Is there any way of determining what percentage of ships arrived safely at their destinations - or did not - during a given period in history? [more inside]
posted by AngerBoy on Jul 16, 2009 - 14 answers

Is there a book or museum or resource that specifically lists the stories of people who survived in Lifeboats? [more inside]
posted by rileyray3000 on Apr 21, 2009 - 4 answers

Unidentified Dutch pen-and-ink drawing: anyone familiar with this type of ship? [more inside]
posted by RedReplicant on Feb 25, 2009 - 10 answers

For all you adventurous travelers: is transatlantic passenger travel via boat (NOT cruise ship) still an option these days? [more inside]
posted by Lemon of Byzantium on Dec 16, 2008 - 13 answers

I want to travel from Wroclaw, Poland to my family in Seattle, with less than 1000USD, without flying, within five weeks. [more inside]
posted by Galen on May 17, 2008 - 18 answers

In this day and age of ubiquitous GPS, why are lighhouses and foghorns still operating? [more inside]
posted by beagle on Nov 8, 2007 - 26 answers

Random question about some 1980s bank checks, probably called the Windjammer series. [more inside]
posted by GaelFC on Sep 14, 2007 - 1 answer

There are, apparently, four flowers on a ship. One is the compass rose. Any ideas on what the other three could be?
posted by Nugget on Aug 14, 2007 - 12 answers

Where can I get deck plans for pirate ships? Websites are welcome, a good book or two of many different ship plans would be ideal. [more inside]
posted by Rubber Soul on Mar 26, 2007 - 8 answers

What's it like being a Naval Architect? [more inside]
posted by rongorongo on Dec 7, 2006 - 5 answers

FlickFilter: This scary movie, perhaps from the early 60s, finds our cast stranded on a ship which has become mired in some kind of dense seaweed. They see another galleon nearby and debark to explore it. Each member of the crew dons individual helium (/hydrogen?) balloons--harnessed to their backs like water-wings--and snowshoe-like shoes, and walk across the water to the other boat. This definitive scene is very eerie, and is the clearest in my memory. [more inside]
posted by scamper on Aug 1, 2006 - 4 answers

This morning I saw the Boing-Boing post on WWI "Razzle-Dazzle" ship camo and became completely enamored by Edward Wadsworth's mesmerizing 1919 Dazzle-ships in Drydock at Liverpool oil on canvas painting. I'd love to have a large print or poster of it. [more inside]
posted by junesix on Nov 2, 2005 - 5 answers

I have always considered the name of the Marine ship in Halo, Pillar of Autumn, to be terribly poetic. Is this phrase original to the talented game designers at Bungie, or does it come from the Western Canon somwhere?
posted by jimfl on Dec 26, 2004 - 11 answers