Sea History

09/03/2026

Join us this evening for a presentation by our friend Carl Herzog, the public historian at the USS USS Constitution Museum.

Join Carl Herzog, Public Historian at the USS Constitution Museum, on Thursday, 3 September at 7 PM ET for a virtual seminar on USS Constitution’s 1844–1846 World Cruise.

07/26/2026

Grady White's legacy just expanded...

After his sole heir died, Eddie Smith, the owner of Grady-White Boats, looked for a way to pass on his legacy. He was inspired by Patagonia to pledge future profits to charity.

07/23/2026

Well played New Bedford Whaling Museum! https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1LTfsWe6J5/

07/14/2026

a few more posts with some highlights from SailBoston....
• Our hats off to the crew of the 1877 barque ELISSA, which sailed all the way from her homeport in Galveston, Texas, to participate in all five Sail250 ports. She carried squares all the way into the inner harbor, demonstrating the crew's stamina, skill, and enthusiasm. She is a beautiful and classy ship. Fair Winds to them on their return voyage back to Texas.
• The JUAN BAUTISTA CAMBIASO from the Dominican Republic gets the (unofficial) prize for having the most fun. They blasted local Dominican music (see the video clip in the photo gallery) all day as they sailed along. A few others ships also played music as they navigated the parade route. We even heard one of the Class A visiting ships playing Dire Straits!
• Massachusetts-built and/or -based historic ships had a fine showing: frigate USS CONSTITUTION; schooners ADVENTURE, ERNESTINA-MORRISSEY, AMERICAN EAGLE, HINDU, TABOR BOY, TYRONE, and WHEN AND IF; and MAYFLOWER II (before you get all hot-and-bothered about her being included in the historic vessel designation, she was built in 1956 and was added to the US National Register of Historic Places in 2020, making her a both a "replica" and historic vessel at the same time!). Traditional sailing ships in Massachusetts (built and/or based) schooners ARDELLE, ISABELLA, FAME, THOMAS LANNON, LEWIS H. STORY, LIBERTY CLIPPER, LYNX, and DENIS SULLIVAN, and the cutter BLOODHOUND also participated, sailing in fine fashion throughout. CONSTITUTION, EAGLE, ERNESTINA-MORRISSEY, ADVENTURE, MAYFLOWER led the parade past Castle Island, where a crowd cheered them on as CONSTITUTION fired off a gun salute. It was the first time I have been able to see MAYFLOWER under sail. Kudos to Captain Whit Perry and his able crew.
• Schooner BOWDOIN's crew of Maine Maritime Academy showed off their skills by sailing far off the wind over near where a TV news broadcast was going on and jibing with grace and efficiency.
• Maine vessels had a great showing: Ketch ANGELIQUE and schooner AMERICAN EAGLE of the Maine windjammer fleet made the trip from Penobscot Bay and wowed the spectators by simply doing what they do so well every day in the summer. Special shout-out to Maine's First Ship VIRGINIA, under the command of Capt. JB Smith (winner of last year's NMHS Distinguished Service award), for sailing the pinnace VIRGINIA (a.k.a. Maine’s First Ship) down from Bath, Maine, with an all-volunteer crew.
• PRIDE OF BALTIMORE II, as usual, looking great and entertaining the crowds ashore and afloat with some well-timed cannon fire.

Special thanks to photographer Cindy Russell (cindyrussellphoto.com).

Did we miss your ship or your favorite ship? If so, please post your pic(s) in the comments below.

07/13/2026

But wait...there's more! A few noteworthy highlights from last weekend. We will be posting more pics from Boston, but first a pretty cool event took place between NYC and Boston when the four Gorch-Fock-class barques set sail in a 60nm race, the Five Sisters Cup, for the first time since the 1976 OpSail event. While we did not get to witness it because it mostly took place offshore, the Gorch Fock-class barques USCGC EAGLE; GORCH FOCK (II)—Germany; MIRCEA—Romania; and SAGRES—Portugal participated in the Five Sisters Cup. The 5th sister is GORCH FOCK (I), which was retired from seagoing duty in 2003 and now serves as a museum ship in Stralsund, Germany. Congratulations to the champion—GORCH FOCK! What an experience for the cadets and anyone able to participate in and/or see the race firsthand. The rest of us have to settle for photos...

07/13/2026

A few highlights from Sail250 Boston’s parade of sail: First a huge shout-out to McALLISTER TOWING for the invitation to join the crew of its Portland-based tug ANDREW McCALLISTER for the day. And what a day it was! Having spent the first part of my career working aboard traditional sailing ships, it was a really a treat to experience the event from a huge, powerful tractor tug under the command of a master tug captain, Brian Fournier. Unlike the sailing vessels I am used to, which are generally underpowered and not easy to maneuver in tight quarters, the ANDREW McALLISTER is extremely capable in both, and Captain Fournier was happy to show off his vessel's strengths, providing entertainment to those onboard, the hundreds of people aboard the ships in the parade of sail, and the tens of thousands (hundreds of thousands?...The Boston Globe reported that more than a million people viewed the event...but don't hold me to that). We practically ran a slalom course all day around and between ships. When a large gap opened up between sailing vessels in the route, the parade marshal hailed us and asked us to fill in the gap and "do what you do." Namely—fire up those powerful fire monitor (i.e. water jets), blow the deafening horn over and over, and go right up to spectators along the waterfront and spin in place and perform all kinds of maneuvers. Fournier definitely knows how to entertain a crowd.

07/12/2026

Sail250 Boston is underway through Wednesday. Yesterday's Parade of Sail was a spectacular event. If you missed it, you can still visit the ships at their respective berths along the waterfront in Boston through Wednesday (see where each ship is docked here: https://www.sailboston.com/ships/). Some of the Class B vessels are offering daysails in the harbor where you can view the ships from the water. NMHS has guides aboard the Classic Harbor Line vessels (schooners ADIRONDACK II and III, plus the yachts NORTHERN LIGHTS and PATRIOT—book your spot here: https://seahistory.org/july2026_ny_boston_cruise/).

07/04/2026

Our friend will Sofrin is aboard USCGC EAGLE in NY Harbor and sent this footage from the Anchorage last night during an intense pop-up squall. No sign of Taylor and Travis though. I guess they had other plans. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DaWbtF0pioC/?igsh=MTZyazdkZGV5YTdqag==