Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
February 9, 1954 A dock landing ship built for the U.S. Navy was launched along the coast of Pascagoula, Mississippi. (A dock landing ship is an amphibious vessel that serves as both a means of transport and a launchpad for helicopters as well as seagoing watercraft such as boats and barges.) This new military vessel... Continue Reading →
December 26, 1860 A lighthouse built on one of the islands of Race Rocks, which are located just off the southern point of Vancouver Island, was first illuminated. At the time of that lighthouse’s debut, Vancouver Island was a British Crown colony. This colony was merged with the Crown colony of mainland British Columbia in... Continue Reading →
December 6, 1913 The steam ferry Leschi was launched from Rainier Beach on Lake Washington, a large freshwater lake adjacent to Seattle. Chief Leschi (1808-1858), for whom this vessel was named, served as the leader of the Nisqually Indian Tribe in the vicinity of Puget Sound in present-day Washington State. The ferry Leschi had the... Continue Reading →
November 9, 1922 More than three decades after being launched, the Norwegian ship Skomvær was retired from service. This three-masted barque was the first sailing ship in Norway to be built with steel. Measuring 257.4 feet (78.5 meters) in length, Skomvær also long held the record as the largest of all Norwegian vessels. Skomvær was... Continue Reading →
Linda Old Horn-Purdy, a member of the Crow Tribe, established herself as a trailblazer during her time in the U.S. Navy. In 1999, for example, she became one of the first women in that military branch to serve on a combatant ship. Old Horn-Purdy started out life on the Crow Agency reservation in Montana. “I... Continue Reading →
August 23, 1980 U.S. Army Vessel (USAV) Yaquina was launched at the shipyard of the Norfolk Shipbuilding and Drydock Corporation in Norfolk, Virginia. This ship serves the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) as one of its hopper dredges. A hopper dredge, equipped with powerful engines and pumps, is used to keep waterways navigable by... Continue Reading →
August 14, 1919 The U.S. Post Office Department, pushing the bounds of airmail and its applications further than ever before, conducted its first official delivery of mail via plane to a ship after it had already left port to sail across the ocean. This pioneering experiment took place when pilot Cyrus J. Zimmerman flew a... Continue Reading →
July 27, 1950 The luxury liner SS Ocean Monarch was launched at the Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd. shipyard at Newcastle-upon-Tyne in northeastern England. This yacht-like, single-funnel ship was built by Vickers-Armstrongs for the steamship line Furness, Withy & Company (also called Furness Withy). Those on hand for the launch of Ocean Monarch included California-born Mary Duffil Lewis. As... Continue Reading →
July 18, 1931 The Matson Navigation Company ocean liner SS Mariposa was launched at the Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts. (That facility served as part of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation’s shipbuilding division.) Mariposa was built for service on a Pacific Ocean route between San Francisco, California, and Sydney, Australia. This ship was the largest passenger... Continue Reading →
July 6, 1891 In the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, a full-rigged sailing ship was launched at the C.R. Burgess Yard in the seaside village of Kingsport. This wooden vessel, named Canada, had been designed by the prolific shipbuilder Ebenezer Cox (1828-1916). At the time of her launch, Canada held the record as the largest... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 