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
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
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
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
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”
And now for something Really scary…
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.
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
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.
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
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!
- What Voyageurs Wore : Voyageur Clothing from Head to Toe, 1774-1821
- 18th Century Hats, Mittens, etc.
Special Thanks this week (and always) to Simon Egleton
