This week’s list of maritime events covers 200 years of maritime and naval history, from wars to shipping, and one of the longest continuously-published resources.
March 23: The US Navy has had eight different ships named “Hornet” in its history. In 1815, a brigantine named Hornet (DANFS history, ShipIndex) captured the British sloop Penguin (ShipIndex), off the island of Tristan da Cunha, in the South Atlantic. Neither vessel had yet heard that the war they were fighting, the War of 1812, had ended a month earlier. “Hornet” and “Wasp” are among the most common names for US Naval ship. [[HT: see pic of battle at https://www.shipindex.org/vessels/Q5633735]]
March 24: In 1970, the 1914 tug Eppleton Hall (Wikipedia, ShipIndex) arrived in San Francisco, after a six-month voyage from Newcastle, England. The tug is now an integral part of the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park.
March 26: Nathaniel Bowditch, author of one of the most important works in navigation ever published, is born in 1773. Bowditch’s first “New American Practical Navigator” appeared in 1802, and is still published, now by the US Government. The 2024 edition is available to all, online, from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.
March 28: The Battle of Valparaiso, part of the War of 1812, took place in 1814, off the coast of Valparaiso, Chile. USS Essex (Wikipedia, ShipIndex) and USS Essex Junior (Wikipedia, ShipIndex) battled – and lost – against the better-armed HMS Phoebe (Wikipedia, ShipIndex) and HMS Cherub (Wikipedia, ShipIndex). Essex was captained by David Porter, who captured a whaler called Atlantic, and renamed it Essex Junior. Essex served as HMS Essex until 1837.
March 29: The Ever Given (Wikipedia, ShipIndex), one of the largest container ships in the world, was released from being stuck in – and completely blocking – the Suez Canal, in 2021. The closure of the canal, due to the ship’s grounding, highlighted the critical role of maritime transport in moving goods all around the world.
For more about these ships, check out ShipIndex.org. And let us know if you have events that you think we should include!