Oceans and Maritime Pursuits
Mystery Gadget 71
This was equipment aboard a large ocean liner. What did it do?Answer is here, or after the jump.
More in extended >>
Posted By: Paul - Sun Mar 03, 2019 -
Comments (5)
Category: Oceans and Maritime Pursuits, Technology, 1930s
The rookie rower who failed to cross the Atlantic
Even though he had only been on the ocean once, while taking the Newfoundland ferry, Arthur Russell figured he could row across the Atlantic. He practiced for two years on his rowing machine and then set off from Halifax harbor. Six hours later, he had to signal for help and was rescued.
Edmonton Journal - May 31, 1990
Posted By: Alex - Fri Jan 11, 2019 -
Comments (4)
Category: Boats, Oceans and Maritime Pursuits, Sports, 1990s
The Seamaster Airplane
A jet that takes off and lands from water? Filled with nuclear bombs? What could go wrong?Wikipedia page.
Source of foto.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Aug 25, 2018 -
Comments (1)
Category: Oceans and Maritime Pursuits, Technology, War, Weapons, Air Travel and Airlines, 1950s
The Baileys of Balboa
The Wikipedia page, which says:The show was primarily developed for the network because its president, James T. Aubrey, insisted that Gilligan's Island, which premiered the same season (and which he personally loathed), would have been a better show if it had centered on the exploits of a charter boat captain operating in a marina, and had his old friend Keefe Brasselle produce his version of the idea in order to prove his point.
Raquel Welch in this clip.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Jul 26, 2018 -
Comments (2)
Category: Humor, Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Oceans and Maritime Pursuits, Television, 1960s
The Trippel SG6
A German entry in the amphibious car sweepstakes.
It's the final car in the video parade below.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Jan 21, 2018 -
Comments (1)
Category: Oceans and Maritime Pursuits, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, Europe, Cars
Unauthorized Dwellings 4
Houseboats have always been a prime source of contention as authorities try to police dwellings. The Amsterdam article is from 2016. The other news report hails from 1924.
Source.
UPDATE: now behind CHICAGO TRIBUNE paywall.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Jan 08, 2018 -
Comments (0)
Category: Buildings and Other Structures, Oceans and Maritime Pursuits, Unauthorized Dwellings, 1920s, Twenty-first Century
Outboard Motorboat Steeple Chase
The stuff with the girls in the first video is charming. But the insane part is the motorboat steeple chase race.
Apparently, a version of this is still practiced in--where else?--Australia. Although they seem to have eliminated the airborne part of the race.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Jul 09, 2017 -
Comments (3)
Category: Contests, Races and Other Competitions, Death, Oceans and Maritime Pursuits, 1950s, Australia, North America
Joan Lowell and CRADLE OF THE DEEP
In 1929, Joan Lowell published an autobiography, Cradle of the Deep, published by Simon & Schuster, in which she claimed that her sea captain father took her aboard his ship, the Minnie A. Caine, at the age of three months when she was suffering from malnutrition. He nursed her back to health. She lived on the ship, with its all-male crew, until she was 17. She became skilled in the art of seamanship and once harpooned a whale by herself. Ultimately, the ship burned and sank off Australia, and Lowell swam three miles to safety, with a family of kittens clinging by their claws to her back. In fact, the book was a fabrication; Lowell had been on the ship, which remained safe in California, for only 15 months. The book was a sensational best seller until it was exposed as pure invention.[1] The book was later parodied by Corey Ford in his book Salt Water Taffy in which Lowell abandons the sinking ship (which had previously sunk several times before "very badly") and swims to safety with her manuscript.
Her Wikipedia page.
An article on the hoax.
Read the book here.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Jun 18, 2017 -
Comments (2)
Category: Hoaxes and Imposters and Imitators, Movies, Oceans and Maritime Pursuits, 1920s
Sighted Stiff, Sank Same
Original article here.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Nov 16, 2016 -
Comments (3)
Category: Death, Kludges, Hacks and Duct-tape Repairs, Military, Oceans and Maritime Pursuits, 1980s
Ship of Suicides
Original article here.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Apr 23, 2016 -
Comments (5)
Category: Death, Suicide, Oceans and Maritime Pursuits, 1920s
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| Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1. Contact Us |