History Lecture

James Dunwoody Bulloch’s central place in history has always rested on his Civil War era achievements as a secret agent of the Confederate States Navy in Europe. He gained fame for having brought into being the Confederate States cruisers Florida, Alabama and Shenandoah. Less well known are his illustrious Georgia ancestors, who were so firmly entwined with the earliest American colonial experience, and his prominent family connections—he was the uncle of the 26th President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt

To reach the Port of Houston’s Turning Basin, a ship must travel 50 miles along a narrow and twisting channel that passes through Galveston, the San Jacinto River, and Buffalo Bayou. Despite this improbable location, Houston has the world’s largest landlocked port. The Port of Houston is cited as “irreplaceable,” by Colliers International, as “the defining engine of our economy and culture,” by Cite magazine, and as the generator of more than one million jobs and $180 billion of regional economic activity by Marin Associates.

The Vietnam War was the longest in American history, and challenged naval aviation not only on carrier decks, but along the coasts and rivers as well. Captain T.J. Brown will take a candid look at U.S. naval airpower in Southeast Asia from his adventures as an attack pilot on the USS Hancock from 1971 to 1974 and later experiences on the USS Enterprise and USS Constellation.

Harrisburg, TX brought many firsts to the region: the 1st colonists, the 1st schooner exporting Texas cotton, the 1st steam sawmill, the 1st steamships and the 1st railroad. In 1823, Stephen F. Austin persuaded the Mexican government to name him empresario to promote development of maritime trade in Texas through colonization and the development of ports along the northern coast of Mexico.

The models on display at the Houston Maritime Museum never fail to enlighten, educate and entertain our visitors. These models continue to appeal to both children and adults as they bring maritime history to life by conjuring thoughts of the romance of the high seas in the days of the sailing ship, stirring reflections on the exploits of famous warships and highlighting the skills of the model builders who spent countless hours perfecting their every detail.

The SS Ohio was an oil tanker built for the Texas Oil Company, (now Texaco). The ship was launched on 20 April 1940, and was later requisitioned by allied forces to re-supply the island fortress of Malta, during the Second World War.

The Civil War history of Galveston is one of the last untold stories
from America’s bloodiest war, despite the fact that Galveston was a focal point of hostilities throughout the conflict. As other Southern ports fell to the Union, Galveston emerged as one of the Confederacy’s only lifelines to the outside world.

Loren Steffy is an acclaimed author and the business columnist for the Houston Chronicle. His latest book, “The Man Who Though Like a Ship,” commemorates his father, J. Richard “Dick” Steffy’s amazing contribution to the field of maritime archaeology. Dick Steffy, an electrician in a small, land-locked town in Pennsylvania armed only with a self taught understanding of ships volunteered for the job of piecing together 6,000 ancient sunken ship fragments

Warships powered by the wind roamed the oceans during the “Golden Age of Sail,” from the Spanish Armada (1588) to the Battle of Trafalgar (1805). Initially troop transports commanded by army officers, warships evolved into vessels designed to conduct battles at sea. In the 16th Century, the sailing warship replaced the cathedral as the most complicated human creation the world had ever seen.