Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Boats

The Mississippi was in its high season, and the water was fast and cold.

This Civil War Boat Explosion Killed More People Than the ‘Titanic’

The ‘Sultana’ was only legally allowed to carry 376 people. When its boilers exploded, it was carrying 2,300

What Coconuts Can Tell Us About Escaping Alcatraz

Researchers are using GPS-enabled coconuts to monitor currents to determine if three men could have survived a 1962 escape from “The Rock”

New York Water Taxi

How New York City Is Rediscovering Its Maritime Spirit

The city’s waterfront fell into dangerous decline, but now its on the rebound with a new wave of money and creativity

Trending Today

Norway Proposes World’s First Mile-Long Tunnel for Ships

The tunnel would help ships and ferries avoid rough seas around the Stadlandet Peninsula where 33 people have died since World War II

One of the submerged walls found in Ampelakia Bay

Cool Finds

Naval Base Believed to Have Been Used in the Legendary Battle of Salamis Found

Researchers have discovered the harbor in Salamis’ Ampelakia Bay where the Greek fleet prepared to battle the much larger Persian navy

Giethoorn is often called the "Venice of the Netherlands."

Get Lost in a Maze of Storybook Canals in this Dutch ‘Venice’

The picturesque village of Giethoorn is best navigated by boat (or ice skate)

Stern of an Ottoman Wreck

Cool Finds

Over 40 Ancient Ships Discovered on the Bottom of the Black Sea

Researchers on a geology survey in Bulgarian waters ended up discovering vessels from the Ottoman, Byzantine and Venetian empires

The Wavertree, an 1885 tall ship, is back in New York's harbor after a 16-month-long restoration.

Cool Finds

An 1885 Ship Just Sailed Back to New York City

After a 16-month-long overhaul, the Wavertree has been restored to her former glory

The HMS Terror was missing for nearly 170 years after it got trapped in ice and sunk in frigid Arctic waters.

Second Ship From Sir John Franklin’s 19th-Century Expedition Found

Two years and a day after its sister ship was discovered, Canadian researchers find the H.M.S. Terror

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Alaska

Life Aboard a Renovated World War II Tugboat

With help from friends, a transplanted Philadelphian embarks on a voyage of discovery through Alaska’s waters

The sloop Washington, which sank in Lake Ontario in 1803

Cool Finds

Explorers Find Second Oldest Shipwreck in the Great Lakes

The merchant sloop Washington went down in a storm in 1803 on Lake Ontario

Cool Finds

Museum Unveils Henry VIII’s Flagship

The Mary Rose sank almost 500 years ago, but following more than 30 years of restoration, the remains of the warship are open to the public

Amphora that were cargo of a ship that sank in the Greek archipelago of Fourni

Cool Finds

New Discoveries Double the Size of Ancient Greek Shipwreck Graveyard

Researcher in the Fourni archipelago found 23 ships dating between 525 B.C. and 1850

Dawn at the dock at Piscataway, with the many mast stays outlined by the morning light.

Nine Days of a Sailor-Scholar’s Life Aboard the Canoe Circumnavigating the Globe

A Smithsonian expert learns the hard-knock lessons of when to be quiet and how to take a poop

A drawing of one of the Athenian ship sheds built in the harbors of Piraeus

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Uncover Massive Naval Bases of the Ancient Athenians

Researchers have excavated ship sheds in the city of Piraeus that held triremes from the pivotal Battle of Salamis

The 'Andrea Doria' in its last hours

New Research

New Footage Shows Rapid Breakdown of Shipwreck ‘Andrea Doria’

Researchers visited the remains of the Italian luxury liner in a submersible to figure out how quickly wrecks deteriorate

Merchant Mariners aboard a training ship working in the boiler room.

The Merchant Marine Were the Unsung Heroes of World War II

These daring seamen kept the Allied troops armed and fed while at the mercy of German U-boats

Boat or floating farm forest? Swale is both.

Cool Finds

New York’s Newest Urban Farm Floats

A barge bursting with vegetables takes to the water this summer

Photograph of British Kil class patrol gunboat HMS Kildangan painted in dazzle camouflage.

World War I: 100 Years Later

When the British Wanted to Camouflage Their Warships, They Made Them Dazzle

In order to stop the carnage wrought by German U-Boats, the Allied powers went way outside the box

As we turn towards Kawaihae, I get another turn at the steering paddle. All of us steered at different times, sometimes two or three at once to handle the paddle in rough seas.

A Firsthand Account of What It Takes to Pilot a Voyaging Canoe Across the Ocean

More than just a desire to learn, a seat aboard the historic vessel Hōkūle`a requires skill, dedication and well, …obsession

Page 10 of 12