We took a break from “This Week in Maritime History” posts for a bit, but we are back! Check out these events in this coming week in maritime history:

June 1: In 1850, Captain John S. DeBlois set sail in the whaleship Ann Alexander (Wikipedia, ShipIndex) from New Bedford, Massachusetts. While many ships set sail on whaling voyages at this time, the voyage was to become particularly notable because the next year, in the southern Pacific Ocean, while hunting whales, one whale crushed one of the small whaleboats, then turned its attention to the Ann Alexander. The whale rammed the Ann Alexander, creating a hole in the side of the ship below the waterline, and causing it to start sinking quickly. The crew was able to collect only a few provisions before the ship sank, but they got into two whaleboats and aimed northward. They were spotted, and rescued, by the whaler Nantucket (ShipIndex) two days later, and the entire crew eventually returned to New York. The whale, which had developed infections from the two harpoons and pieces of timber under its skin, was caught and killed five months later by the crew of the Rebecca Simms (ShipIndex). Herman Melville’s tome, Moby-Dick, was published just two months after this incident, causing Melville to write, “Ye Gods! What a commentator is this Ann Alexander whale… I wonder if my evil art has raised this monster.”

June 1: USS Chesapeake (Wikipedia, ShipIndex) was captured by HMS Shannon (Wikipedia, ShipIndex), in 1813, off the coast of Boston. Chesapeake sailed with a flag that read “Free Trade and Sailors’ Rights”, and had challenged Shannon to a battle when she sailed out of Boston the day before, but the written challenge had not been received before the battle occurred. But when the two ships met at sea, Chesapeake was seriously damaged, and Shannon’s accurate marksmen killed many men and officers on board Chesapeake. As Captain James Lawrence lay dying from a shot by a sniper, he was said to have given the order, “Don’t give up the ship. Fight her till she sinks.” Just 15 minutes after the first gun was fired, Shannon had taken Chesapeake. Chesapeake was taken into the Royal Navy and served as HMS Chesapeake for six years, before being sold and broken up to build a new watermill in England. The building still exists; it’s now an antique mall.

June 5: The Battle of Midway began on this day in 1942. The US Pacific Fleet decisively defeated the Imperial Japanese Navy after American code breakers had determined the Japanese plan of attack in advance. The Japanese fleet was caught by surprise, and Japan lost all of the aircraft carriers present at the battle – Akagi (Wikipedia, ShipIndex), Kaga (Wikipedia, ShipIndex), Sōryū (Wikipedia, ShipIndex), and Hiryū (Wikipedia, ShipIndex), along with the cruiser Mikuma and other ships, planes, and pilots. American forces lost the aircraft carrier Yorktown (Wikipedia, ShipIndex) and the destroyer Hammann (Wikipedia, ShipIndex). The battle was a significant turning point for the American campaign in World War II, and several ships later took the name Midway, in honor of the victory: Escort carrier CVE-63 was initially named USS Midway, but then renamed to USS St. Lo, so a larger aircraft carrier, CV-41, could take the name USS Midway (Wikipedia, ShipIndex). CV-41 is now docked in San Diego, at the USS Midway Museum. 

June 6: As memorialized by Jerry Bryant, “On the sixth day of June, eighteen-ninety and six, / Messrs. Harbo and Samuelsen started to row…” George Harbo and Frank Samuelson left on this day in 1896 to become the first people to row across an ocean – in this case, the Atlantic. They rowed a specially-built surfboat, Fox (Wikipedia, ShipIndex), crossing the ocean in about two months. Look for another post in about two months, noting their landfall.

In current news, USCGC Eagle is expected to visit Portland, Oregon, on June 6, and will be open for tours. I can’t find specific details on where the ship will dock, so if you have some details, please share! The next week, Eagle is scheduled to visit Astoria, then head south to San Francisco, head north to Seattle and Victoria, Canada, then head back to SF again. The full tentative schedule can be seen here.

For more about these ships, check out ShipIndex.org. And let us know if you have events that you think we should include!

Let’s explore a few more important events in our maritime history for this week.

