John Paul Jones burns Whitehaven, England
At 8 a.m. on April 23, 1778, John Paul Jones, with 30 volunteers from his ship, the USS Ranger, launches a surprise attack on the two harbor forts at Whitehaven, England. . . .
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 . . .
Battle of Dover, 29 May 1652
The naval Battle of Dover (also known as the Battle of Goodwin Sands), fought on 29 May 1652 was the first engagement of the First Anglo-Dutch War between the navies of . . .
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 . . .
Sir Robert Dudley Dies (6 Sept 1649)
Sir Robert Dudley (7 August 1574 – 6 September 1649) was an English explorer and cartographer. In 1594, he led an expedition to the West Indies, of which he wrote an account. . . .
Effingham fights Battle of Gravelines vs. the Spanish Armada (8 Aug 1588)
Five Spanish ships were lost. The galleass San Lorenzo, flagship of Don Hugo de Moncada, ran aground at Calais and was taken by Howard after murderous fighting between the . . .
Drake Claims California for England (1579)
During his circumnavigation of the world, English seaman Francis Drake anchors in a harbor just north of present-day San Francisco, California, and on 17 June, 1579, claims . . .
War of 1812 Begins on 18 June
The day after the Senate followed the House of Representatives in voting to declare war against Great Britain, President James Madison signs the declaration into law—and . . .
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 . . .
Construction on the Erie Canal begins 4 July 1817
On July 4, 1817, workers break ground on the Erie Canal at Rome, New York. The canal, completed in 1825, links the eastern seaboard with the Midwest and transforms New York . . .
Spanish galleon San José sinks in battle (8 June, 1708)
June 8, 1708 the count of Casa Alegre knew a squadron of English warships was lurking in the area, but he thought he could avoid it. As captain of the Spanish galleon San . . .
King Charles II grants charter to Hudson’s Bay Company
May 2, 1670 – King Charles II of England grants a permanent . . .
Sir Francis Drake claims California for England
During his circumnavigation of the world, English seaman Francis Drake anchors in a harbor just north of present-day San Francisco, California, and claims the territory . . .
Herman Melville sails for the South Seas (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 . . .
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 . . .
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 . . .
Blackbeard Killed off North Carolina (1718)
Edward Teach, also known as Blackbeard, is killed on November 22, 1718, off North Carolina’s Outer Banks during a bloody battle with a British navy force sent from Virginia.
Believed . . .
Royal George Sinks During Refitting 29 Aug 1782
Royal George sank on 29 August 1782 whilst anchored at Spithead off Portsmouth. The ship was intentionally rolled so maintenance could be performed on the hull, but the . . .