Maritime History

"Any courageous man can take a ship to sea in a gale, but, unless in addition to his courage he also possesses great skill, he is not likely to bring that ship, her mission accomplished, safely to her destination."

- Cmdr. R.L. Jack from letters of commendation to the Corsair Fleet

Maritime History on the Net

The Maritime History Virtual Archives: An very interesting collection of documents from Lars Bruzelius.
Historic Naval Ships Association
Institute of Maritime History: The Institute of Maritime History (IMH) is a non-profit organization dedictated to the preservation and documentation of archaeological remains related to maritime history. Based in Cape Neddick, Maine.
1492: An Ongoing Voyage: An Exhibit of the Library of Congress, Washington, DC
NOAA Fisheries Historical Information
Historical Map and Chart Collection: The U.S. Office of Coast Survey is making available its extensive collection of historical maps and charts in digital scanned form to the general public through this site.
James River Batteaus: Site detailing the history of James River Batteaus, including reconstructing, and the 1995 James River Batteau Festival.
Shipbuilding Pictures Database: From NSnet.
History of Liverpool Clipper Ships (1850-1870): Hidden in a bunch of genealogy stuff is a set of pages about the Liverpool Clipper ships.
Maritime History of the Great Lakes: A digital library collection of documents intended to be of value to those researching Great Lakes History.
Marine Historical Society of Detroit: A non profit organization founded in 1944 provides a focal point for individuals and organizations interested in and concerned with the history of the Great Lakes and its maritime heritage.
Historical Collections of the Great Lakes (HCGL): The Historical Collections of the Great Lakes (HCGL) at Bowling Green State University, is a division of Libraries and Learning Resources. Its purpose is to collect, preserve, and make available to scholars, students, and the public, historical materials documenting the Great Lakes region and connecting waterways. The HCGL's collections include materials related to commercial shipping, shipbuilding, navigation, maritime law, commercial fishing, shipwrecks, yachting, labor history, popular literature, freshwater ecology, recreation, and the history of Great Lakes ports.
Great Lakes Center for Maritime Studies: Founded in 1997 to shape the study of Great Lakes maritime history, culture, and ecology. Associated with Western Michigan University.
Lake Michigan Maritime Marginalia: A page dedicated to the commercial vessels operation on Lake Michigan in the early part of the 20th century.
The 19th Century Lower St. Lawrence River Maritime History Page: Also, in French.
TAMH: Tayside A Maritime History: The Maritime History of Tayside, on the east coast of Scotland.
Through Mighty Seas: Concentrating on the merchant sailing vessels built and owned in the North West of England and the Isle of Man in the 19th Century.
Tilikum: The voyage of the dugout canoe "The Tilikum".
The Search for La Salle's Ship La Belle
The Ship Success: Often referred to as the "Convict Ship" Success. This infamous vessel was well known around British seaports from 1895 to 1911 and around U.S. seaports from 1912 to 1946.
NS Savannah
The NOAA Historical Image Collection: Contains thousands of images that chronicle the history of the ancestor organizations of today's U.S. NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). These were the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the Weather Bureau, and the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries in the various forms and names.
Sailing Warships: Information needs ships from 1480-1815.
The Development of Square - Rigged Ship: From the Carrack to the Full - Rigger.
Haze Gray & Underway: Naval History and Photography.
Danish Naval History: Primarily covering main parts of the Danish Naval History from 1801 to the present day.
Hunley: Info on raising the Hunley.
300th Aniversary of the Russian Navy
Sailing Warships
historic sailing: This site is about re-enactment events mainly around the war of 1812 in Canada and the States, and features the group "Royal George Boat Crew and Landing Party".
New York City Car Floats
Clydebuilt Association: Clydebuilt Association is a non-profit making organisation dedicated to enhance public understanding, appreciation and enjoyment of the Clyde's Maritime Heritage.
A 1984 Olympic Yachting Retrospective: Produced by Ted Hinshaw, the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee's (LAOOC) Commissioner of Yachting for the 1984 Olympic Games.
Information on Letters of Marque
Captain Cook Society: A Society for everyone interested in James Cook.
Gunboat Philadelphia: Smithsonian exhibit on the battle of Valcour Island including archaeological remains of this gunboat.
Shipbuilding in Durham, New Hampshire, 1756-1950: An exhibit from the University of New Hampshire.
1920 International Fisherman's Schooner Race: Information on the 1920 International Fisherman's Schooner Race between Esperanto of Gloucester and Delawana of Canada.
The Battle of Cape St. Vincent: A well done exhibit marking the bicentenary of this battle.
American President Lines Records Finding Aid: Finding aid for archives of shipping giant APL, formerly American President Lines held at San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park.
Liverpool University Archives: The Cunard Archives: Information on these archives. In 1972 and in subsequent years the Cunard Steam-ship Company deposited its administrative archives with the University Archives, University of Liverpool. Though the covering dates of these deposited archives are 1840-c.1976, they principally date from 1878-c.1945.
