During my 10 year affiliation with the museum, I have seen its collection grow in size and quality. Important areas that were not represented ten years ago are in featured exhibits today. Members of the Gulf Coast Ship Modelers Society create and contribute outstanding models to fill collection voids. The workmanship and quality standards of…
LCVP – Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel The LCVP is the World War II landing craft conceived by a Louisiana lumberman, Andrew Higgins. The boat was used extensively by all the Allies, but primarily by the U.S. Forces to quickly put infantry on an enemy shore. In just over twenty years, between 1918 and 1939, the…
Harry C. Bounds was born in Baltimore, Md. on May 22, 1925 and died on June 26, 2014 under much loving care by his second wife Verlyn. In 1936, Harry moved to Houston with his family. He joined the Navy on May 22, 1942 the day he turned 17, and went around the world and…
Self-elevating Offshore Drilling Rig One of the most striking (and larger) models on display at the Houston Maritime Museum in the Energy Industry exhibit is the self-elevating offshore drilling rig “OFFSHORE MISCHIEF”. Properly referred to in the offshore industry as a mobile offshore drilling unit or “MODU”. This enormous machine is among the largest of…
Vasa is a Swedish warship built over two years (1626-1628). On her maiden voyage out of Stockholm Harbor on August 10th, 1628, the ship foundered and sank after sailing about 1,300 meters. She sat in 30 meters of water for 333 years until she was located again in 1956. She was salvaged with a largely…
In the yearly years of WWII, the loss of ships crossing the Atlantic with supplies for the allies was staggering. German U-boats were responsible for most of this toll. The tide was turned with the development of the convoy system and the construction of a large number of corvettes of the “Flower” class (they were…
This year, the Port of Houston is celebrating one hundred years as a center for trade and industry. Before Houston was officially a leading world port, the area relied on a variety of small watercraft — a far cry from today’s tankers and Triple-E container ships — to navigate the waterways that lead to present-day…
During WWII, seamen and aviators needed to be able to recognize and distinguish enemy from allied vessels, in order to determine threats and prevent friendly fire. The US Navy commissioned Comet Metal Products Co., Inc. to fabricate sets of spotter models that coule be used to teah pilots and sailors. These sets included fleets of…
Prominently displayed in the Sailing Merchant Marine room at Houston Maritime is the model of the Flying Cloud, modeled by Ken Marshall. The Flying Cloud was an extreme clipper designed and built by Donald McKay at his shipyard in East Boston, MA, and launched in April 1851. The vessel’s commissioner intended the Flying Cloud to…
On my first visit to the Houston Maritime Museum over a year ago, I was delighted by the beautiful ship models on display, especially the models of wooden sailing ships, with their artful lines and fine workmanship. One model stood out as it was the largest of its type on display. The model is the…
