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Cargo ships at a U.S. shipyard with cranes in the background.

How America Lost Control of the Seas

Thanks to decades of misguided policy choices, the U.S. has an astonishing lack of maritime capacity.
by Arnav Rao via The Atlantic on May 28, 2025
Seashore in the Fog, detail, Caspar David Freiderich, c. 1807.

By Stratagem and Hard Fighting

The historical record reveals the real circumstances that led to the improbable capture of eleven British ships.
by Mark R. Anderson via Journal of the American Revolution on January 12, 2023
The armored gunboat USS Cairo with its crew standing on deck, 1862.

Union Gunboats Didn't Just Attack Rebel Military Sites – They Went After Civilian Property, too

A new look at detailed data about Civil War skirmishes along the Mississippi River reveals another key to the Union's victory.
by Robert Gudmestad via The Conversation on January 30, 2020

Treasure Fever

The discovery of a lost shipwreck has pitted treasure hunters and archaeologists against each other, raising questions about who should control sunken riches.
by Jill Neimark via Hakai on January 14, 2020
Cruise ship depicted on Red Star Line dinner menu.

Traveling While Black Across the Atlantic Ocean

Following in the footsteps of 20th century African Americans, Ethelene Whitmire experiences a 21st century transatlantic crossing.
by Ethelene Whitmire via Longreads on January 3, 2019
Street map of San Francisco marking the old shoreline and the locations of dozens of buried ships.

New Map Reveals Ships Buried Below San Francisco

Dozens of vessels that brought gold-crazed prospectors to the city in the 19th century still lie beneath the streets.
by Greg Miller via National Geographic on June 2, 2017
Connaught steam boat launch

The Wreck

On the eve of the Civil War, a nightmare at sea turned into one of the greatest rescues in maritime history.
by David Wolman via The Atavist on February 27, 2017

The Battle Ship in Union Square

In 1917, the U.S. Navy built a full-size battleship in the heart of New York City.
by Amanda Uren via Mashable on April 30, 2015
A drawing of a ship firing cannons at another vessel.

On the Colonial Power Struggle That Would Give Birth to the City of New York

For historian Russell Shorto, it was all about water.
by Russell Shorto via Literary Hub on March 18, 2025
Drawing of a classic pirate figure, wtih an earring, a tricorn hat, and a satchel, yelling orders at a crew while a ship burns in the background

Were Pirates Foes of the Modern Order—or Its Secret Sharers?

We’ve long viewed them as liberty-loving rebels. But it’s time to take off the eye patch.
by Daniel Immerwahr via The New Yorker on July 15, 2024
People swimming and standing in water.

On the Time Benjamin Franklin, American Show-Off, Jumped Naked Into the Thames

On our millennia-long love-hate relationship with getting in the water.
by Vicki Valosik via Literary Hub on June 27, 2024
Sailors singing a sea shanty.

There’s No Such Thing as “Just a Song”

What we can learn from the history of maritime folk music.
by Katy Kelleher, Stephen Sanfilippo via Nautilus on May 29, 2024
Portrait of a Sailor (possibly Paul Cuffe), circa 1800.

Paul Cuffe’s Revolutionary American Life and Legacy

Paul Cuffe was the first Black American to formally meet with a sitting president at the White House.
by Ben Railton via The Saturday Evening Post on May 20, 2024
The Chesapeake 1000 crane at Tradepoint Atlantic in Sparrows Point, Md., on Friday.

A Crane with Cold War CIA Origins Will Help the Baltimore Bridge Cleanup

The Chesapeake 1000, which can lift 1,000 tons, arrived in Baltimore on Friday. Decades ago, it helped build a ship for a CIA mission to recover Soviet secrets.
by Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff, Praveena Somasundaram via Retropolis on March 31, 2024
A photograph of the SS Eastland.

Checking out Historical Chicago: Cynthia Pelayo's "Forgotten Sisters"

The SS Eastland disaster and Chicago's ghosts.
by Elizabeth McNeill via Chicago Review of Books on March 20, 2024
The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge.

