Long Island Boating World
The Civil War is primarily known as a land war in which the armies of the Union and the Confederacy fought over the right of southern states to secede from the Union. The main issue was that these states wished to continue to hold, purchase,…
Months before the collision on July 25th, 1958, between the super luxury Italian Line cruise ship SS Andea Doria and the cruise ship SS Stockholm, I had the good fortune to attend a bon voyage party for Monsignor John Flemming who had been summoned to…
I’ve always been fascinated with legends like the Flying Dutchman or ghost ships covered with slime that would ensnare unwary sailors. At one time, a lot of derelict vessels, while not necessarily haunted by ghosts, could still kill unsuspecting mariners.At the end of the nineteenth…
One Sunday morning in the middle of January 1984, Bo Curtis left Rockland, Maine, in his 15-foot outboard and headed for Kent Cove to dig clams. En route, a sudden snow squall packing 35-knot winds roared across Penobscot Bay and overtook Curtis’s small skiff. The…
In July of 1773, 189 Scot immigrants boarded the three-masted, square-rigged ship Hector, bound for Nova Scotia. Built in the Netherlands, the Hector had operated as a cargo ship for some 20 years before being converted into a transport vessel. Already nearing the end of…
William Lyall had thoroughly enjoyed his day walking along the Atlantic City, New Jersey Boardwalk and taking in the sights and sounds of the seaside resort. As the hands of the clock approached eleven o’clock in the evening, he opened the window of his eighth-floor…
I walked down the driveway the other night, taking the trash to the curb and saw my old friend, the constellation Orion. I love watching Orion over the course of winter, noticing how it moves through the night sky, low on the horizon when it…
At the end of a breakwater in Waukegan, Illinois, there is an automated light that shines from an iron cylinder, the remains of what was once a light station in Lake Michigan. Three different lighthouses served this midwestern port. In 1847, a small brick structure…
It’s Feb 27th, and as I write this, we have hopefully just finished one of the coldest and snowiest winters in my ever so long life. I will give you one hint how long. Fiberglass boats weren’t even a dream when I was a kid.…