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Maritime History

American Experience in the West Indies, 1740-1742

June 13, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

disaster on the spanish mainThirty-five years before the battles of Lexington  and Concord, the British colonies in North America raised a regiment to serve in the British Army for an expedition to seize control of the Spanish West Indies.

Colonial volunteers, 4,000 strong, joined 9,000 British soldiers and 15,000 British sailors in a bold amphibious campaign against the key port of Cartagena de Indias.  The expedition marked the first time American soldiers deployed overseas.

[Read more…] about American Experience in the West Indies, 1740-1742

Filed Under: Events, History, New York City Tagged With: Fraunces Tavern Museum, Maritime History, Military History, Naval History

Buried Pirate Treasure At Lake George?

May 18, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Howard Pyle's fanciful painting of Kidd burying treasure from Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates: Fiction, Fact & Fancy Concerning the Buccaneers & Marooners of the Spanish Main, New York (1921)In his 1986 article “Treasure Seeking in the American Northeast, 1780-1830” for the American Quarterly historian Alan Taylor made the following observation:

“A canvas of travelers’ accounts, town histories, and other antiquarian sources for the American Northeast documents over forty incidents where groups of rural folk employed occult techniques to seek buried treasure, generally in very unlikely inland locales, and usually during the fifty years between 1780 and 1830. Most episodes involved small parties, handfuls of men bound to share equally in any discoveries. Tradition held that a minimum of three (a particularly magical number that occurs repeatedly in treasure lore) seekers was essential for a successful dig.” [Read more…] about Buried Pirate Treasure At Lake George?

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Atlantic World, Captain Kidd, Cultural History, Lake George, Maritime History

James Eights: An Albany Artist-Scientist Who Explored Antarctica in 1830

May 15, 2022 by Peter Hess 1 Comment

portrait of James EightsIn the late 1700s and early 1800s, there were a growing number of adventurers anxious to explore the sea, find new lands, chart new islands, and if they made their fortune while doing it, all the better.

There were also those just trying to get away from home and signing on to a whaling ship seemed the adventure of a lifetime. [Read more…] about James Eights: An Albany Artist-Scientist Who Explored Antarctica in 1830

Filed Under: Arts, Capital-Saratoga, History, Nature Tagged With: Albany, Albany County, Albany Institute For History and Art, Geography, Geology, James Eights, Marine Life, Maritime History, painting, Rensselaer County, RPI, Science History, Whaling, Wildlife

The Showboat Era on Lake George 1933-1937

April 27, 2022 by Dave Waite 1 Comment

Horicon IIWhen the sidewheel steamboat Horicon II was launched on Lake George in 1910, she was both the longest and fastest passenger vessel to ever sail the lake. Over the next 29 years, she would be used for transportation of cargo and residents around the lake, as well as cruises for tourists.

The construction of a road on the west side of the lake, as well as the region’s rapidly increasing mobility with the introduction of the automobile, brought a dramatic decline in passengers. In response to this trend, in 1932 the Delaware & Hudson Railroad, owners of the steamboats on the lake through the Lake George Steamboat Company, announced that they would not be running boats that year. [Read more…] about The Showboat Era on Lake George 1933-1937

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Arts, History Tagged With: Adirondacks, Bolton, Delaware & Hudson Railroad, Essex County, Jazz, Lake George, Maritime History, Musical History, Performing Arts, railroads, Steamboating, Ticonderoga, Transportation History, Warren County

The Titanic Was Doomed: A New Book By Bryan Jackson

April 15, 2022 by Bob Cudmore Leave a Comment

The Historians LogoThis week on The Historians Podcast Bryan Jackson discusses his new book Why the Titanic Was Doomed (White Owl, 2022).

White Star’s HMS Titanic, the most magnificent ocean liner of her time, was destined for disaster before she left the docks at Southampton in April 1912 according to Jackson – doomed by her owner, designers and the men who sailed her. [Read more…] about The Titanic Was Doomed: A New Book By Bryan Jackson

Filed Under: Books, Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Albany, Maritime History, Podcasts, Titanic

Saved at the Seawall: Stories from the September 11 Boat-Lift

April 8, 2022 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

seawallOn this episode of Empire State Engagements, a conversation with author, historian, and mariner Jessica DuLong about her book Saved at the Seawall: Stories from the September 11 Boatlift (Three Hills/Cornell University Press, 2021). [Read more…] about Saved at the Seawall: Stories from the September 11 Boat-Lift

