- Type:
- shipwreck, sailing ship, USA
- Built:
- 1887, Ireland
- Specs:
- ( 329 x 45 ft ) 3068 gross tons, 34 crew
- Sunk:
- Sunday December 15, 1901
ran aground in storm - no casualties - Depth:
- 0-5 ft depending on the tide
More: Sindia ...
Sailing Ships (5/5)
A packet ship of the early 1800s. Of note is the way the sails on the mainmast are set backward, against the sails on the fore- and mizzen- masts. Known as "backing", this was how a square-rigged ship "put on the brakes" to slow or stop without actually furling the sails.
Wind power has been used by mankind for millennia. Almost every human culture has constructed sailing vessels of some kind, from crude log or reed rafts to the highly developed wind-jammers of the early twentieth century. Many of these vessels were the most complex and technologically advanced machines of their time - equivalent to our jet airliners.
More: Sailing Ships ...
- Type:
- shipwreck, 74 gun ship-of-the-line, U.S. Navy
- Name:
- that place next to Indiana
- Built:
- 1820, Brooklyn NY USA
- Specs:
- ( 208 x 54 ft ) 2757 gross tons
- Sunk:
- April 1884
set adrift and grounded by storm while being dismantled, later deliberately burned - Depth:
- 20 ft
More: USS Ohio ...
- Type:
- shipwreck, sailing ship, England
- Specs:
- ( 287 x 38 ft ) 2458 gross tons, 300+ passengers & crew
- Sunk:
- Saturday October 22, 1853
ran aground in heavy fog - no casualties - Depth:
- 25 ft
More: Western World ...
Astroscopus guttatus
Size
to 22" and 20 lbs.
Description:
Don't expect to see these fishes very often - they live buried in the sand, with just their eyes protruding. The eyes are directly atop the flat head, and the mouth is almost vertical. Of course, they are ambush predators. If you flush one from its hiding place, it will clumsily swim a short distance, and then rebury itself in just seconds. Stargazers are capable of producing weak electric currents from organs located behind the eyes. I doubt that it is enough to be dangerous to a diver, although it might be startling! Midshipmen are similar but smaller, with a continuous dorsal fin and luminescent spots instead of electrical organs.
More: Northern Stargazer ...