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Ships

The Glomar Explorer, the ship that served as home base for the submarine-retrieval mission of Project Azorian. The Glomar Explorer's cover story was that it was doing deep sea mining research.

During the Cold War, the CIA Secretly Plucked a Soviet Submarine From the Ocean Floor Using a Giant Claw

The International Spy Museum details the audacious plan that involved a reclusive billionaire, a 618-foot-long ship, and a great deal of stealth

Cool Finds

Historians Are Looking for Images of the HMS Beagle’s Anchors

Researchers are hoping to confirm that they have discovered an anchor from the ship that carried Darwin stuck in the mud of an Australian river

Washington State Ferries, Washington

Seven of the Most Scenic Ferry Rides in the United States

Skip the bridges and tunnels, and board a boat on your next road trip

Cool Finds

North Carolina’s Famed Shipwrecks Are Now Home to a Shark Conservation Research Study

Unwitting citizen-scientists discovered evidence that vulnerable species return to the same ships, which could help in their recovery

Cool Finds

Salvagers Accidentally Found the Netherlands’ Oldest Shipwreck

Dated to around 1540, the ship carried a load of copper plate that was likely for the country’s earliest copper coins

Redoshi seen in “The Negro Farmer: Extension Work for Better Farming and Better Living"

Cool Finds

Researcher Identifies the Last Living Survivor of the Transatlantic Slave Trade

Redoshi was 12 when she was kidnapped and sold to the crew of the Clotilda

Cool Finds

Mariner’s Astrolabe Recovered From Shipwreck Is the World’s Oldest

The navigational gadget comes from the wreck of the Esmerelda, part of Vasco da Gama’s fleet that sunk off the coast of Oman in 1503

Artist's depiction of "Henry," a teenaged sailor on the Mary Rose.

Cool Finds

DNA Shows Ethnically Diverse Crew Sailed Henry VIII’s Flagship

The research on the skeletons found near the wreck suggests there were sailors and marines on board who came from North Africa and the Mediterranean

Researchers examine porcelain from the Java Sea Ship wreck using their "ray gun."

New Research

How an ‘X-Ray Gun’ Is Telling Us More About the Java Sea Shipwreck

Researchers used X-ray fluorescence to find the origins of porcelain recovered from the vessel to help pinpoint which port the ship first departed from

Cool Finds

Found: Sailboat From Teen’s Abandoned Round-the-World Attempt

Abby Sunderland’s boat was dismasted in the Indian Ocean in 2010 during her controversial bid to become the youngest to circumnavigate the world solo

The American Heritage is enjoying a new lease on life as an artificial reef home to hundreds of deep-sea sponges and other marine creatures

He Was on Duty When the Ship Sank. Two Decades Later, the ROV Pilot Aids in Its Exploration

You can now explore a 3-D model of the wreck of the American Heritage

Trending Today

We Finally Know What Sank the U.S.S. San Diego During World War I

After six visits to the ship and sophisticated modeling, historians have concluded that a German mine sunk the cruiser off the coast of New York in 1918

Cool Finds

Massive Shark Nursery Found Off the West Coast of Ireland

Thousands of eggs and hundreds of catsharks were spotted during a deep sea coral reef survey 200 miles west of the island

Viking tar kiln.

New Research

Was the Vikings’ Secret to Success Industrial-Scale Tar Production?

Evidence suggests that the ability to mass-produce tar bolstered their trade repertoire and allowed them to waterproof and seal their iconic longships

A dumbo octopus, "showing off."

See Rare Footage of the Elusive, Ethereal Dumbo Octopus

A team of researchers spotted the creature thousands of feet below sea level with the help of a remotely operated vehicle

Cool Finds

Oldest Intact Shipwreck Discovered in the Black Sea

The Greek merchant vessel similar to those found on ancient pottery was carbon dated to 400 B.C.

The bow of the ship, believed to be of the snake carving on the Lake Serpent.

Underwater Archaeologists May Have Discovered the Oldest Shipwreck in Lake Erie

After an ill-fated journey hauling boulders sank it, the Lake Serpent is at last ready to tell its story

Norway’s latest ships, including the passenger vessel Future of the Fjords, may portend the end of carbon-belching vessels. Of the 60 or so fully electric or hybrid vessels in operation globally, 40 percent are Norwegian.

Norway’s Newest Ships Give a Glimpse Into the Future of Sustainable Seafaring

The country is using oil and gas riches to engineer emission-free vessels

This 1812 American Frigate Could Take a Direct Cannon Hit

A British frigate fires on the USS Constitution - but its shots either miss or rebound off its tough oak hull

The precious piece sold for $57,500.

Sold: A Pocket Watch From the Titanic, Adorned with Hebrew Letters

The watch belonged to Sinai Kantor, a Russian immigrant who died when the ship went down

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