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BilgeRacc 🏳️‍⚧️ @bilgeracc.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

Queen Mary 2 just visited her sister and namesake, the original Queen Mary, for the first time in 20 years during a long cruise she's going on. She also did her first passing of the Panama Canal. Really cool to see these two together for probably the last time. #maritime #maritimenews #ship #boat

A colourized photo of the Queen Mary 2 (left) with her namesake Queen Mary (right), taken in Long Beach, California on February 2nd, 2026. Credit to KTLA News for the image.

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BilgeRacc 🏳️‍⚧️ @bilgeracc.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

Okay so apparently these are official release specs. Completely ignoring the fact battleships as a platform are just obsolete to begin with, I genuinely don't know how they plan to power this and get 30+ kts out of it with a gas powered engine. Bro what. #naval #navy #maritime #battleship #news

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BilgeRacc 🏳️‍⚧️ @bilgeracc.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

I'd be a poor maritime account if I did not acknowledge the significance of today. It's the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald. I'm currently on a hitch so I can't drink, but if you can, toast one to the 29 men that didn't make it home that night. Here's to you, gents.

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BilgeRacc 🏳️‍⚧️ @bilgeracc.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

Close enough, welcome back Age of Sail. 😭 Jokes aside the Neoliner Origin seems a really cool vessel, even if it's a ro-ro. I dunno if it will be effective but it's nice to see an attempt to be environmentally conscious. Plus she looks pretty. Not paying $7000 for a passenger ticket tho.

A colour photo of the new "Neoliner Origin" by Neoline, a roll on-roll off style of cargo vessel propelled mostly by sails to reduce emissions and environmental impact. She has two large masts with two large sails on each, with a total of 3,000 square meters of sail area. Photo credit: Neoline official website.

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BilgeRacc 🏳️‍⚧️ @bilgeracc.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

Having suffered damage to the hull, she started taking on water and listed over to her port side, then promptly sank. This is what remains of her, after over 30 years of being a victim to water and sun and neglect. Much of her superstructure is gone, but the hull mostly still intact surprisingly.

A color photo taken by me of the wreck of the Inaugural along the shore, approximately a mile south of the Arch. She lays on her port side, easily visible with the low river stage.

Anotjer color photo taken by me of the wreck of the Inaugural along the shore, approximately a mile south of the Arch. Though much of the superstructure has eroded away or been scrapped, her hull is remarkably well preserved.

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BilgeRacc 🏳️‍⚧️ @bilgeracc.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

She was stricken from the record in 1967, being sold to Missouri to be kept as a floating museum from 1968 onwards. Being only one of two remaining wartime vessels of her class, she was a popular attraction, even being designated a Historic Landmark. For 25 years she remained moored by the Arch.

A black and white photo from 1967 of the USS Inaugural moored at the levee in front of the Arch. She served as a popular maritime attraction from 1968 to 1993.

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BilgeRacc 🏳️‍⚧️ @bilgeracc.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

The USS Inaugural (AM-242) lnaugural was an Admirable-class minesweeper from WW2, the largest class the USN had during the war. She was commissioned in December of 1944, putting her in perfect time to participate in the end of the Pacific theater.

A wartime black and white photo from some time in the 1940s of the Inaugural with her dazzle camo, a method of paint that made it more difficult to discern hull shape and direction at distance on the waves.

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BilgeRacc 🏳️‍⚧️ @bilgeracc.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

She has 5 decks, with an onboard gym and putting course up on the promenade. Her length is about 300 feet (90m), a beam of 52 feet (16m), and had a top speed of 12 knots (though her onboard odometer likely just measures this in MPH because knots aren't usually used on the river.

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BilgeRacc 🏳️‍⚧️ @bilgeracc.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

She's owned by American Cruise Lines (ACL) to provide river excursions coming from her home port of New Orleans, all the way up to St. Paul, Minnesota. She can carry and entertain 150 guests, all with staterooms facing out to the water and the majority having private balconies.

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BilgeRacc 🏳️‍⚧️ @bilgeracc.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

Been awhile! Decided to show off a boat I saw swinging by the levee. Here's the scuttlebutt on her. The *American Heritage*, originally named the *Queen of the Mississippi* is a paddlewheel river cruise boat that entered service in 2015, so she's pretty new.

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BilgeRacc 🏳️‍⚧️ @bilgeracc.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

I realize I should probably show my raccoon

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BilgeRacc 🏳️‍⚧️ @bilgeracc.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

More news. Also somber. Work has begun on breaking down the SS United States for sinking. As of yesterday, they have started to remove her funnels, one of which will be preserved in a museum for the ship situated in Florida. Hurts to see her go. To really see it.

