MARITIME HISTORY

Floating the Portsmouth-built USS Albacore onto what is now relatively dry land was an extraordinary feat in 1985. Today Albacore Park is among the most popular visitor sites in Portsmouth, and yet, the sight of a beached submarine never fails to turn heads. In honor of that original effort, SeacoastNH.com offers this candid record of the great Albacore “haul-out” with photos from the personal collection of David Hancock. (Continued below)

PORTSMOUTH SHIPBUILDING

Under a custom-made wooden cover, the new gundalow takes shape at the temporary shipyard on Puddle Dock at Strawbery Banke in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. A dedicated team of boat builders and skilled craftsmen, supported by many volunteers, are constrtucting the new gundalow that is scheduled to start public sails in Spring 2012. The shipyard is on view seven days a week 10am-5pm with admission to Strawbery Banke. “Boatbuilder Chats,” an insider’s tour of the new gundalow, are held the last Wednesday of each month at 5pm at the shipyard. (Continued below)

MARITIME HISTORY

Since leaving Portsmouth, NH in the spring of 2010, the privateer LYNX has sailed to Canada, to an extensive and successful tour of the Great Lakes, and back down the East Coast. The tall ship that teaches about the War of 1812 is now wintering in Florida for a return trip in 2011. She is currently in St. Augustine for the holidays and the captain and crew post frequent reports online. (Continued below)

MARITIME HISTORY

We’ve seen these boats from both sides now. Having sailed aboard Lynx and Bounty, we wanted to get the outside view in Portsmouth Harbor. Writer Rodman Philbrick took the helm of his fishing boat and for two glorious hours we wandered among the maritime traffic on a perfect Piscataqua Day. Here are the photos from our Memorial Day cruise with HMS Bounty and Lynx. (See photos below)

PORTSMOUTH SHIPYARD HISTORY

Isaac Hull’s job was to build the largest warship in the American navy. He had no wood, no place to build in winter and little money. There was a war on and a British blockade. The Portsmouth Shipyard had almost no buildings and only a dozen workers. Times were even tougher at PNSY then, than now.

OUR MARITIME HERITAGE

What’s up with historic Memorial Bridge? Here is the press release from the Maine Dept of Transportation. These are the people making the big decision and we here in NH hope they there in Maine make the right choice. Read on, and be sure to express your views loudly and clearly. (See below)

MARITIME HISTORY

The commissioning of the USS New Hampshire in 2008 reminded locals of their deep connection to the sea. The region’s maritime heritage begins two centuries before the arrival of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in 1800. Once dependent on the federal shipyard for its economy and reputation, Portsmouth is no longer a ship-building city – but remains an important port of call.  

MARITIME HERITAGE

New York filmmaker Dimitri Devyatkin thinks it is time to bring John Paul Jones back to the silver screen. It has been half a century since his portrayal by Robert Stack. But one chapter of Jones’ life has never been dramatized – his dramatic and devastating exploits as an admiral for the czar of Russia. (Read More)