Maritime History Facts

The time interval from first sighting of the iceberg that sank the Titanic to impact was a little over 30 seconds.

Contrary to popular belief, the first ironclad warships were built by Korea in the 16th century.

In 1974, canned food from a boat that sank in 1865 was tested by chemists and was found to be still safe to eat.

The John J. Harvey was a New York fireboat the FDNY retired in 1994, and volunteers bought her at auction in 1999 and restored her. On September 11, 2001, the water mains at Ground Zero were broken, so the fire department radioed the old boat back to ask if her pumps still worked. Her volunteer crew pumped beside two FDNY fireboats for 80 hours. She is 95 now and still gives free public trips.