Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Water Transportation

The Kuroshio, or "Black Current," is the Pacific Ocean's answer to the Atlantic's Gulf Stream.

Borne on a Black Current

For thousands of years, the Pacific Ocean’s strong currents have swept shipwrecked Japanese sailors onto American shores

A canoe Doug Chilton and other Tlingit artisans crafted using techniques mastered by their Alaskan ancestors

Spirit of the Sea

Tlingit artisans craft a canoe that embodies their culture’s oceangoing past

The ship slipped beneath the waves in just 36 minutes.

R.I.P., Mighty O

A fabled aircraft carrier sunk deliberately off the coast of Florida is the world’s largest artificial reef

Lincoln’s original patent model was acquired by the Smithsonian in 1908. This replica was built by the Smithsonian in 1978 for long-term display to preserve the fragile original.

Abraham Lincoln Is the Only President Ever to Have a Patent

In 1849, a future president patented an amazing addition to transportation technology

None

Hewed From History

In Charleston, South Carolina, shipwrights re-create a 19th-century schooner

These days a million U.S. tourists each year (like these in the nation's capital) get a DUKW's-eye view of local landmarks.

Odd DUKW

On land and in the water, World War II’s amphibian workhorse showed the skeptics a thing or two now it shows tourists the sights

None

Poling on the River

Batteaux were once the lifeblood of Virginia commerce; now locals celebrate those bygone days

None

Digging Ditches

Narrow, humble irrigation ditches called acequias sustain an endangered way of life but for how long?

None

The Battle of the Dams

Those who think some of our rivers are a dammed shame argue for the structures to come down

Page 12 of 12