Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
July 22, 1893 Here’s proof that transportation not only gets you from point A to point B but can also be inspirational. . . It was on this date that 33-year-old Katharine Lee Bates, an English professor at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, found herself taking in a majestic view from atop the Colorado-based mountain Pikes... Continue Reading →
July 12, 1860 At about three o’clock on a Thursday afternoon, a pilot boat named Fannie was launched at the junction of Bushwick Creek and the East River in the Greenpoint neighborhood of the city of Brooklyn (now one of New York City’s five boroughs). This type of vessel operates in the vicinity of a... 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 →
June 20, 1860 In New York City, a 78-foot (23.8-meter)-long pilot boat was launched from the foot of 12th Street and into the East River. This type of vessel operates in the vicinity of a port and is used to transport maritime pilots to ships in the area. While on board a ship, the maritime... Continue Reading →
June 14, 1930 The twin-screw diesel yacht Lotosland was formally delivered by her manufacturer Pusey & Jones, a Delaware-based shipbuilder, to renowned industrialist and electrical engineer Edward A. Deeds. On that date, this newly completed vessel was registered with U.S. Official Number 229875 and signal MHWN. The handover of Lotosland to Deeds took place nearly... Continue Reading →
May 28, 1818 A pioneering sidewheel steamboat known as Walk-in-the-Water was launched at Black Rock, New York. (An independent community at that time, Black Rock is now part of Buffalo.) Walk-in-the-Water became the first steam-powered vessel to sail on Lakes Erie, Huron, and Michigan. An engineer named Noah Brown designed Walk-in-the-Water. Robert McQueen was the... Continue Reading →
May 17, 1970 Norwegian maritime adventurer Thor Heyerdahl set sail from Morocco in a boat made out of papyrus for a voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. The 55-year-old Heyerdahl had achieved fame in 1947 when he sailed 5,000 miles (8,000 kilometers) in a raft known as the “Kon-Tiki” from Peru to French Polynesia to show that... Continue Reading →
May 13, 1968 The U.S. Navy survey ship USNS Chauvenet (T-AGS-29) was launched in the Scottish port city of Glasgow. (“USNS” stands for “U.S. Navy Ship”; this designation is used for non-commissioned ships that, while owned by the U.S. Navy, are largely operated and crewed by the Military Sealift Command [MSC] or other civilian-staffed naval... Continue Reading →
April 25, 1885 Marcus Aurelius Hanna, the head keeper at Cape Elizabeth Light (also known as Two Lights) at the mouth of Casco Bay on Maine’s southern coast, received the prestigious Gold Lifesaving Medal. Daniel Manning, who was U.S. secretary of the treasury from 1885 to 1887, awarded this medal to Hanna for his heroic... Continue Reading →
Kayla Barron, whose passion for exploration has motivated her to both travel beneath the sea and fly into space, was born on September 19, 1987, in the city of Pocatello, Idaho. Her family eventually moved from the Gem State to the city of Richland, Washington. After graduating from Richland High School in 2006, Barron entered... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 