Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1797)
The Battle of Cape St. Vincent (14 February 1797) was one of the opening battles of the Anglo-Spanish War (1796–1808), as part of the French Revolutionary Wars, where a British fleet under Admiral . . .
USS Constitution defeats HMS Java (29 Dec 1812)
On This Day – December 29, 1812 – USS Constitution (Old Ironsides) was sailing in the Atlantic just off the coast of Brazil. In the morning sails were sighted on . . .
Battle of Lake Erie (Sept. 10, 1813)
In the first unqualified defeat of a British naval squadron in history, U.S. Captain Oliver Hazard Perry leads a fleet of nine American ships to victory over a squadron of six British warships at the . . .
Drake Assaults Cádiz (April 29, 1587)
Referred to as the “singeing of the beard” of King Philip II of Spain.
In 1585 the tension between the England and Spain erupted into the Anglo-Spanish War of . . .
Mayflower docks at Plymouth Harbor (1620)
On December 18, 1620, the British ship Mayflower docked at modern-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, and its passengers prepared to begin their new settlement, Plymouth Colony.
The . . .
Ed Trickett Dies on May 10, 2022
Ed was a well-loved musician in the folk music community. He appeared on over 40 recordings, most of them with Folk Legacy Records, now part of the Smithsonian Folkways . . .
Death of Sir Francis Drake (1596)
He died on 28 Jan, 1596 (aged about 56) of dysentery, a common disease in the tropics at the time, while anchored off the coast of Portobelo, Panama,
Before dying, he asked . . .
The Mary Celeste is spotted at sea (5 Dec 1872)
The Mary Celeste, a ship whose crew mysteriously disappeared, is spotted at sea.
The Dei Gratia, a small British brig under Captain David Morehouse, spots the Mary Celeste, . . .
Falls of Halladale Wrecks (1908)
Falls of Halladale was a four-masted iron-hulled barque, built at Greenock in Scotland in 1886 for the Falls Line of Glasgow. She was operated in the long-distance trading . . .
Cargo ship suddenly sinks in Lake Superior (1975)
On November 10, 1975, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald sinks in Lake Superior, killing all 29 crew members on board. It was the worst single accident in Lake Superior’s history.
The . . .
Bounty Sinks off Coast of North Carolina (29 Oct 2012)
This is Dean Calin; in addition to being the founder of the Maritime Music Directory International, I am also the founder, in 2003, of the maritime music vocal group, Bounding . . .
Francis Drake circumnavigates the globe (26 Sept 1580)
English seaman Francis Drake returns to Plymouth, England, in the Golden Hind, becoming the first British navigator to sail the earth.
On December 13, 1577, Drake set out from England with five ships . . .
Battle of Boston Harbor (1 June 1813)
USS Chesapeake versus HMS Shannon happened on June 1st 1813 in Boston Harbor and is referred to as the Battle of Boston Harbor.
At Boston, Captain James Lawrence took command . . .
England Defeats Spanish Armada (29 July, 1588)
Off the coast of Gravelines, France, Spain’s so-called “Invincible Armada” is defeated by an English naval force under the command of Lord Charles Howard and Sir Francis . . .
Herman Melville sails for the South Seas (3 Jan 1841)
On January 3, 1841, Herman Melville ships out on the whaler Acushnet to the South Seas.
Melville was born in New York City in 1819. A childhood bout of scarlet fever permanently . . .
Charles Darwin sets sail from England (27 Dec 1831)
British naturalist Charles Darwin sets out from Plymouth, England, aboard the HMS Beagle on a five-year surveying expedition of the southern Atlantic and Pacific . . .
H.L. Hunley sinks during tests (15 Oct 1863)
On October 15, 1863, the H.L. Hunley, the world’s first successful combat submarine, sinks during a test run, killing its inventor and seven crew members.
Horace . . .
Suez Canal Opens (17 Nov 1869)
The Suez Canal, connecting the Mediterranean and the Red seas, is inaugurated in an elaborate ceremony attended by French Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III.
Read the . . .