4 Great Antique Nautical Gifts for Father’s Day
Gift ideas for the dad who loves the sea, boating or the nautical lifestyle!
Continue Reading Add comment May 18th, 2013
Nautical Watches-5 Great Uses Beyond Diving!
So you’ve decided to take scuba diving lessons in preparation for a dream trip to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. You can’t wait to spend time viewing the fish, reef, and other critters which abound in that pristine environment. And that means you better invest in diving watches for you and your companions.
As early as the 17th century, inventors tried to create watches that worked underwater. By the 19th century, individual watches were being created for military use, for explorers and eventually for divers. But it wasn’t until 1932 that Omega SA created the first commercially produced watches for general use.
Diving watches have several requirements. They need to resist corrosive salt water, the shock of hitting rocks or reefs, and the pressure of the greater depths found in diving. A rating system, ISO 6425, has been developed to label watches for various uses from swimming and fishing to deep sea pressurized dives.
But most of us don’t dive regularly. So what to do with the watch after the vacation is over. Here are five suggested ways your watch will still be useful.
- Wear it when giving the kids a bath. You’ll know when it’s time to haul the little darlings out of the tub and the sloshing that occurs when kids bathe will never affect the watch in the slightest.
- Use it for a swimming workout at the health club. Then you’ll know how long you have been tediously swimming laps and get out before you turn into a prune.
- Cleaning your koi pond. Dipping your arms into slimy water won’t be any more fun, but your watch won’t stop.
- Use it when your sump pump quits and you discover you need to reach into the murky water to pull out the debris including a dead mouse.
- Cleaning your overflowing gutters in a thunderstorm. The water running over everything won’t bother your watch at all. Not so sure about what happens when the lightning hits you.
At any rate, whether you just like the look of a diving watch or you really plan to use it for diving, contact us for a wide selection of watches that will suit your needs. Everything Nautical is your first choice for beach decor, nautical furniture and lighting as well as nautical watches for all purposes.
Add comment May 9th, 2013
3 Intriguing Ship Models of the Confederacy
Our Civil War was not confined to great land battles like Antietam and Gettysburg. As the Union sought to blockade southern commerce and resupply by sea, the Confederacy, with the help of foreign shipbuilders, retaliated with its own floating arsenal. The sailing steamer CSS Alabama, for example, became the scourge of Yankee commerce worldwide.
The Confederate Navy also included over two dozen ironclad twin-screw or side-wheel steamers and one submarine prototype. Civil War naval history buffs will like these three representative model ships ships of the Confederacy in our collection:
This 1,006-ton twin-screw ironclad got its start as a merchant steamship and blockade-runner. Built in Scotland, her maiden voyage was as the merchant steamship Fingal in 1861. She sailed to Savannah, Ga., with a load of Confederate war material, and the Confederates converted her to an ironclad ram.
Her wartime service was cut short in the summer of 1863 when, after unsuccessful attempts to attack Union blockade warships, she ran into the U.S. Navy monitors Nahant and Weehawken at Savannah’s Wassau Sound.
Outgunned and captured, she became USS Atlanta and served as a Federal warship until the end of the war, when she was decommissioned and later sold to Haiti. Her last hurrah was as the Haitian warship Triumph. In December 1869, she disappeared at sea and was presumed lost off Cape Hatteras.
Another Confederate screw-driven ironclad ram, the CSS Virginia began as an abandoned hulk of the U.S. Navy steam frigate USS Merrimack. After the U.S. Navy abandoned the Norfolk Navy Yard, the Confederates salvaged the burned and sunken Merrimack, whose waterline hull and lower deck machinery were intact and serviceable.
The Confederates fitted the ship out with impregnable iron armor and a powerful array of weaponry that revolutionized naval warfare. Virginia sortied down the Elizabeth River into Hampton Roads and promptly bested two U.S. Navy ships by sinking the sloop Cumberland and shelling the frigate Congress into surrendering.
The Union response was its ironclad USS Monitor. In the historic engagement on March 9, 1862, these two ironclads shelled each other to a tactical draw. During the following two months a standoff ensued, until Virginia was faced with the loss of her Norfolk support base.
Unfortunately, the Virginia was underpowered, overweight and not seaworthy. Her crew unsuccessfully tried to lighten the ship and move further up the James River to safety. Rather than risking capture, the Confederate crew scuttled the ship near Craney Island on May 11, 1862.
Rounding out our collection is the world’s first combat submarine. CSS Hunley was a 40-foot prototype honed from a cylinder boiler by its inventor Horace Lawson Hunley. Its propulsion was its crew of eight, seven of whom turned a hand crank mechanism connected to the propeller, while the eighth steered.
Hunley was actually able to dive, but it needed the calm waters of Mobile Bay for its first successful test run. Confederate authorities saw Hunley as a possible counter to the Union blockade of Charleston Harbor. Shipped north on a railroad car and undergoing tests, Hunley suffered its first mishap as its crew accidentally submerged with the hatch open, drowning six.
The ship’s inventor had to personally lead and recruit another crew to man the salvaged sub. Hunley and his crew perished on October 15, 1863, as the submarine submerged and never resurfaced. Undaunted, another crew assembled on the again-resurrected Hunley and on February 17, 1864, managed to implant a mine into the hull of the USS Housatanic, which sank in shallow water. Unfortunately, Hunley also sank before its mission was complete and took another crew with it.
Round out your nautical collection
Everything Nautical has a unique collection of model ships from wooden-hulled sail to steamers in a variety of price ranges. Contact us and find that special gift or adornment for that mariner or special room in your home.
Add comment May 2nd, 2013
Interesting Legend of 4 Common Sea Birds
The role that seagulls, pelicans, Albatross and Herons played in ancient mythology.
Continue Reading Add comment April 26th, 2013
5 Unique Nautical Gifts for Mother’s Day
Interesting Mother's Day gifts with a nautical theme.
Continue Reading Add comment April 18th, 2013
Nautical Home Decor Isn’t Just for Coastal Living
Nautical Decor ideas to brighten up any home.
Continue Reading Add comment April 12th, 2013
Nautical Decor & the Beauty of Wild Sea Turtles
Intriguing spots to view Sea Turtles
Continue Reading Add comment April 5th, 2013
Nautical Watches- Give the Gift of Time
Diving Watches and Boating Watches make great gifts for the nautical enthusiast!
Continue Reading Add comment March 28th, 2013
Nautical Gifts for Your Wedding Party
Gift ideas for nautical weddings.
Continue Reading Add comment March 21st, 2013
Exploring the Beautiful Beaches of Coast Rica
A brief summary of some of the most interesting Coata Rican beaches.
Continue Reading Add comment March 14th, 2013
