Signature Materials The History of Wool Sweaters at Sea Worn by sailors for centuries, the wool sweater is one of the most significant garments in clothing history. Read more 10 Min
Profiles The Schooner Adventuress A National Historic Landmark, the Adventuress has seen many lives in her century at sea. She now resides as a vessel for maritime education with the nonprofit Sound Experience in the Seattle area. Read more 5 Min
Field Notes Storis: The Galloping Ghost of the Alaskan Coast The Storis began her long career as an ice patrol tender for the United States Coast Guard, commissioned on September 30, 1942. She was to patrol the east coast of Greenland, on the lookout for German activity. It was an appropriate assignment for a vessel so named: “storis” means “great ice” in Scandinavian. Read more 3 Min
Field Notes Rum, Sailors, & Pirates: the dark history of booze on the High Seas The spoils of captured merchantmen vessels often yielded large cargos of rum, wine, and ale, which pirate crews put to good use. Ironically, these periods of mass intoxication would last days or even weeks, alternating with periods of going without the most basic foodstuffs and water aboard ship, until landfall or the taking of another ship could replenish supplies. Read more 5 Min
Field Notes Taking a Closer Look at Kon-Tiki Thor Heyerdahl was a Norwegian adventurer and ethnographer with a background in zoology, botany and geography. Heyerdahl is notable for his Kon-Tiki expedition in 1947, in which he sailed 8,000 km across the Pacific Ocean in a hand-built raft from South America to the Tuamotu Islands. Read more 5 Min
