Maritime Museum News

Big data, advanced computers and AI are allowing vessel designers to prepare models that leave essentially nothing to chance.“Lastly, it may be of considerable importance to form from the draught a block model of the vessel from which a still more accurate judgment may be formed of the fitness and beauty of the body. And should any defect be discovered, farther alterations must still be made, till the draught and the model are perfectly approved of. These different alterations and repeated calculations may appear very tedious…

Climate change advocates and seafarers recently gathered for a small conference at the Hudson Valley Maritime Museum in Kingston, N.Y., to discuss the shipping industry’s struggle to achieve sustainability and environmental compliance.The setting, the hamlet of Rondout, N.Y. (within Kingston), holds significance as it was, ironically, a Hudson River port once considered the largest coal port in the world (yes, the world). In 1828, the opening of the Delaware and Hudson Canal enabled coal to be delivered from Pennsylvania to New York City.

For many, the ocean is life. It provides transportation, work, commerce, food, recreation—tales as old as time and shared by people across the globe. These stories are lived day to day, passed down between generations, and shared with the public through various media. Maritime museums assume responsibility to share these histories while honoring the communities shaped ocean exploration and commerce. In a decade where ocean health and climatic events have become a primary focus…

Of all the rivers in the world, the St. Lawrence River is undeniably one of the most challenging for mariners.This water highway is at some spots as narrow as a large river and, at others, as wide as a small sea. It has played a vital role over the last three centuries as an important artery for trade, communication, transportation and settlement. And since 1959, the year the St. Lawrence Seaway was inaugurated, it has been a gateway to the heart of the continent.The first European explorers who sailed the St. Lawrence discovered it was not easy to master: it was long, but never calm.

After a program of vital welding work, the Scottish Maritime Museum is on track to complete essential repairs to what is believed to be the oldest floating Clyde-built ship in time for the vessel’s 150th anniversary this Summer.The Scottish Maritime Museum raised £40,000 for much-needed repairs to the 1872 MV Kyles, one of Britain’s most important historic vessels and a rare and nationally important survivor from a key period in Glasgow shipbuilding, through a Keep the Kyles Afloat Crowdfunder campaign last year.The Museum’s technical team…

Maritime trade group the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) announced plans to host a high-level summit to address the challenge of decarbonization.Responding to a challenge thrown down by industry leaders in Glasgow, during COP26, ICS will work with partners to convene shipowners, ministers, maritime, energy and infrastructure leaders with the challenge of bringing forward a tangible path to decarbonize the sector. The closed-door meeting will be held in London the day after a dinner on June 20…

The Australian National Maritime Museum has announced a shipwreck found in Newport Harbor, off Rhode Island in the United States, has been confirmed as Captain Cook’s ship, HMB Endeavour.There have been very similar announcements made over the years but have they finally made a definitive case?By making its announcement, the Australian National Maritime Museum seems to have decided so, and there does seem to have been significant recent progress, centered on one shipwreck that matches the known details of the Endeavour closely.However…

A new exhibition area on the subject of "Reefer Shipping - Transport of Perishable Goods" is attracting visitors to the International Maritime Museum Hamburg (IMMH). Starting October 19, 2021, this new part of the exhibition on deck 6 will present everything on the subject of reefer shipping, using the Hamburg Süd as an example. From the beginning of reefer shipping in 1877 to the present day, the entire spectrum of development is presented to visitors to the IMMH using ships…

The U.S. Navy’s three Global class oceanographic research ships (AGORs) have received a new lease on life. The ships-- R/V Thomas G. Thompson (AGOR 23), R/V Roger Revelle (AGOR 24) and R/V Atlantis (AGOR 25)-- which entered service between 1991 and 1998--were built with 30-year expected service lives. Thanks to extensive overhauls on all three they have been returned to service with another 15 years of useful service.AGOR 23 is operated by the University of Washington; AGOR 24 is operated by Scripps Institution of Oceanography…

“I hold no branch in higher esteem, than the Merchant Marine…”That is a quote from General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Allied Commander of the Pacific in WWII. That one sentence sums up National Maritime Day. Inasmuch if it were not for our glorious Merchant Marine and maritime industry, we may not even have been a nation at all.National Maritime Day is the day we honor our American Merchant Mariners for protecting our freedom and for their dedication to promoting American commerce together with the accomplishments of the U.S. maritime industry.

Canadian headquartered naval architecture firm Robert Allan Ltd. announced that its Executive Chairman, Robert G. "Rob" Allan, has been made an Honorary Member by the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME), making him one of only 50 living individuals to enjoy this privilege. This membership is awarded to a person as result of their dedicated service to the maritime industry and the Society and is a symbol of recognition offered as a token of the high esteem in which their colleagues hold them.SNAME has previously honored Rob Allan with many accolades.

