Maritime Monday for October 30th, 2017: Lumber Hooker

in a storm. Photographed from her sister ship SS Bremen

Europa, later SS Liberté, was a German ocean liner built for the Norddeutsche Lloyd line (NDL) to work the transatlantic sea route. She and her sister ship, Bremen, were the two most advanced, high-speed steam turbine ocean vessels in their day, with both earning the Blue Riband. more

USS Europa in Bremerhaven, May 1945 – Europa was inactive for most of World War II. There were plans to use her as a transport in Operation Sea Lion, the intended invasion of Great Britain, and later conversion to an aircraft carrier. None of these plans came to pass The United States claimed the ship as a war prize on 8 May 1945 and gave the vessel to the US Navy for use as a troopship, sailing as the USS Europa (AP-177).

Ghost Ship Harbor, Quincy, Massachusetts

Leave it to Boston to create a hair-raising haunted house that’s not actually in a house, but on a ship docked in the harbor.

The premise is this: A plague has ravaged the human race, and hopping on the USS Salem is civilization’s last chance at survival. Before boarding, people are subjected to eye scans to ensure they’re virus-free. Once on the boat, though, visitors quickly realize the virus isn’t actually contained. Creepy happenings and gory mayhem ensues. keep reading

Video: If you’re looking for something scary to do for Halloween, how about stepping aboard a haunted battleship?

guns and bridge on WWII Cruiser USS Salem, at Fore River Ship Yard; Tom Herde/Boston Globe Staff

The aptly named USS Salem (CA-139) is one of 3 heavy cruisers completed for the United States Navy shortly after World War II and commissioned in 1949. She was the world’s last heavy cruiser to enter service and the only one still in existence. She is currently open to the public as a museum ship in Quincy, Massachusetts. more

On this day (October 28) in 1919, Congress passed the National Prohibition Enforcement Act, which authorized the enforcement of the 18th Amendment, ratified on January 29, 1919. The Act authorized the Coast Guard to prevent the maritime importation of illegal alcohol. This led to the largest increase in the size and responsibilities of the service to date. USCG Northeast History

Tugboat Graffiti; 10/26/2017: Proudly displaying her Breast Cancer Awareness ribbon; Kirby Offshore Marine’s VIKING heads east with DBL 134 under an overcast sky. #60a_1186 For a better view and more of VIKING: http://www.tugboatgraffiti.com/Towing-Companies/Kirby-Offshore-Marine/VIKING/i-WLSGbQs/A

Vanguard-class submarine HMS Vigilant. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Friday October 27, 2017. Photo credit: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

Royal Navy Sailors on Nuclear Trident Submarine HMS Vigilant Axed Over Positive Drug Tests

Fallon orders compulsory drug tests across the fleet and gives the Navy head an “absolute roasting”

Still in the Storm: Talacre Lighthouse (Also Point of Ayr Lighthouse) in the midst of Storm Brian, off north coast of Wales – posted to The Cruel Sea Pool on Flickr – Talacre Light is said to be haunted

And now for something Really scary…

Bro Culture: The Sockless Boat Shoe Trend Has Caused Some Kind of Foot Fungus Epidemic says College of Podiatry in London

HMS Iron Duke taking in stores Feb 1917; Original file (1,000 × 793 pixels)

Pressed into Service: Impressment in the Royal Navy on Man the Capstan

In the spring of 1768, Thom Larkin, a 17-year-old sailor newly arrived in Boston, is caught by a Royal Navy press gang and dragged off to HMS Romney, where he runs afoul of the cruel and corrupt Lieutenant Dudingston. Years later, after escaping the Romney, Thom again crosses paths with his old foe, now in command HMS Gaspee, cruising in Narragansett Bay. Thom Larkin must face the guns of the Royal Navy, with only his wits, an unarmed packet boat, and a sandbar.

Evening Gray Morning Red by Rick Spilman— Now Available in Print and as Ebook

Photos of your grandparents being cool: #13 My Grandfather And His WW2 Hand Welded Motorcyle Navy Seabees

Disaster on the Milwaukee River – The whaleback steamer Christopher Columbus heads upstream to its dock just south of Michigan Street. Backing downstream required the aid of a pair of tugboats.

Arthur Scherbius, a German engineer, developed his ‘Enigma’ machine, capable of transcribing coded information, in the hope of interesting commercial companies in secure communications. In 1923 he set up his Chiffriermaschinen Aktiengesellschaft (Cipher Machines Corporation) in Berlin to manufacture his product. Within three years the German navy was producing its own version. More About Enigma on BBC History

The boarding of U-559 changed the war – now both sides tell their story

The top-secret breaking of the German Enigma code by Alan Turing, and the codebreakers working with him at Bletchley Park, was one of the greatest British coups of the second world war. It helped ships delivering vital supplies to the UK during the darkest days of the war to evade the packs of German U-boats.

How did the Enigma machine work? on The Guardian

Fabulous Code-Breaking Babes at Bletchley Park. Photograph: Bletchley Park Trust

In an updated extract from the bestselling Enigma history, we revisit the daring engagement in which two men gave their lives to make a breakthrough possible.

Read on The Guardian

Now well into their 90s, staff who helped uncover secret Nazi communications gather at British WW2 code-breaking HQ Bletchley Park – more

Priority Goals: Lake Boats No Longer With Us

“Thursday marks the 100th anniversary of what is known as the ‘Black Friday Storm’” – shown: Lumber Hooker Marshall F. Butters; a casualty. Storm sank 4 ships on Lake Erie in 1916

HMS Niobe (1897) was a protected cruiser in the Royal Navy; serving in the Boer War and later given to Canada as the second ship of the newly created Naval Service of Canada, named HMCS Niobe.

During the First World War, Niobe patrolled the approaches to the St. Lawrence River and then joined the Royal Navy’s 4th Cruiser Squadron to patrol off New York City. She then returned to Halifax, Nova Scotia on 17 July 1915 and never put to sea again. keep reading

Soviet Russia’s 1968 animated film, “The Little Mermaid” on Messy Nessy Chic

I could carry, paddle, walk and sing with any man I ever saw. I have been twenty-four years a canoe man, and forty-one years in service; no portage was ever too long for me, fifty songs could I sing. I have saved the lives of ten voyageurs, have had twelve wives and six running dogs. I spent all of my money in pleasure. Were I young again, I would spend my life the same way over. There is no life so happy as a voyageur’s life!

In French-settled Canada of the 18th and early 19th centuries, the most challenging task of the fur trading business was done by canoe, and the Voyageurs were legendary.

Despite the fame surrounding the voyageur, their life was one of toil and not nearly as glorious as folk tales make it out to be. Life of a Voyageur