A brief history of the Bronze Doors at The Mariners’ Museum and Park, commissioned in 1932. They once graced the main entrance and now are part of the collection.

History lovers have been transfixed for decades by the clash of the ironclads that erupted at the Battle of Hampton Roads. But one question remains unanswered for many: Why do some people refer to CSS Virginia as Merrimac? And what's more: Why is Merrimac sometimes spelled with a "k" at the end and sometimes without?

In the catalog I noticed a Japanese pillar clock, called a shaku dokei, up for auction. While updating the value I noticed a name on the clock’s storage box—’C. E. Thorburn, USN’. Whenever I run across a name, especially one this unique, I immediately try to see if I can uncover the history of the original owner.

During World War I, a Navy vessel ‘sailed’ the concrete of New York City for three years. The only water it ever encountered was from the sky and the city’s municipal water supply. The battleship, nicknamed “USS Neversail” and the “Street Dreadnaught,” was officially christened USS Recruit.

CSS Alabama, commanded by Captain Raphael Semmes, had spent nearly two years capturing and destroying 65 Northern merchant ships and whalers. There were seven different expeditionary raids from the Eastern Atlantic to the Java Sea and back near where the vessel had been built.