A Century at Sea: Celebrating the Legendary Sailing Ship Success: Major update to the website posted today

Friday, April 8, 2011

Major update to the website posted today

I spent a good part of the day updating the website at shipsuccess.com. This is the most significant update since I first created the website. There are double the number of pages and dozens of new photos. As you check it out you will notice the look and feel is totally different, but as you drill down into the site you will notice even more profound changes. You can now take a "tour" of the historyof the ship. As you are guided from page to page you will see made explanatory images, as well as links that will open new pages to explore things more in depth if you choose to do so.

Other goodies you will find include a page of common myths about the Success. This was fun to do, as it gave me a chance to finally lay rest so some of the goofy information that is out there about this ship.

I am proud of this update. Please take a moment to give it a look see. I will be posting again here soon as well, so stay tuned. In the meantime, here's a pic to hold you over. Actually, it's a clipping talking about a couple had who been married on the Success. Okay, this is a not-so-subtle lead in to my upcoming blog about marriages aboard the Success. Admit it, wouldn't you like be married aboard an old former floating prison?

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A History of the Success

Lauched in 1840 at Natmaw on the coast of Tenasserim, in what is now Myanmar, for Calcutta owners, this teakwood vessel was as fine an example of native shipbuilding as any ever seen. Her dimensions were: 117'3"×26'8"×22'5", she displaced 621 tons, and was equipped with two decks, forecastle and poop, and square stern with single quarter galleries. She was given a scroll figurehead, to be replaced two years later by the female bust that became the hallmark of this fine vessel. The first 50 years of her remarkable career saw her performing in a wide variety of roles: trader, emigrant ship, coolie transport, and penal hulk. It was in this latter role that she gained much notoriety as one of five penal hulks anchored off Willliamstown near Melbourne, Australia, during the 1850s. During the remainder of her career she was towed from port to port as a show ship. During this period a succession of owners displayed her as a sort-of convict ship museum and with increasingly greater misrepresentation of her true history. After a successful exhibition tour of the British Isles from 1895 to 1911, she sailed to Boston. For the next 30 years she toured both coasts, the inland rivers, and the Great Lakes. During this time official representatives for Australia quietly - and unsuccessfully - petitioned the U.S. to have the exhibit stopped. Meanwhile, many millions took advantage of the opportunity to see this unique attraction. By the time she met with her rather sad end by fire in 1946, near Port Clinton, Ohio, she had earned a reputation, somewhat unfairly, as a hoax. In truth, the world lost the chance to preserve a superb example of 19th century shipbuilding. If you have any information about this vessel, please contact me at nauticalguy@hotmail.com. Also, visit my companion website at ShipSuccess.com.