Maritime History & Culture

The 11 best LEGO ship sets for adult collectors and mariners in 2026, ranked by piece count, price, and how closely each one models a real ship or vessel.

Anything can happen while on the sea, such as disasters, loss of life, and even ships becoming ghosts. There are famous real-time stories of ships that disappeared in thin air without any trace. However, such circumstances have been present since man began traveling, and every generation has a story to tell. This does not only…

Although the term “she” is a pronoun commonly used by human beings, it is also used when referring to ships. The term has been utilized for centuries, and there are numerous reasons for it. One of the most dominant reasons is that the word ship originates from the Latin word “Navis,” associated with feminism. Another…

The Great North River Tugboat Race has run in New York Harbour since 1991. It is one of the few events in North America where working port vessels compete in public. Every year on the Sunday before Labor Day, tugboats race a one-nautical-mile course down the Hudson River off Manhattan’s West Side. The audience ranges…

When we think about the items we use every day, it’s easy to overlook how those items arrived at our stores, markets, and warehouses. Only recently have we learned about things like supply chain disruptions and logistics issues at our world’s ports.  It’s estimated that 11 billion tons of consumer goods travel by cargo ship…

When speaking about the history of colonial empires or explorations that circumnavigate the globe, there are a few words that crop up more than most. A lot of these can be worked out by the audience, whether that be a reader or a person in a physical audience, but some still elude people.  This is…

A complete guide to ship prefixes — what MV, MT, SS, FV, and every other vessel designation means, plus why they still matter today.