Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
October 17, 1989 In the aftermath of a major earthquake that hit northern California, the fireboat Phoenix – under the command of pilot Arvid Havneras -- proved to be pivotal in combatting a fire that endangered San Francisco’s Marina District neighborhood. The Loma Prieta earthquake, measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale, rumbled through the region... Continue Reading →
October 5, 1889 On Maryland’s Eastern Shore, a vessel built for oyster dredging in the Chesapeake Bay was launched at Tilghman Island in Talbot County. This still-existing vessel is a “bugeye,” a type of sailboat specifically developed to collect bottom-dwelling oysters in that region of the United States. This particular bugeye was give the name... Continue Reading →
September 11, 2001 The terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, resulted in the deaths of nearly 3,000 individuals in the vicinity of the World Trade Center in the southernmost part of New York City’s borough of Manhattan; the Pentagon in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area; and – where a hijacked... 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 →
August 10, 1905 In a significant leg of her maiden voyage, the twin-screw steamship (TSS) Arahura circled the rocky headland long known as the Cape of Good Hope on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula. (At the time, this section of the present-day Republic of South Africa was the part of the British Empire... 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 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 →
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 →
June 14, 1917 A little over two months after the United States entered World War I on the side of the Allied Powers, the steam yacht Legonia II was commissioned in Baltimore for service in the U.S. Navy. This vessel had been purchased only eight days earlier from William B. Hurst, a prominent Baltimore resident.... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 