The Bicentennial Project of the Port of Houston by artist Judith-Ann Saks depicts the amazing history of a determined little inland town that wanted to be a port. From a meandering bayou to a first class port, Houston has achieved remarkable accomplishments – a port that is first in the United States in foreign waterborne tonnage, first in US imports and exports, and second in US total tonnage.
The challenges of man and machines operating in the harsh arctic winter environment have led to progressively more sophisticated marine vessels and machinery. The evaluation of arctic environmental conditions both weather and topography have challenged naval architects to continuously seek unique solutions to navigation and indeed vessel survival.
The USS Westfield wreckage lay in the murky waters of the Texas City ship channel until 2009, when the disarticulated artifact debris field was recovered by Atkins Global (formerly PBS&J) during a dredging operation organized and orchestrated by the U.S. Corp of Engineers, making this Texas’ largest marine archaeology rescue project to date.
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
On March 24, 1989, Exxon Valdez, an oil tanker bound for Long
Beach, CA, struck Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska at 12:04 a.m. local time, and spilled 260,000 barrels of crude oil in the first couple tides.
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.
Rachel de Cordova and Todd Stewart discuss the maritime industry and their roles as a maritime attorney and president of a international logistics company, and how their experiences in the maritime industry have gotten them to where they are today.
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.
