• The Mary Celeste

    She began life as the Amazon, built from Nova Scotia and registered to a British Company in 1861. During her maiden voyage, Amazon sailed to the nearby Five Islands port in Colchester County to take on a cargo of timer bound for London. Her Captain took ill whilst supervising the loading and after returning him to Spencer’s Island, he died. A new Captain, John Nutting Parker took over the voyage, during which further mishaps occurred, including the vessel hitting fishing equipment, the Amazon made it to London. On the return journey, she hit a Brig and sank it in the English Channel. After working the trade routes between England, the…

  • The sinking of The Essex

    “Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee. Sink all coffins and all hearses to one common pool! and since neither can be mine, let me then tow to pieces, while still chasing thee, though tied to thee, thou damned whale! Thus, I give up the spear!” – Captain Ahab Many have heard the story about the great white whale Moby Dick, who sunk the ship Pequod, but did you know it was actually based on a real ordeal? The American whaling ship Essex was…

  • Aberfan

    Mothers waved off their children in the small mining village of Aberfan, for the last day of school before the half term break, it was 21st October 1966. Up on the hillside, overshadowing the village were several large coal slurry tips, hundreds of feet high, waste from the mines that dotted around the village. Children now grown recall playing in the stream of water that fed out from springs underneath, and increased with the usual rainfall of the area. At around 7.30 that morning as the team that controlled the waste tips reached the top of the tips, they noticed a depression had occurred, and that the waste hill seemed…

  • The London Beer Flood

    On October 17, 1814 in the parish of St. Giles, London, England at the Meux and Company Brewery on Tottenham Court Road, a huge vat containing over 135,000 imperial gallons (610,000 L) of beer ruptured, causing other vats in the same building to begin a domino effect. As a result, more than 323,000 imperial gallons (1,470,000 L) of beer burst out and gushed into the streets. The wave of beer destroyed two homes and crumbled the wall of the Tavistock Arms Pub, trapping teenage employee Eleanor Cooper under the rubble. Within minutes George Street and New Street, neighboring areas to the brewery were swamped with beer as well, killing a…

  • RMS Titanic

    Probably one of the most famous ships of all time the RMS Titanic was at the time (before she tragically sank) a modern marvel, being the largest ship afloat. Her name Titanic was derived from Greek mythology and meant gigantic. Built in Belfast, Ireland, in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Titanic was the second of three, the RMS Olympic was the first and the third was the HMHS Britannic. The Britannic would also tragically sink in 1916, after hitting a mine or torpedo laid by the German minelayer submarine U79 in a barrier off Kea during World War I (another post). They were by far the largest…