April 27: Exercise Tiger, a preparation for D-Day, took place on the southern coast of England, in 1944. Exercise Tiger was a multi-day practice assault on a beach in England that had features similar to Normandy’s Utah Beach. Military leaders wanted the experience to be as life-like as possible, so ships sailed around overnight to land in Slapton, England, on Lyme Bay, early in the morning of the 27th. Live artillery was also used, to give sailors and soldiers a sense of what the real D-Day would be like. But due to numerous problems, errors, poor communication, and the discovery of the “invasion” by a group of German fast attack craft patrolling the English Channel, some 750 American servicemen died in the exercise. It did, however, identify numerous problems to be addressed before the actual invasion. 

April 28: In 1789, Fletcher Christian led a mutiny on board HMS Bounty (Wikipedia, ShipIndex), and set Captain William Bligh and members of his crew in an open boat, in the Pacific Ocean. Bligh successfully sailed to Dutch Coupang (now Kupang, in Timor), losing only one sailor during an attack by hostile natives when they initially landed on Tofua, in Tonga. The voyage is considered one of the most remarkable navigational successes ever.

April 29: USS Peacock (Wikipedia, ShipIndex) captured HMS Epervier (Wikipedia, ShipIndex) in 1814, in one of the most one-sided victories of the War of 1812, off the coast of Florida. Epervier had much lighter armament than Peacock, and was no match, particularly when Peacock fired directly into Epervier’s hull. Epervier was taken to Savannah, Georgia, and absorbed into the US Navy as USS Epervier, then was lost at sea in the Atlantic, in July or August 1815.

May 1: SS Gulflight (Wikipedia, ShipIndex), an American oil tanker, was torpedoed off the coast of England soon after the start of World War I, in 1915, playing a big role in pushing the US into war. Gulflight was sailing with gasoline and oil from Port Arthur, Texas, to Rouen, France, when British naval ships surrounded Gulflight and ordered it to enter port. German U-boat U-30 (Wikipedia, ShipIndex) spotted the ships and fired on Gulflight, putting a hole in the starboard bow, and causing the ship to start sinking. In the end, Gulflight stayed afloat, and after repairs continued to sail for many years. The ship was renamed to Nantucket Chief in 1937, then Refast in 1938, and during World War II was sunk by German submarine U-582 (Wikipedia, ShipIndex) off the Canadian coast.

And here’s a bit of maritime history museum news for this week.

The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum will be opening on May 17, in Vergennes, Vermont. Their newest exhibit is “Underwater Archaeology: Diving into the Stories of People and Canal Boats on Lake Champlain”. The museum is free for all visitors!

On May 24, 2025, Mystic Seaport’s new exhibit, “Monstrous: Whaling and its Colossal Impact”, will open. This looks like a fantastic view into the Seaport’s most central topic of research. I look forward to seeing this exhibit, hopefully soon. 

For more about these ships, check out ShipIndex.org. And let us know if you have events that you think we should include!

This week we explore a range of events in maritime history, from single-handed circumnavigations to several disastrous collisions at sea.

April 21: The Indonesian diesel-electric sub Nanggala (Wikipedia, ShipIndex) sank in the Bali Sea, in 2021, most likely due to a power outage that the crew was unable to recover from. All 53 people on board lost their lives. 

April 23: Several days after the assassination of President Lincoln in 1865, the US Navy anchored a barge called Black Diamond in the Potomac River, to try and prevent the assassin John Wilkes Booth from crossing into Virginia. A side-wheel steamer serving as a troop transport ship, the Massachusetts (formerly the JWD Pentz), collided with Black Diamond, leading to the loss of at least 87 lives. Learn more about this incident in “Shipwreck on the Potomac”, to be published next week.  

April 24: Joshua Slocum set sail in his oyster boat Spray (Wikipedia, ShipIndex), in 1895, from Boston, to begin the first solo circumnavigation of the world. Slocum had arranged a publishing contract to write about the voyage, and the resulting book, Sailing Alone Around the World, became a classic in travel literature. Slocum received extensive praise and publicity from the book, and brought Spray up the Erie Canal to the 1901 Pan-American Exposition, in Buffalo. Ten years after publishing his book, and finding himself very low on funds, Slocum attempted another voyage in Spray, despite its very poor condition by then. He sailed from Massachusetts in 1909, headed for the West Indies, but was not heard from again, and was declared legally dead in 1924. 

