner of war status. Those not in uniform, particularly the maritime privateers, were subjected to harsher conditions.

Great White Fleet

Posted to Maritime Musings (by Dennis Bryant) on March 30, 2012

Starting in about 1890, the United States Navy began a rebuilding program to replace its antiquated fleet, most of which then dated from the Civil War. It handily won the naval conflicts of the Spanish-American War, but that was against a nation with an even more antiquated fleet.

Henry Hudson

Posted to Maritime Musings (by Dennis Bryant) on November 22, 2011

Little is known of Henry Hudson prior to 1607, when he was hired by the Muscovy Company of the Kingdom of England to find a northern route to the Far East. He and a crew of ten sailed on the 80-ton Hopewell. They reached the east coast of Greenland and traveled north to the ice pack.

Georg Wilhelm Steller

Posted to Maritime Musings (by Dennis Bryant) on August 5, 2011

Georg Wilhelm Steller (1709-1746) was a naturalist and zoologist, noted for being the first European to set foot in what is now Alaska and for describing and documenting some of the unique animal life of the region. He was born in Windsheim, Bavaria and studied at the University of Wittenberg.

Nikumaroro

Posted to Maritime Musings (by Dennis Bryant) on December 21, 2010

Nikumaroro (previously known as Gardner Island) is a small coral atoll in the central Pacific Ocean situated just south of the Equator and just west of the 180th meridian. It lies in the Phoenix Island Chain and is part of the Republic of Kiribati.

USCG Districts

Posted to Maritime Musings (by Dennis Bryant) on April 6, 2010

The US Coast Guard adopted the concept of geographic districts when it absorbed the US Lighthouse Service in 1939. Previously, it had no formal segmentation of its chain of command based on geography. Rather, the chain of command was grouped around function.

Trireme - dreadnaught of the ancient Mediterranean

Posted to Maritime Musings (by Dennis Bryant) on March 5, 2010

The trireme was utilized as a warship in the Mediterranean Sea from the 7th century BC until the fall of the Roman Republic at about the commencement of the Christian era. No other warship design has survived in service for a comparable period. It was truly the dominant battleship of its day.