Filed Under: Books, History, New York City Tagged With: 9-11, East River, Hudson River, Manhattan, Maritime History, New Jersey, New York City, New York Harbor, Podcasts, Search and Rescue, Transportation History

Chains Across the Hudson, Stirling Ironworks & The Townsend Family

April 5, 2022 by Peter Hess 1 Comment

13 Links of the Great Chain across the Hudson at Trophy Point, West Point“The importance of the Hudson River in the present contest, and the necessity of defending it, are subjects which have been so frequently and fully discussed and are so well understood that it is unnecessary to enlarge upon them.” – George Washington

It is hard to imagine a time in the United States when highways did not exist, but that was certainly the case at the time of the Revolutionary War. Some cities could brag of their cobblestone streets but once outside the residential area, roads could best be described as single-lane dirt paths, frozen solid but probably covered with snow in winter, mud bogs in spring, and deeply rutted, jarring, swaying and unstable conveyances the rest of the year.

A small military wagon could move along only as fast as a team of oxen could pull it. Moving armies and cannon along these roadways was a slow, difficult undertaking, offering opposing forces considerable advance notice and many opportunities to thwart progress or attack. [Read more…] about Chains Across the Hudson, Stirling Ironworks & The Townsend Family

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, New York City Tagged With: Albany, American Revolution, Fort Clinton, Fort Constitution, Fort Montgomery, George Clinton, Hudson Highlands, Hudson River, Industrial History, Maritime History, Military History, Orange County, Transportation History, West Point

Replica Canal Schooner Lois McClure Being Retired, Dismantled

March 7, 2022 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

The replica canal schooner Lois McClure (Lake Champlain Maritime Museum photo)In October 2023, after 20 years of service, the replica sailing canal schooner Lois McClure will be retired, the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum announced today.  The original Lois McClure was built in 1862.

The replica was initiated in 2001 and launched in 2004 with the goal of better understanding the region’s unique nineteenth century sailing canal schooners, which allowed travel on the region’s narrow canals and sailing on open waters.

Since it’s launch the replica schooner toured the region bringing this history to local communities around Lake Champlain and connecting waterways. [Read more…] about Replica Canal Schooner Lois McClure Being Retired, Dismantled

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, New York City Tagged With: Champlain Canal, Erie Canal, Hudson River, Lake Champlain, Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, Lois McClure, Maritime History, Oral History, Transportation History, Vermont

Francis Mallaby: Witness to Sackets Harbor History

January 20, 2022 by Constance Barone Leave a Comment

1835 painting of ship house covering unfinished War of 1812 USS New Orleans located on Navy Point at Sackets HarborThe name Francis Mallaby may not be familiar in New York history but sailing master Mallaby served at the Sackets Harbor navy yard in a prosperous time of lake shipping and community growth. He helped make a difference by initiating purchase of land which is cherished today as the Sackets Harbor Battlefield State Historic Site.

This War of 1812 veteran received high compliments from Lake Ontario navy commander Isaac Chauncey and Captain Woolsey that helped influence Mallaby’s 1817 appointment as master of the first steamboat on Lake Ontario, based in Sackets Harbor in Jefferson County, NY. [Read more…] about Francis Mallaby: Witness to Sackets Harbor History

Filed Under: History, Western NY Tagged With: Canada, Fort Tompkins, Great Lakes, Jefferson County, Lake Ontario, Maritime History, Military History, Naval History, Navy, Patriot War of 1837-38, Sackets Harbor, St. Lawrence River, Steamboating, Transportation History, War of 1812

Oyster Slurpers: A Tale of Two Rivers

January 19, 2022 by Jaap Harskamp 1 Comment

The Cryes of the City of LondonFor thousands of years the Thames provided London’s inhabitants with a plentiful supply and variety of fish. Until the 1820s locally caught fish was the city’s staple diet. Subsequent pollution of the river drove many professional fishermen and their families into financial ruin because of the collapse of fish populations.

Up until the twentieth century New York Harbor oysters reigned as the quintessential New York food long before pizza, pretzels, bagels, or hot dogs took their place. The metropolis once was a Big Oyster. There too, reckless management of the marine environment led to the obliteration of a huge natural resource. [Read more…] about Oyster Slurpers: A Tale of Two Rivers

Filed Under: Food, History, Nature, New York City Tagged With: Culinary History, Environmental History, fish, Fisheries, fishing, Hudson River, London, Long Island, Manhattan, Maritime History, New Amsterdam, New York City, New York Harbor, Oysters, pollution, shellfish, spanish history, Suffolk County

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