Five Centuries Ago, France Came to America

This is the story of Giovanni da Verrazzano, who never reached Asia, but became the first European to set foot on the site of the future city of New York.
by Diane de Vignemont via France-Amérique on March 5, 2024
Charles Tiffany superimposed on handwriting and map of the transatlantic cable.

How the Tiffany & Co. Founder Cashed In on the Trans-Atlantic Telegraph Craze

Charles Lewis Tiffany bought surplus cable from the venture, turning it into souvenirs that forever linked his name to the telecommunications milestone.
by Robert Klara via Smithsonian on February 15, 2024
USS San Jacinto on ocean
partner

The U.S. Only Pretends to Want 'Freedom of the Seas'

Too often, U.S. support for open navigation has devolved into military conflict.
by Grace Easterly via Made By History on February 15, 2024
Robert Smalls.

What a Teacher's Letters Reveal About Robert Smalls, Who Stole a Confederate Ship to Secure Freedom

Harriet M. Buss' missives home detail the future congressman's candid views on race and the complicity of Confederate women.
by Jonathan W. White via Smithsonian on February 13, 2024
Destruction of tea in the harbor and text protesting the Tea Act.

The Many Myths of the Boston Tea Party

Contrary to popular belief, the 1773 protest opposed a tax break, not a tax hike. And it didn't immediately unify the colonies against the British.
by Meilan Solly via Smithsonian on December 15, 2023
Lithograph of the brig Acorn leaving port with Sims on board.

Underground Railroad’s Forgotten Route: Thousands Fled Slavery by Sea

Despite depictions of the Underground Railroad, escaping over land was almost impossible in the South. Thousands of enslaved people found allies on the water.
by Tonya Russell via Retropolis on October 15, 2023
Naval battle in paiting “Battle of Tripoli."

Counterinsurgency to the Shores of Tripoli

The Navy’s operations against Barbary corsairs at the start of the 19th century provide salient lessons for operating in the gray zone today.
by Benjamin Armstrong via Proceedings of the U.S. Naval Institute on October 1, 2023
Drawn picture of the tidal channel known as Hell Gate, in New York, circa 1775

Is There Sunken Treasure Beneath the Treacherous Currents of Hell Gate?

In the heart of New York City, a centuries-long hunt for Revolutionary War–era gold.
by Joaquim Salles via Atlas Obscura on September 27, 2023
View of Brooklyn from Trinity Church, 1853.
original

Mettlesome, Mad, Extravagant City

In the streets of New York, we try to imagine the city as Walt Whitman, and other artists of his time, experienced it.
by Ed Ayers on September 21, 2023
IMPERATOR Steam ship.

The Students Who Went to Sea

"The Floating University: Experience, Empire, and the Politics of Knowledge"
by William H. Whyte via Literary Review on July 7, 2023
Side profile painting of James Forten, dressed in a black coat and a white collar

James Forten, Revolutionary: Forgotten No More

James Forten was one of Philadelphia’s most distinguished and important citizens.
by Adam E. Zielinski via Journal of the American Revolution on June 13, 2023
The 1622 Hessel Gerritsz map of the Pacific Ocean.

Asians In Early America

Asian sailors came to the west coast of America in 1587. Within a century they were settled in colonies from Mexico to Peru.
by Diego Javier Luis via Aeon on June 13, 2023
The edifice of the Lazaretto, Philadelphia's old quarantine station.

The Philadelphia Lazaretto

Quarantine at the Lazaretto met many migrants when they arrived in 19th-century Philadelphia.
by David S. Barnes via Perspectives on History on December 8, 2022
Illustration of a whale by Jayne Doucette.

How Centuries-Old Whaling Logs Are Filling Gaps in Our Climate Knowledge

Using the historical record to model long-term wind patterns in remote parts of the world where few instrumental data sets prior to 1957 exist.
by Tristan Ahtone via Grist on November 2, 2022

Providence Merchant John Brown Gets Rich Privateering in 1776 and 1777

The inventory he provided to tax assessors reveals just how profitable privateering was during the Revolutionary era.
by Christian McBurney via Journal of the American Revolution on October 18, 2022
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