(http://www.MaritimeCyprus.com) The 7th of December 2015 marks the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, which directly caused the death of thousands of Americans and the sinking of a number of US Navy warships. It resulted in a major combat role for the US in World War II, which had commenced more than two years previously. Up…
(http://www.MaritimeCyprus.com) The Halifax Explosion was caused when two ships collided in the narrowest part of Halifax Harbor on the morning of Thursday, December 6, 1917. The SS Mont Blanc, a French ship was arriving from New York City filled with military explosives and ammunition from New York to France for World War I in Europe. In addition to the…
(http://www.MaritimeCyprus.com) On the 4th of December 1872, the US brigantine Mary Celeste, en route from New York to Genoa, was discovered abandoned and deserted off the Azores Islands in a disheveled but seaworthy condition, with no obvious signs of sudden catastrophe. The final entry in the log, dated ten days previously, was a routine statement of…
(http://www.MaritimeCyprus.com) On 19 November 2002, the single-hull Aframax tanker PRESTIGE broke in two and sank in waters of the North Atlantic off the northwest coast of Spain. It had been carrying a cargo of 77,000 metric tons of heavy fuel oil from Russia and Latvia to Singapore when it encountered heavy weather on 13 November. It…
(http://www.MaritimeCyprus.com) The Suez Canal opened to shipping on 17 November 1869. Excavation of the Canal had taken ten years, using forced labor and rudimentary mechanical equipment. Construction had been opposed by British interests, who feared competition in trade with India. Once the Canal opened and proved successful, British interests acquired a majority ownership. The Canal was…
(http://www.MaritimeCyprus.com) The steamship Yarmouth Castle was built in 1927 and was christened Evangeline. At that time Evangeline and Yarmouth, her sister ship, operated on the Boston to Yarmouth, NS route of the Eastern Steamship Lines. Brief: The ship caught fire and sank on November 13, 1965 while en route from Miami, Florida to Nassau, Bahamas. Of the 376 passengers and 176 crew on…
(http://www.MaritimeCyprus.com) On 10 November 1975, the laker Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior with a loss of all 29 hands. It was one of the largest ships on the Great Lakes, carrying over 26,000 tons of taconite ore between Duluth/Superior and the steel mills to the south. The “Fitz” had departed on 9 November in tandem with another laker, but sailed directly…
