Maritime Disasters
The 1970s Cruise Ship Nightmare That Ended in a Mutiny
It was a little after 3:00 a.m. on July 2, 1978 when those aboard the S.S. America realized the voyage was doomed. Things had gotten off to an uneasy start nine hours before, when some 900 passengers assembled at Manhattan’s West 54th Street pier and found a problem with the ...read more
WWII Wreck Found of USS Wasp, Where 176 Died After Torpedo Attack
In the treacherous waters of the Atlantic and the bomber-laden Mediterranean of World War II, the USS Wasp, a 741-foot-long aircraft carrier, came out unscathed. But it wasn’t so lucky in the Pacific. After earning two battle stars and ferrying soldiers and aircraft in the ...read more
The Only Major U.S. Warship Lost During WWI Sank in NY Waters—Now We Know Why
In July 1918, the 15,000-ton armored cruiser USS San Diego sank off Long Island, New York, losing six sailors from a crew of 1,200 after a mysterious explosion struck the vessel. The ship was returning home after escorting U.S. troop and cargo ships across the perilous North ...read more
How the Failed Search for MH370 Solved 19th Century Maritime Mysteries
As a last-ditch search effort for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 wraps up in the Indian Ocean, one of history’s greatest aviation mysteries endures. But in an unexpected twist, historians in Australia say the massive search effort for the missing Boeing 777 has uncovered the fate ...read more
Why Did the Titanic Sink?
An estimated 100,000 people gathered at the dock in Belfast, Ireland on March 31, 1911, to watch the launch of the Royal Mail Ship (RMS) Titanic. Considered to be an “unsinkable” ship, Titanic was the largest and most luxurious cruise liner of its day, measuring more than 882 ...read more
Pearl Harbor, 1941: From a Sailor’s Perspective
About 7:45 a.m., through the crackle and buzz of interference, gunnery and anti-aircraft officer Benny Mott was jolted by pilots’ voices rising with alarm over the radio transmitter aboard the USSEnterprise. They were shouting to one another. “Hey, did you see that army plane ...read more
The True Stories That Inspired ‘Titanic’ Movie Characters
You probably already knew that Jack and Rose, the main characters in the 1997 movie Titanic, weren’t real. Like all films “based on a true story,” the movie added its own fictional elements to historical events. But during the film, Jack and Rose do run into several characters ...read more
Why Nobody Remembers America’s Worst Maritime Disaster
Jerry O. Potter couldn’t believe his eyes. He had studied the Civil War in Tennessee for years, but he’d never heard of the event portrayed in a painting at a local bank. The painting showed dramatic images of a steamship in flames and a river filled with drowning, screaming ...read more
Shipwrecks from Great Whaling Disaster of 1871 Found Off Alaskan Coast
The whaling ships’ captains waited for a change in the winds, but it never came. Instead, some 33 vessels remained trapped in the conjoined mass of floating ice shards known as pack ice that had formed in the Arctic waters off the Alaskan coast. In similar incidents in previous ...read more