Maritime @maritimetech - Tumblr Blog

A Derelict

A derelict ship is a vessel abandoned at sea without a crew or functional systems. Throughout maritime history, these "ghost ships" have drifted for years or beached, acting as hazards to navigation. Today, some decommissioned vessels are deliberately sunk to form breakwaters or artificial reefs to promote marine life.

The Visual encyclopedia of nautical terms under sail, by Basil W. Bathe, 1973

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Hamburg tug boats can dance, and yes, they also provide refreshments from time to time

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Frank Hurley (Australian, 1885 - 1962)

"The End" Endurance crushed with dogs looking on, 1 November 1915

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Bark Europa - Antarctica, by Benjamin Hardman

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Masterlist - Women at Sea

Sea Witches - here

Women in ancient seafaring - here

Jacquotte Delahaye and Anne Dieu-le-Veut - Two female pirates - here

Hen Frigate - here

Traditional costumes of the islands Föhr and Amrum and the Halligen - here

How women lived on board - here

Mary Lacy the female shipwright - here

Women at Sea - Books - here

Do not mess with Welsh Women - here

The Women of HMS Goliath and the Aboukir Baby - here

The mysterious Ann Mills - here

Women on board - here

Women on Whalers - Part 1 - here

Women on Whalers- Part 2 - here

The Lioness of Brittany - here

Jeanne Baret - a Jane Tar - here

Gráinne Ní Mháille or Grace O'Malley the irish pirate queen - here

Zheng Yi Sao the Chinese Pirate Queen - here

Lady of Trafalgar - here

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Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee - here

The sailor named Billy Bridle - here

How did women manage to hide their gender at sea? - here

Hannah Snell “The Woman in Men’s Cloaths” - here

The Chatham Chest - here

William Brown the mysterious Captain of the Foretop - here

Elizabeth Bowden - Ship’s boy- here

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The Female Sailor - Anne Jane Thornton - here

Mary Anne Talbot - a female Soldier and Sailor- here

Ingela Gathenhielm the female Privateer - here

Ida Lewis - here

Mary Lacy - female sailor and shipwright, the full post - here

Why is a Ship a She ?- here

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The Day after the Battle of Trafalgar, by Richard Brydges Beechey (1808-1895)

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The Hughes Flying Boat—at one time the largest aircraft ever built—was piloted by Howard Hughes on its first and only flight #OnThisDay in 1947. The H-4 Hercules (nicknamed The Spruce Goose) was almost 219 feet long from nose to tail and had a wingspan of 320 feet.

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Early color photographs of Antarctica, circa 1915, by Australian adventurer Frank Hurley.

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Why Midshipmen were also called Snotties

Since I have already received several questions as to why they were called that, well, that is relatively simple. If you look closely at the uniforms of the 18th and 19th century you will notice that they have buttons on the sleeves. Now relatively useless, but according to legend they were put on to keep the young middies, mostly the very young and still new aboard a ship and therefore often still homesick and therefore often crying, from wiping their tears and runny noses on the sleeve. Hence the name Snotty or Snotties.

Memento Portrait of a Young Midshipman,by John Downman late 18th–early 19th century (x)

However, the origin of this legend is unclear. On the one hand, it is attributed to Napoleon who, during the Russian campaign, ordered his men to wear tasteless cloths at last and not always to use their uniform sleeves and therefore to sew the buttons of their dead comrades onto their sleeves. Nice theory, but unfortunately it doesn’t fit in with the time period, as the naval uniforms from 1748 already had these buttons. Therefore the theory of Nelson, who gave his Midshipmen the same order as Napoleon, only that they should buy extra buttons and sew them on, doesn’t fit either. Similarly, Prussia’s King Frederick the Great was tried to be the origin of this legend.

However, the uniforms, especially the first ones, were strongly based on the prevailing men’s fashion and there are already buttons on the sleeves. Therefore, it was probably simply adopted from there. And the fact that the young midshipmen were also called snotties may simply come from the fact that we were dealing with boys aged 10 and upwards and the young ones were simply homesick and therefore perhaps cried a little more in the evenings than the others and went to bed with a tear-stained face and a runny nose, and probably needed the handkerchief more often than others.

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Do you know what today is? Rope Yarn Sunday.

Between Decks of a Man-of-War, (x)

Back in the age of sail, that meant half a day’s work on board and then some free time to mend the clothes but also to relax. Therefore have a nice sunday.

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Curious Polar bear (Ursus maritimus) standing upright and looking through porthole into the kitchen of arctic expedition ship M/S Stockholm in Svalbard, Spitsbergen, Norway by Andy Rouse

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Ship cat Nosey, seen here during a research cruise to the Gulf of Mexico in 1951 aboard the Atlantis

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Model of Saint John, third-rate ship of the line, 64 guns, of the Order of Malta fleet. The model is contemporary to the ship, last decade of the 18th century.

She was captured by the French in 1798 while still under construction, then renamed Athenien and varata.

In 1800, after the English siege of Malta, she was captured in the port of Valletta and became HMS Athenienne, taking part in various naval actions.

In 1806, she crashed on the Sicilian Channel on the shore of Skerki and sank before most of the crew could reach safety. 347 people lost their lives, including Commander Raynsford, and 141 were rescued.

Today, the model is in the Maritime Museum of Malta.