April 26: In one of the worst US naval accidents since World War II, USS Hobson (Wikipedia, ShipIndex) was cut in two during a collision with USS Wasp (CV-18) (Wikipedia, ShipIndex), while completing amphibious exercises in 1952. Hobson had been commissioned in 1942, and immediately served in the North African theater, supporting aircraft carrier USS Ranger. In 1943, Hobson served in the North Atlantic on convoy duty, including sailing with RMS Queen Mary when it transported Winston Churchill to the Quebec Conference. Hobson served in the very first wave off Utah Beach during D-Day, shelling targets on shore. Hobson continued with extensive service in the Atlantic and Pacific theaters toward the end of the war. A memorial to USS Hobson now stands at the Battery, in Charleston, SC, where the ship had been originally built. 

For more about these ships, check out ShipIndex.org. And let us know if you have events that you think we should include!

Of course we are back this week with the loss of the Titanic, in 1912, but it was not, by any means, the largest loss of life in this particular week in maritime history.

14: The most famous shipwreck, that of RMS Titanic (Wikipedia, ShipIndex) on its maiden voyage, occurred on the night of April 14-15, 1912. The “RMS” in the ship’s name refers to the fact that Titanic was designated a “Royal Mail Ship,’ providing specific service in delivering British mail to and from North America. Titanic, of course, did not have enough lifeboats for all of the passengers who were on board. The disaster did lead to significant safety changes associated with travel at sea, particularly around carrying sufficient lifeboats, and the required use of radios on passenger ships. 

For more on Titanic, see the following websites:

• Encyclopedia Titanica
• Royal Museums Greenwich’s RMS Titanic Facts
• National Museums Liverpool’s Titanic page

April 16: The German troop transport ship MV Goya (Wikipedia, ShipIndex) was sunk in 1945 by the Soviet submarine L-3 (Wikipedia, ShipIndex), leading to one of the greatest losses of life at sea. Goya was built in Norway in 1940 and seized by the German government and incorporated into the Kriegsmarine. In 1945, as part of Operation Hannibal, Goya sailed from Poland to Germany, to evacuate over 7000 citizens, soldiers, and sailors. The ship was attacked from the air by Soviet bombers, suffering only minimal damage, but then was spotted by a minelayer submarine. Goya was slowed by engine problems on one of its convoy vessels, giving L-3 an opportunity to fire four torpedoes at the ship, two of which hit. Goya sank immediately, and only 183 on board survived.

April 18: In 1990, the wreck of the five-masted schooner Cora F. Cressey (Wikipedia, ShipIndex) was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Cora F. Cressey was launched in 1902, at the Percy and Small Shipyard in Bath, Maine, and was one of the largest wooden ships ever built. After retiring from service in 1928, the ship spent ten years as a floating nightclub in Massachusetts and Maine. Eventually, Cressey was intentionally sunk to act as a breakwater near Bremen, Maine. Portions of the vessel are on display at the Maine Maritime Museum, which is at the original Percy & Small Shipyard, where Cressey was originally built.

April 20: The 1657 Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife took place during the Anglo-Spanish War of 1654-60, in the Canary Islands, in an attempt to take the Spanish treasure fleet from the Americas. The fleet had already arrived in Tenerife and was safe from the English navy, but Admiral Robert Blake succeeded in destroying most Spanish ships in the harbor, without taking on any serious damage to his fleet.

Here are some other interesting bits in the maritime world this week:

48° North, a newsletter of maritime happenings in the Pacific Northwest, has a great story about the reuse of the 115-year-old mast of 1907 schooner Martha. When Martha needed a new mast, they turned to Northwest Maritime’s boat shop, where manager there suggested that the mast be used to build a new boat. There’s much more to it, and you should read the whole story.

At the Hudson River Maritime Museum, in Kingston, NY, their solar-powered tour boat, Solaris, will begin its 2025 season on May 2. Tickets are now on sale/sail — if you’re in the area, be sure to book a trip. (I think I’ll book a ticket for May 3, so if you’re around, let me know!)

For more about these ships, check out ShipIndex.org. And let us know if you have events that you think we should include!

We look at a number of ship losses this week, including the most famous one.