A colour photo of crews removing the funnels of the SS United States in preparation for her to be sunk as a coral reef. (Credit: Okaloosa Board of County Commissioners, 08/05/2025)

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BilgeRacc 🏳️‍⚧️ @bilgeracc.bsky.social · 30/07/2025

It is such a silly amalgamation of gears and crossbeams and pins that has a truly undeniable charm and ingenuity to it. His H2 is even more nonsensical yet equally as alluring to look at.

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BilgeRacc 🏳️‍⚧️ @bilgeracc.bsky.social · 30/07/2025

I'm supposed to be sleeping but I recently started a new book ("The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder" by David Grann) and in my reading I was led to musing about marine chronometers. Like look at the jump from the first major iteration by John Harrison to his last (1735 to 1772).

An image of a recreation of John Harrison's first marine chronometer, a design finished and trialed in 1735. A large and almost unruly contraption of brass crossbeams and gears, with a large clock face on the front. This design was first tested on HMS Centurion and HMS Orford in 1736, and performed well enough to impress the captains and Britain's Board of Longitude.

An image of John Harrison's last marine chronometer, known as H5. Its design is not unlike that of a pocket watch, though considerably upsized. This last iteration was incredibly accurate, specifically to "within one third of one second per day" according to King George III, of whom had personally tested it following some political quagmire regarding Parliament not granting Harrison owed reward money for developing a working method of calculating longitude.

It would be Harrison's last chronometer, as he would pass 3 ish years later in early 1775.

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BilgeRacc 🏳️‍⚧️ @bilgeracc.bsky.social · 12/04/2025

Notable among these passengers that disembarked were two photographers by the name of Francis Browne and Kate Odell. Both were responsible for taking some of the very last photographs we have the vessel before she sank, with Odell's being the very last known photo taken of her. Both are below.

A black and white photograph of the RMS Titanic as she leaves Queenstown, with a rowboat ferrying passengers to a tender vessel seen to the right. (Picture by Francis Browne, April 11th 1912)

A black and white photograph of the RMS Titanic as she sails off southward, away from Queenstown and off towards the Atlantic for her voyage proper. This would be the very last time she was seen by afloat by anyone ashore, and the last known photograph ever taken of her before her sinking. She wouldn't be seen again by the wider world until 1985 when her wreck was discovered. (Photo by Kate Odell, April 11th, 1912).

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BilgeRacc 🏳️‍⚧️ @bilgeracc.bsky.social · 12/04/2025

About a day late but such is the way for my work! Morning rises and passes on the 11th, with Titanic pulling into Cork Harbour, Queenstown, close to noon. Much like Cherbourg, they can't dock the large ship and resort to tenders. Here 123 passengers would board, and 7 would depart.

A black and white photo of RMS Titanic arriving to Queenstown, Cork Harbour on April 11th, 1912. This was the vessel's last port-of-call along her voyage until New York, a destination she'd never reach.

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BilgeRacc 🏳️‍⚧️ @bilgeracc.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

From there Titanic would make way for Cherbourg, a French port, some 77 nmi away. Here tenders would ferry passengers to and from ship and port, bringing some 274 passengers to the ship, and taking 24 back ashore. One of these tenders, SS Nomadic, is the only remaining White Star Line vessel left.

A colour photograph of the SS Nomadic, the last surviving White Star Line vessel in existence.

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BilgeRacc 🏳️‍⚧️ @bilgeracc.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

This send off was not painless; a near collision with another vessel, the New York, was stopped just in time by the quick thinking of a tugboat and Captain Smith calling all engines full astern, avoiding damage and delay by 4 feet. An ill omen of what was to come, say the superstitious sailor.

A black and white photo of the New York and RMS Titanic nearly colliding in Southampton Dock, April 10th 1912.

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BilgeRacc 🏳️‍⚧️ @bilgeracc.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

Around noon today, BST, on April 10th the RMS Titanic would leave her port in Southampton to begin what would be her very first, and last, voyage. With 699 crew and 920 passengers, she would cast her moorings to sail off on a windy day, unaware of the grim fate that would soon befall her.

A black and white photo of RMS Titanic at port in Southampton, England circa April 10th, 1912. Here she sits at an acute angle of the dock, her stern swung out starboard, ready to cast off towards the English Channel.

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BilgeRacc 🏳️‍⚧️ @bilgeracc.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

The canoe was likely used as a fishing vessel, along the Komadugu Gana River, and possibly in Lake Chad, which was likely much larger in the past, thus providing more use to the peoples there. This is unsurprising, as the livelihood of villages in this time relied upon passed down traditions/trades.

