Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
February 6, 2006 A luxury sailing yacht built by the Italian company Perini Navi in Turkey was launched. This yacht is known as the Maltese Falcon, the title of a classic 1930 detective novel written by Dashiell Hammett. The eponymous bird figuring prominently in that novel and four film adaptations of it (including a 1941 version... Continue Reading →
January 27, 1989 Aviation pioneer Thomas Sopwith died at his mansion near the city of Winchester in southern England. He was 101. “The Genius of Flight is Dead,” announced a headline in the London-based Evening Standard. Sopwith was born on January 18, 1888, in the Royal Borough of Kensington (now part of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea) in... Continue Reading →
January 3, 1942 Just a little less than a month after the United States entered World War II on the side of the Allies, a yacht was acquired by the U.S. Navy from William F. Ladd for use in that global conflict. (Ladd had been adjutant general of Connecticut between 1930 and 1939 and would... Continue Reading →
December 8, 1930 The diesel-powered vessel Aras was launched by her manufacturer Bath Iron Works at the Maine-based company’s location on the Kennebec River. Measuring 243 feet and nine inches (74 meters) in length, this luxury yacht had been built for paper and wood products magnate Hugh J. Chisholm. His wife Sara (“Aras” is her... Continue Reading →
November 29, 1987 Kay Cottee departed from Sydney, Australia, on board the yacht Blackmore's First Lady for what would become a notable voyage across the globe. When she returned to Sydney Harbour 189 days later, Cottee made history as the first woman to sail around the world solo, non-stop, and without any assistance. Cottee, who... Continue Reading →
July 18, 1945 About a month-and-a-half before World War II ended altogether with the surrender of Japan to the Allies, the U.S. Navy patrol yacht USS Tourmaline (PY-20) was decommissioned. This vessel had been used for various patrol assignments throughout the war. Tourmaline had actually started out as a private yacht named Sylvia. She was... Continue Reading →
June 30, 1887 A yacht named Volunteer, which had been built by the Pusey and Jones Company for that year’s edition of the international sailing competition known as the America’s Cup, was officially launched. Volunteer was specifically a sloop (a sailboat with a single mast) equipped with a centerboard, which is a retractable keel that... Continue Reading →
May 26, 1932 In Denmark, a royal yacht was officially commissioned as an auxiliary ship of the Royal Danish Navy. His Danish Majesty’s Yacht (HDMY) Dannebrog (A540), which was named after the national flag of Denmark, had been built at the Naval Shipyard in Copenhagen. She was launched by Queen Alexandrine (1879-1952), who reigned as... Continue Reading →
May 11, 2018 The research vessel Eugen Seibold was launched at the German city of Kiel, which is located on the southwestern shore of the Baltic Sea. Construction on this sailing yacht had begun the previous year. Measuring 72.2 feet (22 meters) in length, the Eugen Seibold is used for the study and contamination-free sampling... Continue Reading →
December 11, 1997 Britannia, a vessel that had served as the royal yacht of British monarch Queen Elizabeth II for more than four decades, was decommissioned in a ceremony at the Portsmouth naval base on England’s south coast. Along with highlighting Britannia’s “brass fittings gleaming in the winter sunshine and flags rippling in a brisk... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 