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Boats

James Delgado, the former director of NOAA’s Maritime Heritage Program, says there is consensus that the Prinzessin Victoria Luise was the “first purpose-built, non-private excursion ship: what we call ‘cruise’ ships today.”

The History of the World’s First Cruise Ship Built Solely for Luxurious Travel

At the turn of the 20th century, a German Jewish shipping executive had an innovative idea for a new revenue stream: the cruise

An Egyptian-French mission found the 80-foot-long ship beneath roughly 16 feet of hard clay.

Cool Finds

Divers Discover Ancient Military Vessel in Submerged Egyptian City

Prior to the foundation of Alexandria, Thônis-Heracleion served as Egypt’s greatest Mediterranean port

“We used five isotope methods in all to provide information on geology, coastal proximity, climate and diet,” says study co-author Richard Madgwick, an osteoarchaeologist at Cardiff University.

New Research

Ethnically Diverse Crew of Henry VIII’s Flagship Hailed From Iberia, North Africa

New multi-isotope analysis illuminates early lives of sailors stationed on the Tudor “Mary Rose,” including three born outside of Britain

L to R: Ward Lee, Tucker Henderson and Romeo were three of the nearly 500 captives illegally transported on the Wanderer.

Untold Stories of American History

This Yacht Trafficked Enslaved Africans Long After the Slave Trade Was Abolished

New exhibition in Louisiana details the story of the “Wanderer,” the penultimate ship to illegally transport enslaved people into the U.S.

Elite Vikings constructed a huge stone boat for use in rituals at the Surtshellir cave.

Cool Finds

Did Vikings Host Rituals Designed to Stop Ragnarök in This Volcanic Cave?

New findings at a cavern in Iceland point to decades of elite ceremonial activity aimed at preventing the apocalypse

This tracing shows the shape of the carving, which is only visible under certain weather conditions.

Cool Finds

Is This 10,000-Year-Old Carving Europe’s Oldest Known Depiction of a Boat?

New analysis suggests that rock art found in Norway portrays a sealskin vessel used by Stone Age Scandinavians

For nearly a week, salvage teams worked on freeing the beached vessel using a schedule dictated by when low tides and high tides would hit.

The Colossal Container Ship Stuck in the Suez Canal Has Been Freed

With the help of high tides, tugboats were finally able to yank the vessel loose

Researchers posit that the helmet's owner was a Greek soldier who fought in the fifth-century B.C. Persian Wars.

Was This Helmet Worn by an Ancient Greek Soldier During the Persian Wars?

Found in Haifa Bay, Israel, in 2007, the bronze headgear boasts an intricate, peacock-like pattern

Wreckage uncovered in Thorpeness, along England's Suffolk coast, may belong to an 18th-century collier, or coal-carrying vessel.

Cool Finds

Storms Reveal Two Historic Shipwrecks on England’s Eastern Coast

Archaeologists have only gotten a “tantalizing glimpse” of the vessels, which are currently inaccessible due to Covid-19 restrictions

Archaeologists discovered ancient amphorae from Spain and what is now Tunisia.

Cool Finds

Trove of ‘Ancient Treasures’ Found in Shipwreck Off the Coast of Greece

Researchers surveying the seabed surrounding the island of Kasos discovered pottery that holds clues to trade in the Mediterranean

Researchers will continue studying the timbers in an effort to determine their age and origin.

Cool Finds

Shipwreck Exposed by Erosion on Florida Coast Could Be 200 Years Old

Archaeologists think the vessel was likely a 19th-century merchant ship

Daphne, an autonomous solar-powered vessel developed by British Columbia–based Open Ocean Robotics, is part of a wave of new ocean robots designed to police illegal fishing.

A New Generation of Autonomous Vessels Is Looking to Catch Illegal Fishers

A design challenge has tech companies racing to build a robot that can police illegal fishing in marine protected areas

Researchers say the sunken ship may hold panels from Russia's famed Amber Room, which went missing during World War II.

Cool Finds

Shipwrecked Nazi Steamer May Hold Clues to the Amber Room’s Fate

Divers have found sealed chests and military vehicles in the “Karlsruhe,” which was sunk by Soviet planes in 1945

The Mayflower Autonomous Ship's debut in Plymouth, England, is one of many events marking the 400th anniversary of the original Mayflower's 1620 journey.

An A.I.-Driven ‘Mayflower’ Will Cross the Atlantic Next Year

The autonomous vessel’s launch, originally scheduled to mark the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrims’ landing at Plymouth, was delayed by the pandemic

This painting depicts the night the Phoenix steamboat caught fire on Lake Champlain.

Cool Finds

Lost Pieces of 19th-Century Steamboat Wreck Found in Vermont

Divers discovered the Phoenix’s hull in 1978, but the vessel’s wheels remained lost—until now

A bottle of whiskey, a diving helmet and bricks recovered from the wreck of the SS Politician, which sank off the coast of Scotland in 1941.

Cool Finds

Whiskey Salvaged From 79-Year-Old Scottish Shipwreck Is Up for Sale

A commercial diver recovered the intact bottle of spirits—which is no longer safe for consumption—in 1987

A high-resolution survey scan of U-Boat U-47 shows a remarkably well-preserved wreck.

Wreck of U-Boat Sunk Off English Coast During WWI Explored for the First Time

Researchers used deep-sea scanning to learn more about the German submarine’s history

The pair immediately knew their find was something special, as wood rarely survives in saltwater unless it is buried by sediment.

Cool Finds

Divers Find 16th-Century Shipwreck Off Coast of Northern Italy

The vessel may be the “Santo Spirito & Santa Maria di Loreto,” which sank in the vicinity in 1579

View of the PT-59 boat in the Solomon Islands during World War II.

Cool Finds

Wreck of John F. Kennedy’s World War II Patrol Boat Recovered

The future president took over command of PT-59 after his first ship, PT-109, sank in 1943

A storm on the Great Salt Lake in Utah exposed the wreckage of what may be a 100-year-old boat.

Cool Finds

Storm Unearths Wreck of Century-Old Boat in Utah’s Great Salt Lake

The vessel may belong to a fleet used to construct and maintain a railroad causeway that crosses the briny body of water

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