Das Yachtsport Archiv: It's nearly the whole German classic yacht sport online.
Tugboat Luna Preservation Society: A non-profit organization dedicated to the restoration and preservation of the tugboat Luna, a National Historic Landmark moored in Boston, MA. The Luna was the first commercial diesel-electric ship-docking tug of its kind.
Roamer Boat Company of Holland, Michigan collection: The Roamer Boat Company collection includes blueprints of boats built by the company including cruisers (including many designs by A.M. Deering and one by J.G. Alden), passenger boats, sailboats, a harbor tug boat designed by J.G. Alden and much more.
Messageries Maritimes Line: Historical information and pictures on this French shipping line founded in 1851.
Pamir Memorial: A set of pages is devoted to the german four-masted barque Pamir.
The Steamships of Stockholm: Listing and images of steamships that are or have operated out of Stockholm.
Project Liberty Ship: Information on Project Liberty Ship and the S.S. John W. Brown.
Maritime History: Transcripts of some maritime documents and articles. Including information on the War of 1812.
Salem's Maritime Heritage: Part of information on Salem, Massachusetts including information on their effort to build a new Tall Ship.
Shining Sea Foundation: Organization out of Boston developing plans to build a clipper ship.
Pamir: History of this Blohm & Voss vessel.
Windjammer Bibliography: In Finnish.
Wreck of the Titanic: Wreck of the Titanic, as Sung by Doc Hopkins. Another page including an underwater movie from the Ocean Planet people here
Athenian Trireme Olympias: Typical 4th century BC onedesign.
Maritime History Archive: Information on Maritime History Archive at Memorial University of Newfoundland.
The U.S. Life-Saving Service Heritage Association: A group dedicated to promoting, preserving, and interpreting the history of the U.S. Life-Saving Service (USLSS) and related organizations.
U.S. Life Saving Stations of the Outer Banks
U.S. World War II Submarine Patrol Reports: Transcriptions from microfilms at the U.S. National Archives.
Maritime Heritage: Information from the Aquatic Network.
Steamship Historical Society of America(SSHSA): Dedicated to preserving artifacts and memories from the Steamship days of the past.
World Ship Society: International organisation dedicated to maritime and naval history, with many local branches.
U.S. Naval Historical Center: The Naval Historical Center is the official history program of the U.S. Department of the Navy. Its lineage dates back to 1800 with the founding of the Navy Department Library by President John Adams. The Center now includes a museum, art gallery, research library, archives, and curator as well as research and writing programs. See also their online publication Guide to U.S. Naval History Organizations, Programs, and Resources.
Center For Maritim Og Regional Historie: Centre for Maritime and Regional History combines studies of maritime and regional history with special fields in coastal communities of the North Atlantic, the North Sea and the Baltic from the Middle Ages to the present day. CMRH pays special attention to the development of the region of Southwest Jutland and the interaction of coast and inland.
National Maritime Initiative: The National Maritime Initiative, a program within the History Division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS), is responsible for the survey and evaluation of historic maritime resources preserved around the country. Part of their survey is available here.
Information on U.S. Navy vessels: From the Navy Public Affairs Library. Some of the information also appears here. See especially the misc and frigates directories.
National Archives and Records Administration(U.S.A.): A useful resource is their Historical Records of Government Agencies, especially the finding aids associated with Record Groups related to maritime activities. For instance Records Of The United States Shipping Board (Record Group 32). or Records Of The Office Of The Chief Of Naval Operations (Record Group 38) Also, they now have an experimental online search facility Nail.
National Maritime Historical Society: NMHS is a non-profit organization that works to save endangered historic ships, develops classroom educational materials and programs for young Americans across the country, and publishes a series of books, magazines, and newsletters.
The WAKA Project: The WAKA project is the collective name for Victoria University's (of Wellington, NZ) Maritime History resources centre. The collection covers mainly merchant and fighting navy vessels from the mid 18th century up to about the mid 20th century. WAKA is entirely Internet based.
Nautical Research Guild, Inc.: The Nautical Research Guild has been linking researchers, collectors, and builders of the highest quality ship models for nearly fifty years. Members share a common dedication to learning about ships and maritime history through academic research, as applied and expressed in the process of ship model building and other artistic and academic endeavors.
Marine History Information Exchange Group: The purpose of MARHST-L (email list) is to promote communication among persons with a serious interest in maritime history and maritime museums.
Some sources for obtaining historic ship photos: A short list of some email I've collected.

I'm always open to adding resources to my list, so if you know of other items, give me a holler: mbrmbr@acm.org

Form last updated: Sun Jan 2, 2005

Click on anchor to return to main sailing page