Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Boats

A photogrammetric reconstruction of the submarine USS F-1, showing the conning tower and collision damage that caused the boat to sink

New Research

See a Lost U.S. Navy Submarine, Sunk During a World War I Test Run, in Digital Detail

Researchers descended to the wreck in underwater vehicles to collect data for 3-D models

Loaded with colorful containers, a cargo ship floats right into the Port of Miami.

Smithsonian Photo Contest Galleries

Set Sail With These 15 Scenes of Sensational Ships

These seafaring shots are harbored in the archives of the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest

Ever since its departure from England exactly 180 years ago, on May 19, 1845, the Franklin expedition has captivated the public’s imagination.

The Shipwrecks From John Franklin’s Doomed Arctic Expedition Were Exactly Where the Inuit Said They Would Be

In May 1845, 129 British officers and crew members set out in search of the Northwest Passage on HMS “Erebus” and HMS “Terror.” None returned

An archaeologist keeps the ship's delicate frame moist to prevent decay

Cool Finds

See the Rare Medieval Boat Discovered Over 18 Feet Below Sea Level in Barcelona

It could take years for archaeologists to properly excavate and preserve the delicate wooden vessel, which likely became shipwrecked

The crew of the Mackay-Bennett discovers a Titanic lifeboat adrift while searching for the bodies of those who died in the disaster.

The Long, Strange Trip of the Titanic Victims Whose Remains Surfaced Hundreds of Miles Away, Weeks After the Ship Sank

Rescuers only recovered the bodies of 337 of the 1,500-plus passengers and crew who died in the disaster. Around one-third of these corpses were buried at sea

The bow of the Titanic

See the Titanic in Remarkable Detail With a 3D Scan That Reveals New Secrets of the Doomed Ship’s Final Moments

A documentary called “Titanic: The Digital Resurrection” will unveil the most detailed digital reconstruction of the shipwreck ever created. Experts are using the model to study the vessel’s demise

A batteau is a flat-bottomed vessel, a wooden relic of the 18th century that once carried tobacco, iron and flour through Virginia.

Two Centuries Ago, Batteaumen on Virginia’s James River Ended Long Work Days With a Taste of Freedom

The James River Batteau Company, an outdoor recreation-meets-historical tour business, has designed a dinner cruise that honors the resilience and culinary ingenuity of enslaved boatmen

Nikau Dix holds a carved waka piece he found in the creek.

Cool Finds

A Fisherman and His Son Noticed Strange Pieces of Wood on a Beach. They Turned Out to Be Fragments of a Polynesian Canoe

The boat, known as a waka, was unearthed in the Chatham Islands. Researchers say it could be one of the most significant discoveries of its kind

Diver Chris de Putron inspects the wreck of the German submarine UC-18, which sank off the Channel Islands in February 1917.

How Britain’s Secret Decoy Ships Outfoxed German U-Boats During World War I

Divers recently discovered the wreck of a German submarine and the Royal Navy Q-ship that sank it in February 1917

The ship has been docked in Philadelphia since 1996.

The Historic S.S. ‘United States,’ the Fastest Liner to Cross the Atlantic, Is Heading to a Watery Grave

Officials plan to purposefully sink the passenger ship off the coast of Florida, where it will become the world’s largest artificial reef

None

The Dramatic Rescue of the Citizen Sailors Who Patrolled the Atlantic Coast Looking for Nazi U-Boats

During World War II, the crew of the Zaida were among the everyday Americans who risked their lives watching out for enemy submarines

Matanuska Glacier north of Anchorage is one of the best spots for a more intense experience in the Alaskan wilderness.

Discover Alaska

Seven Ways to Explore Alaska’s Endangered Glacial World

With the state’s glaciers retreating at alarming rates, there is no time like now to trek, climb, paddle and fly to see them

Captain John Voss, left, aboard the Tilikum in Samoa. “So diminutive,” one Australian reporter wrote of the boat, “one wondered and admired the pluck, perseverance and skill displayed in bringing her across the 9,200 miles of trackless ocean.”   

The Death-Defying Attempt to Circumnavigate the World in a Canoe

How Captain John Voss put his dugout canoe—and himself—to the ultimate test

Maritime archaeologist Tamara Thomsen discovered this 1,200-year-old dugout canoe in Lake Mendota, Wisconsin, in June 2021.

Archaeologists Are Finding Dugout Canoes in the American Midwest as Old as the Great Pyramids of Egypt

In the waterways connected to the Great Lakes, researchers uncover boats that tell the story of millennia of Indigenous history

Charlotte, an injured turtle, wears his custom-made, 3D-printed harness that helps him swim straight.

Sea Turtle With ‘Bubble Butt Syndrome’ Gets Another Chance at Floating Straight, Thanks to a 3D-Printed Harness

Named Charlotte, the animal was hit by a boat years ago, causing him to develop an affliction that traps air bubbles at the back of his shell

An illustration of opening of the Suez Canal in 1869

On This Day in History

How the Groundbreaking Suez Canal Forever Transformed the World’s Shipping Routes

The massive global shortcut linking the Mediterranean and Red Seas took ten years to dig through the Isthmus of Suez and was built on the path of an ancient canal

Underwater photos revealed the John Evenson's giant propeller.

This Shipwreck’s Location Was a Mystery for 129 Years. Then, Two Men Found It Just Minutes Into a Three-Day Search

The “John Evenson” tugboat was helping another ship enter the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal in Wisconsin when it sank to the bottom of Lake Michigan in 1895

The Hinemoana Halo Waka Moana Initiative recruited 12 crew members from the Cook Islands, New Zealand, Samoa and Tonga.

An All-Female Crew Sailed 1,000 Miles in a Traditional Voyaging Canoe to Help Save Humpback Whales

The team traveled from New Zealand to Tonga along a humpback highway to collect environmental DNA and raise awareness of the plight of the marine mammals

Visitors touring the Galeón Andalucía in the town of Ramsgate, England, earlier this year

You Can Climb Aboard a Massive Reproduction of a 17th-Century Spanish Galleon That’s Sailing Around the World

The Galeón Andalucía, which is now making its way to London, was designed to resemble the armed merchant vessels manufactured by Spain and Portugal between the 16th and 18th centuries

Joe Mazraani fans away sand to get a better look at part of Le Lyonnais.

Divers Discover the Long-Lost Wreckage of a Passenger Steamship That Sank in a Hit-and-Run in 1856

“Le Lyonnais” descended into the depths off the coast of Massachusetts after colliding with the “Adriatic,” a sailing vessel that left the floundering steamship to fend for itself

Page 2 of 13