Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
October 16, 1888 CGS (Canadian Government Ship) Stanley, which is widely considered to be Canada’s first fully functional icebreaker, was launched at the shipyard of Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Limited (Fairfields) in the burgh of Govan (now part of Glasgow) in Scotland. This steamship was named after Frederick Arthur Stanley (1841-1908), 16h Earl of Derby,... Continue Reading →
August 28, 1858 A corvette (small warship) built for the British Royal Navy (RN) was launched at Sheerness Dockyard, which was located at the mouth of the River Medway in southeastern England. The afternoon ceremony for HMS (Her Majesty’s Ship) Clio was described in effusive terms by the London-based Standard. This newspaper reported, “The launch of... Continue Reading →
July 23, 1917 The U.S. Navy, as part of its efforts to acquire enough vessels for military service during World War I, purchased the express cruiser Ameera from machine manufacturer Alexander Sellers (1875-1957) for $31,000. This vessel was constructed earlier that year for Sellers by the Mathis Yacht Building Company in Camden, New Jersey. (Sellers,... Continue Reading →
March 26, 1914 The U.S. Navy submarine USS K-6 (SS-37) was launched at the Fore River Shipbuilding Company yards in Quincy, Massachusetts. This vessel was one of the Navy’s eight K-class submarines. All of these submarines were designed by the Connecticut-based company Electric Boat (present-day General Dynamics Electric Boat). K-6 was one of the three... Continue Reading →
January 15, 1884 A steamship built for the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (USC&GS) was launched in the ward of Williamsburg in the city of Brooklyn (now one of New York City’s five boroughs). This late-morning ceremony specifically took place at the shipyard of James D. Leary (1837-1902). The design for the ship has been... Continue Reading →
July 5, 1917 The U.S. Navy acquired a wooden-hulled screw steam yacht named the Admiral from Gordon Dexter (186-1937), president of the Connecticut-based Submarine Signal Company. This acquisition took place three months after the United States’ entry in World War I on the side of the Allied Powers and at a time when the Navy... Continue Reading →
In 2002, Angelina Hidalgo became only the second Hispanic American woman in the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) to command an afloat unit. As a lieutenant junior grade, she was specifically named commanding officer of the coastal patrol boat USCGC Kingfisher (WPB-87322). This appointment was made just two years after Hidalgo graduated from the USCG Academy... Continue Reading →
May 12, 1917 Nearly a month-and-a-half after the United States entered World War I on the side of the Allied Powers, a private motorboat named Althea was commissioned into the U.S. Navy under the command of Ensign E.L. Anderson of the U.S. Naval Reserve Force. This vessel had been acquired from James H. Moore. Althea... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 