A monochrome map image of the Yobe region where the Dufuna canoe was found, including the Komadugu Gana river that the peoples likely used to fish on, and possibly rudimentary trade or sharing between villages though I could not find much to support this conjecture. It is also possible that they traveled to the Lake Chad flood basin.

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BilgeRacc 🏳️‍⚧️ @bilgeracc.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

Excavation took place in 1994 by the two teams and took about two weeks. She rested in a deposit of sand and clay, some nearly 15 feet down. This environment, being rather anoxic, preserved her quite well. Examination of the vessel found she had been finely sculpted with lithic tools.

A colour photograph of the excavation of the Dufuna Canoe, likely around 1994. Exact credits unknown.

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BilgeRacc 🏳️‍⚧️ @bilgeracc.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

Starting off early and strong, we have the second oldest boat still preserved: The Dufuna Canoe! Found close to the village of Dufuna, present day Nigeria, she is radiocarbon dated to be about 8000 to 8500 years old. Found by a Fulani herdsman in 1987, she offers key insight into the peoples there.

A colour photograph of the Dufuna Canoe (credits to Things Nigeria, article dated 03/2018. Exact photo credits unknown).

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BilgeRacc 🏳️‍⚧️ @bilgeracc.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

As of two days ago, the SS United States has been towed from her port in PA to begin her journey of being taken to Mobile, Alabama where she will be sunk in the Florida Gulf to become an artificial reef. The United States was at one point the fastest liner in the world. Sad to see this be her fate

A colour photograph of the SS United States being towed from port, underway to Mobile Alabama. (Rachel Wisniewski, The New York Times, Feb 19, 2025).

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BilgeRacc 🏳️‍⚧️ @bilgeracc.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Jones would receive the title of Chevalier from Louis XVI, and further accolades later from the US government for his heroic actions. On the other side of the pond, Brits see him as little more than a lowly pirate with no loyalty to his home kingdom. His later years would be highly controversial.

An engraving depicting John Paul Jones in pirate attire, adorned with Jolly Rogers. Titled "Paul Jones the Pirate" (date unknown, made by an A. Park of London. No further info of artist's identity could be found).

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BilgeRacc 🏳️‍⚧️ @bilgeracc.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Alliance soon returned to the fray, the Countess surrendered, and fired another broadside that did equal damage to both locked-together ships. Heavily damaged, unable to move, the captain of the Serapis surrendered, and Jones took command of her. A day and a half later, the Bonhomme burned and sank.

Illustration in black and white of the USS Bonhomme Richard ablaze in her fight against the HMS Serapis. (1798, author unknown, sourced from Memoirs De Paul Jones).

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BilgeRacc 🏳️‍⚧️ @bilgeracc.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Of the coast of Flamborough Head, two ships would interpose themselves between Jones and the merchants: British frigate HMS Serapis, and with them a hired vessel called the Countess of Scarborough. The merchants now away, Jones engaged the Brits. The Battle of Flamborough Head then commences!

A color, oil painting of the Battle of Flamborough Head, titled "Action Between the Serapis and Bonhomme Richard" (1780, oil on canvas, painted by Richard Paton 1717-1791).

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BilgeRacc 🏳️‍⚧️ @bilgeracc.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

First focus will be on her commander: John Paul Jones What a polarizing figure he was! He was born in Scotland in July of 1747, and soon found himself answering the call of the sea at the plucky age of 13. From here he served on British merchant ships, including slave vessels, which he despised.

A color, painted portrait of John Paul Jones (painted by A.S. Conrad, date unknown. Part of the Navy Art Collection in the Naval History and Heritage Command).

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BilgeRacc 🏳️‍⚧️ @bilgeracc.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

On this day, in 1779, the Duc de Duras was given to John Paul Jones to command by King Louis XVI as part of a loan to the newly formed Continental Navy, subsequently being renamed the USS Bonhomme Richard in honor of Benjamin Franklin. The history of this ship, and its captain, we will dive into.

A drawing of the USS Bonhomme Richard (by Eric Tufnell, lived from 1888-1978. Exact date of drawing unknown).

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BilgeRacc 🏳️‍⚧️ @bilgeracc.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

A tidbit of a project I'm working on. An excerpt from "Home From The Sea", by Arthur H Rostron, 1931. The autobiography of the captain of the RMS Carpathia, speaking of the capabilities of the ship and what his crew was able to achieve that fateful night on their mad dash. Very interesting stuff!

