Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
April 8, 1913 In the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW), the steam-powered ferry Karingal was launched at the shipyard of the company Morrison & Sinclair Ltd. in the Sydney suburb of Balmain. This wooden vessel was built by Morrison & Sinclair for Sydney Ferries Ltd., which operated ferry services in that region of... Continue Reading →
April 1, 1946 Seven months after World War II ended with the surrender of Japan to the Allies, USS Passumpsic (AO-107) was commissioned into the U.S. Navy. The ceremony took place at League Island Navy Yard in Philadelphia; this yard long served as the headquarters for the Fourth Naval District, a geographical area encompassing Pennsylvania,... Continue Reading →
September 13, 2005 National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO) began construction on USNS Alan Shepard (T-AKE-3), a U.S. Navy underway replenishment (UNREP) vessel. (This type of vessel is used to transport fuel, munitions, and various other supplies to ships out at sea.) The building of the Alan Shepard took place at NASSCO’s shipyard in San... Continue Reading →
August 28, 1945 Just a few days before World War II ended with the formal surrender of Japan to the Allies, the U.S. Navy tanker USS Chukawan (AO-100) was launched at the Bethlehem Steel Company’s shipyard in Sparrows Point (an industrial area in the vicinity of Baltimore). As part of those festivities, this vessel --... Continue Reading →
June 7, 1886 The fourth and current version of the facility serving as the base of operations for Star Boating Club was officially opened in New Zealand’s capital city of Wellington. The origins of Star Boating Club can be traced to 1866. It is the oldest rowing club in Wellington and one of the earliest... Continue Reading →
March 15, 1902 In the English market town and civil parish of Beverley, a vessel constructed there by the shipbuilding company Cook,Welton & Gemmell was launched. This 149-foot (45-meter)-long vessel was named King Edward, the country’s reigning monarch at the time, and her original owner was James Holliday. In 1911, this vessel ended up in... Continue Reading →
February 7, 2010 Velas Sudamerica 2010, a multi-month tour of tall ships (large, traditionally rigged sailing vessels) traveling along the coastline of Latin America, officially began with the departure of that flotilla from Rio de Janeiro. This tour was organized by the navies of Argentina and Chile to commemorate the bicentennial of when those countries... Continue Reading →
December 29, 2021 In the Indonesian province of East Java, a bus transit system (BTS) serving the city of Surabaya and surrounding regencies (administrative divisions) and cities was officially inaugurated. (Surabaya, the capital of East Java, is second only to Jakarta as Indonesia’s largest city.) This BTS owes its name in part to pecel semanggi,... Continue Reading →
Cipriano Andrade, whose U.S. Navy service spanned four decades, was born on September 1, 1840 in the port city of Tampico in northeastern Mexico. He eventually attended both public and private schools in Philadelphia. In addition, Andrade studied engineering at the Franklin Institute in that city. On July 1, 1861 -- less than three months... Continue Reading →
June 22, 1925 A ferry named the MV Crosline was launched in the western region of Seattle. This wooden diesel-powered ship had been designed by naval architect L.H. Coolidge. Crosline was built by the Marine Construction Company for entrepreneur Harry W. Crosby to use in his recently established ferry service in that part of the... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 