The Scottish Maritime Museum has successfully bid for an 80-year-old bottle of whisky salvaged from one of Scotland’s most famous shipwrecks and the inspiration for the Ealing Studio comedy Whisky Galore!The unlabelled bottle of blended whisky from the 1923 SS Politician, which ran aground off the Isle of Eriskay in 1941, was acquired by the Scottish Maritime Museum with the support of the National Fund for Acquisitions at The Grand Whisky Auction.The rare find will become part…

The wreckage of a major German warship has been discovered off the coast of Norway some 80 years after it was sunk in a World War Two battle, Norwegian power grid operator Statnett and a maritime archaeologist said.Identified this year from images and sonar scans of its hull and of details such as the position of gun turrets, the cruiser Karlsruhe was first detected in 2017 just 15 meters (50 feet) from a subsea power cable that has been operating since 1977.Built in the 1920s…

Ship management and services company V.Group announced that Paddy Rodgers has been appointed as a non-executive director.Rodgers had been CEO of Euronav for almost 20 years before stepping down from the post in 2019. Under his leadership Euronav grew from a family operation with 17 vessels to one of the largest international tanker companies with 73 vessels. He is currently Director at the Royal Museums Greenwich, England comprising of the Royal Observatory, Cutty Sark, National Maritime Museum and Queen’s House.“I am honored to be joining V.Group at such a challenging and exciting time…

Netherlands' minister Cora van Nieuwenhuizen (Infrastructure and Water Management) accepted the unique document 'Mannheim Convention', which has ensured free trade on the Rhine for over a century and a half, on behalf of Maritime Museum Rotterdam.To mark the 150th anniversary of the convention, the document has been making a historic journey over the Rhine. It has already been exhibited in Mannheim, Bonn and Duisburg, and will now be on display in the Maritime Museum for several months."This Convention ensures that almost 60% of transport between Rotterdam and Germany takes place via water and that there are almost 5 million fewer trucks on the roads.

A remediation programme to protect island ecosystems from damage caused by oil pollution from World War II wrecks sunk in the Pacific Ocean will launch in Newcastle Harbour today (Thursday 23 May).The programme is the result of a partnership between Major Projects Foundation, the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) – an intergovernmental Pacific regional organisation made up of 26 members – and the University of Newcastle. It will see expert teams of scientists, engineers and marine archaeologists work with Pacific island communities to meet the challenges posed by the degradation of wrecks.There are in excess of 3…

Hamburg Süd and the International Maritime Museum Hamburg (IMMH) have signed an agreement to catalog and display the historical collection of the shipping company, which was founded in 1871. Using images, ship models, documents and other artefacts from Hamburg Süd’s archive, the project aims to make the history of Hamburg Süd accessible to the general public in the form of a permanent exhibition. There are also plans to organize a special exhibition for 2021 to mark the company’s 150th anniversary.

The pilot house of the tug Huntington recently returned to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum after extensive metal refurbishing and repair.All restoration work was performed by E. H. Harvey Metal Working Co. of Easton, Md., and included sandblasting the exterior, removing lead paint, and preparing the exterior for final painting. The pilot house is currently stored in one of CBMM’s off-campus locations, in anticipation of restoring Huntington’s wood trim and interior during the warmer weather.With generous support from Chesapeake Shipbuilding…

The HEVIMA Innovate UK co-funded project, led by REAPsystems, will be demonstrating its innovative modular hybrid propulsion at an event in Falmouth on Wednesday 22nd May 2019. This new system will potentially offer significant savings in fuel, engine power rating, weight and emissions, as well as reduced noise and vibration for commercial vessels up to 250kw.The HEVIMA system is designed to outperform the efficiency and emission levels of existing hybrid systems for the small…

The "Hong Kong Maritime Week 2018" (HKMW 2018), a major annual event of the maritime and port industries in Hong Kong, unveiled on Saturday (November 18) with the "Hong Kong orienteering race.According to a government press release, the  third edition of Hong Kong's Maritime Week oragnised by the Hong Kong Maritime and Port Board (HKMPB) with co-organisers, the Hong Kong Shipowners Association and the Hong Kong Maritime Museum, runs from 18 to 24 November and features over 50 events comprising both industry and outreach.Officiating at the opening ceremony of the HKMW 2018, the Chairman of the HKMPB and Secretary for Transport and Housing, Frank Chan Fan, said, "Maritime, trading and logistics have all along been the pillar industry of Hong Kong.

Hikawa Maru, which is owned by Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK)x, has been recognized by the Japan Society of Naval Architects and Ocean Engineers (JASNAOE) as a cargo-passenger ship that conveys the story of maritime technology in the early Showa era.On July 20, a ceremony was held at Meiji Kinenkan in Tokyo, and Norio Kanaya, the 28th captain of Hikawa Maru, received the recognition.This honor was introduced last year by JASNAOE and is given to vessels that have historical, academic, and technical value, promote public understanding, and are seen as symbols of cultural heritage for future generations.Hikawa Maru is the only existing large-scale cargo-passenger ship built in Japan before the war, and is currently moored at Yamashita Park in Yokohama as a museum ship open to the public.

International Maritime Organization (IMO)’s globally recognized training centre, the IMO International Maritime Law Institute (IMLI), has held its 29th annual graduation ceremony at the Maritime Museum in Vittoriosa, Malta (9 June). Fifty-one students from 41 countries graduated from programs covering all areas of international maritime law in a ceremony presided over by IMO Secretary-General and Chair of the IMLI Governing Board, Kitack Lim, who heralded the Institute and congratulated the graduates on their achievement. Prior to the ceremony, Secretary-General Lim paid a courtesy call on the Prime Minister of Malta, Joseph Muscat in Valletta, and expressed his appreciation to the Prime Minister and the Government of Malta for its continued support to IMLI.

HISWA Holland Yachting Group and Port of Amsterdam are making real their ambition to establish Amsterdam more firmly as a major destination for superyachts. The diversity in berths located in the heart of the city centre, combined with excellent re-fit and maintenance facilities in the port area make Amsterdam a unique destination for superyachts. A quiet transformation has been underway in the superyacht world for some years now. Where the Mediterranean and the Caribbean used to reign supreme in terms of both facilities and interest, a new generation of yacht owners are increasingly looking for something more original. High latitudes are becoming ever more fashionable and northern Europe, with its superb nature, convivial culture and avant-garde art & design has been reaping the rewards.