Last Updated by RoxEllen on 03/26/00. - added a link for HMAV Bounty to the Sailing Ships section under the listing for HMS Bounty and a link to Corpus Christi's Columbus Fleet under Nautical Museums.

• The Maritime History Virtual Archives - a lot of information about all kinds of subjects related to maritime history.

• The National Park Service's National Maritime Initiative:  Partnerships for Preserving our Maritime Heritage.  Formerly listed here as "Publicly Accessible Large Historic Vessels", this site covers vessels, lighthouses, lifesaving stations, etc.

• Hudson River Maritime Museum -  located in Kingston, New York.

• Mystic Seaport (Mystic, Connecticut, USA) - lots of whaling stuff here.  Mystic Seaport was listed as a source of historical information in the credits for USA Cable's recent movie adaptation of "Moby Dick".

• The National Maritime Museum (Great Britain) - lots of information and a great set of links to other maritime museums.

• Robert H. Smith's Master Index of North American Maritime Museum Internet Resources - an extensive alphabetical listing of museums, etc.  

• South Street Seaport Museum (New York City, USA) - a museum dedicated to tracing the history of the Port of New York and its impact on the city and state of New York and the rest of the USA.

Replicas of the Columbus' three 15th Century ships - these vessels were built in Spain using traditional methods and sailed across the Atlantic in 1992.  The ships reside today in Corpus Christi, Texas.  Niņa is based at a city marina and makes regularly scheduled sail training cruises.  Pinta and Santa Maria were damaged in 1994 when a barge ran into them and are currently out of the water awaiting repairs at the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History.

• The Columbus Fleet and Columbus Fleet Sailing School - an informative web site dedicated to the Corpus Christi Columbus Fleet.

• The Caller-Times Virtual Tour of the Columbus Fleet - actually only a single page, but it does have information on hours and admission fees for the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History.

Vasa was a warship that was built in 1628 as a flagship for the Swedish fleet.  On her maiden voyage, water rushed in through her open gunports and she sank in the harbor.  She has been unusually well preserved for a sunken wooden ship due apparently to the fact that she was mostly buried in mud at the bottom of very cold water for centuries (an environment difficult for shipworms to tolerate).  Her raising and removal intact to a nearby museum is a fascinating story in itself.

• The Vasa Museum - this is the official web site for the museum that houses Vasa.

• The Vasa - The Swedish 17th Century Royal Warship (Java and Javascript-capable browser recommended) - a very informative site with lots of great pictures here of the raising of the ship and the restoration efforts.

General Sailing Ship Sites

• The American Sail Training Association (ASTA) - (you must have Java enabled to view this site properly) learn to be a crewmember on a real sailing ship!

• Mark Rosenstein's Sailing Page - has a long list of sailing-related links.

• HMS Bounty - The original HMS Bounty was a coal ship recommissioned by the British navy in 1787 to get breadfruit trees from Tahiti and transport them to the West Indies as a food source for the slaves on British plantations there.  Mutineers led by Fletcher Christian put the officers and loyal sailors off the ship and sailed off to settle Pitcairn Island.
  • The Tall Ship Bounty, based in the United States, was built for use in the 1960 MGM movie "Mutiny on the Bounty" starring Marlon Brando and is currently used as a sail-training vessel (learn to sail a tall ship while cruising to ports of call from Canada to the Caribbean).
  • HMAV Bounty of Sydney, Australia was built for the 1978 movie "Mutiny on the Bounty" starring Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins and makes daily lunch and dinner cruises around Sydney Harbor with up to 85 guests aboard.

• Cutty Sark - The world's only surviving 19th century tea clipper, Cutty Sark is permanently drydocked in Greenwich, UK.

• USS Constitution - The USS Constitution was launched in 1797.  During a battle with the British ship HMS Guerriere in 1812, cannonballs were seen bouncing off her thick oak hull and she gained the nickname "Old Ironsides".  Recently restored, Constitution sailed around Massachusetts Bay in Boston under her own power in July of 1997 for the first time in 116 years.
  • Naval Historical Detachment Site - USS Constitution is the oldest commissioned ship in the US Navy and the oldest commissioned warship afloat anywhere in the world.
  • USS Constitution Museum

• Elissa:  An Iron Barque of 1877 (Galveston, Texas, USA) - A small trading vessel beautifully restored.  She belongs to The Texas Seaport Museum in Galveston now and sails with volunteer crews around Galveston Bay on occasion.  There is a nice collection of photos here and a great links page with a lot of links to other tall ship web sites.

• Endeavour - This is an Australian-built modern replica (launched in 1993) of the former coal ship in which Captain Cook made his famous voyage of discovery in 1768-1771.  Among other things, he was the first to accurately chart large portions of the coast of Australia.  This is not a sail-training ship, although experienced young people over 18 are encouraged to apply for working "voyage crew".  There are also 4 "supernumary" (passenger) berths available for each leg of the voyage.

• Niņa - The Columbus Fleet and Columbus Fleet Sailing School in Corpus Christi, Texas operates Niņa as a sail training vessel.  Pinta and Santa Maria are currently drydocked and awaiting repairs to damage inflicted when a barge ran into them in 1994.

• Olympias (Greece) - Olympias is a reconstruction of a classic Athenian trireme.

• Rose (Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA) - Rose is a replica of a British Royal Navy frigate that cruised the American coast during the American Revolution (The original HMS Rose was built in 1757 and scuttled during the war.).  Rose is also a sail-training ship, one of two American ones that I've found so far (the other is the Tall Ship Bounty).

• Star of India (San Diego, California, USA) - Another iron barque, this one dates from 1863 and is the world's oldest active iron sailing ship.

The font used for the main title image and the names of ships in the Steam Ships section is called "Eyechart".  The font used in the Sailing Ships section is called "Chancery Cursive".  I am not aware of a home page for either of these fonts, but if you look on my list of font sites, you should be able to find them.

I think the wood texture came from a PaintShop Pro tutorial site called "Cheap Tricks".