Page 57 of "Home From The Sea" by Rostron, Arthur H, printed 1931. It talks about the crew receiving Titanic's distress call, and details Captain Rostron's preparations for their mad dash to save the ill-fated liner.

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BilgeRacc 🏳️‍⚧️ @bilgeracc.bsky.social · 19/01/2025

The sailing canal boat had a rather limited lifespan, as the advent and spread of the steam engine and screw made sailing vessels increasingly obsolete. In fact, they were so niche and limited in use that their existence was doubted until the discovery of the wreck of General Butler in 1980.

A sonar scan image of the General Butler (sank 1876, discovered 1980). The scan shows that the vessel is mostly intact except for the masts, and is remarkably preserved.

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BilgeRacc 🏳️‍⚧️ @bilgeracc.bsky.social · 19/01/2025

The final iterations came in about 1862-1863, which involved increasing the length and beam very slightly, but giving much more hold space. Typical loads included cattle, ore, rocks, and farm goods such as grains and hardy foods like potatoes. Passenger travel was also common.

A painting depicting a later sailing canal boat from 1862, specifically the General Butler. Credit: The General Butler: Sailing Canal Boat (1992), by Ernest Haas.

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BilgeRacc 🏳️‍⚧️ @bilgeracc.bsky.social · 19/01/2025

Early vessels on the lakes were mostly towboats and barges, having no sails or masts of their own. Enter the sailing canal boat! Early designs for these were crafted by private owners and families, and varied drastically from each other as a result. Despite this, the sails were a shared feature.

A black and white photo of The Gleaner, an early canal sailboat from 1823. Photo credit to the St. Albans Museum. Date of when photo was taken unknown, though likely taken sometime in the mid to late 1820s.

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BilgeRacc 🏳️‍⚧️ @bilgeracc.bsky.social · 19/01/2025

It's a slow night so what better time to talk about another vessel? Not necessarily a specific one, but a class of them: sailing canal boats! These boats were primarily used on Lake Champlain, and the Canal bearing the same name, from the early to mid 1800s. Let's take a dive into their history.

A photo depicting the modern reproduction of a sailing canal boat, the Lois McClure. Exact citation of photo source needed, but from my findings it was taken sometime in 2007, and has been posted to the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum in 2023. If you know the source, please contact me.

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BilgeRacc 🏳️‍⚧️ @bilgeracc.bsky.social · 15/01/2025

One of these vessels is still in commission, known as the USS Constitution, or better known as her nickname of "Old Ironsides". Launched in 1797, she is to the date the oldest active warship still afloat that sails under her own power. She now serves as mostly an educational aide. And a pretty one!

An aerial, portside rear photo of the USS Constitution. Taken July, 1997 off Marblehead, Massachusetts. Photo credit to US Navy Photo Journalist 2nd Class Todd Stevens.

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BilgeRacc 🏳️‍⚧️ @bilgeracc.bsky.social · 15/01/2025

The USS President was built in the first series of vessels under the Naval Act of 1794, a series of six ships to serve as the bulk of the fledgling US Navy's naval power, intending to hit hard yet still be faster than a ship-of-the line. All six were heavy frigates, carrying 44 guns.

A 1904 color painting of the USS President, sat at anchor in the midst of a storm. Painted by Edward John Russell (1832-1906)

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BilgeRacc 🏳️‍⚧️ @bilgeracc.bsky.social · 15/01/2025

On this day, in 1815, the US frigate USS President, made an attempt to run a British blockade in New York during the War of 1812. In the subsequent chase, she'd be damaged and captured by the British HMS Endymion. She would serve as HMS British until 1818, where she would sadly be broken up.

A color painting from 1815 of the USS President and S Endymion engaged in naval battle.

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BilgeRacc 🏳️‍⚧️ @bilgeracc.bsky.social · 29/11/2024

On this day in 1966, the Daniel J Morrell joined a number of ships to be taken by the infamous November storms on one of the Great Lakes. In winds over 70mph and 25 ft swells, she would split and slip beneath the waves of Lake Huron, leaving one survivor out of her 29 crew: Dennis Hale.

An overhead view of the Great Lakes freighter, the Daniel J Morrell, underway near the coast.

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BilgeRacc 🏳️‍⚧️ @bilgeracc.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

108 years ago today, the HMHS Britannic had finally made it to the Kea channel, on its way to Lemnos when it struck a sea mine laid by a German u-boat. Lessons learned during the sinking of her sister, RMS Titanic, as well as other factors, had ensured survival of all but 30 aboard.

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