April 7: Japanese battleship Yamato (Wikipedia, ShipIndex) was sunk in 1945, during Operation Ten-Go, in World War II. Yamato was launched in 1940, and at the time was the most powerfully built battleship ever, along with its sister-ship, Musashi (Wikipedia, ShipIndex). Yamato served as the flagship of Japan’s combined fleet, and in 1942 Admiral Yamamoto directed the Battle of Midway from Yamato’s bridge. Operation Ten-Go was a Japanese plan to attack Allied forces that had invaded Okinawa. Yamato was to be beached near Okinawa to attack Allied forces until it was destroyed. But through codebreaking, the Allies knew of the plans for Operation Ten-Go, and Allied forces attacked Yamato before it could approach Okinawa. Allied forces battered the ship throughout the day, and in the afternoon the ship finally sank after an incredible explosion of Yamato’s magazines, creating a mushroom cloud that was visible 100 miles away. Of 3,332 crewmembers, about 3,055 were lost. Yamato has remained a significant symbolic touchstone in Japanese culture.

April 10: USS Thresher (Wikipedia, Shipindex), a nuclear-powered attack submarine, was lost off the US eastern seaboard in 1963, while doing deep-diving tests. All on board were lost. 

April 10: RMS Titanic began its maiden voyage from Southampton, in 1912. The next day, Titanic arrived at Cork, Ireland, then set sail for New York, and movie history.   

April 11: SMS Blücher (Wikipedia, ShipIndex), the last German armored cruiser, was launched in 1908. Blücher was lost at the Battle of Dogger Bank, in 1915, during World War I, with the loss of perhaps as many as 1000 sailors. 

For more about these ships, check out ShipIndex.org. And let us know if you have events that you think we should include!

Storms play an important part this week, from the nearly-always-stormy Cape Horn, in 1840, to the sinking of a Newfoundlander sealing ship in 1915.

March 30: In 1881, SS Aberdeen (Wikipedia, ShipIndex) sailed on her first voyage, from London to Melbourne, via Cape Town, then to Shanghai, and back to London via the Suez Canal. Aberdeen was special because it was the first ship to be successfully powered by a triple expansion steam engine, a major improvement on the two-cylinder compound engines. In 1906 Aberdeen was sold to the Ottoman government and renamed Halep, then was sunk by a British submarine in World War I, while serving as a Turkish troopship. 

March 31: A storm off the coast of Newfoundland in 1914 caused the sinking of the SS Southern Cross (Wikipedia, ShipIndex). Southern Cross was launched in 1896 and served with the Southern Cross Expedition to Antarctica in 1898 to 1900, and was the first expedition to spend the winter on the Antarctic mainland. After that voyage, Southern Cross served in sealing hunts from 1901 until its loss with all hands in 1914. 

April 1: The Battle of Okinawa began in 1945, as the end of World War II approached. USS West Virginia (Wikipedia, ShipIndex) had been bombed and seriously damaged during the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Navy mess attendant Doris Miller was on board West Virginia at the time; he was sent to man an anti-aircraft gun despite having no training, and eventually was awarded a Navy Cross for his actions. In 1945, at the start of the Battle of Okinawa, West Virginia sat just off the island for several days, supporting the invasion through ground bombardment and illuminating the invasion space. One kamikaze aircraft managed to evade West Virginia’s defences and crash into the ship, causing the deaths of four sailors.

April 3: Sailing to San Francisco around Cape Horn in 1849, on board Croton (ShipIndex), Hiram Chittenden drew a picture of the landscapes he saw in Le Maire Strait, at the eastern edge of Cape Horn. The San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park has an image of this drawing, plus some description of it, in a blog post from 2012. As a born- and bred-Seattleite, I of course recognize the name of Hiram Chittenden – as you might, if you’ve ever visited the Ballard Locks, more accurately known as the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, reflecting his important work in Seattle for the Army Corps of Engineers from 1906 to 1908.

April 4: In 1865, President Lincoln visited Richmond, Virginia, aboard a converted sidewheel steamship, USS Malvern (Wikipedia, ShipIndex), after Richmond was taken by Union troops. Malvern served as a Confederate blockade runner under the name William G. Hewes, then Ella and Annie. As Ella and Annie, the ship was captured by USS Niphon in 1863, was renamed Malvern, and added to the Union Navy. After the end of the Civil War, Malvern ended up back with its original owner, and original name, William G. Hewes.

For more about these ships, check out ShipIndex.org. And let us know if you have events that you think we should include!