Tag: Chesapeake & Delaware Canal

Website for Real Time Marine Traffic on Delaware & Chesapeake Bays, and C & D Canal

While talking about the history of the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal during the Civil War at a meeting of the Fort Delaware Society last week, we discussed the website, www.marinetraffic.com.  This open source initiative provides free, real-time information about ship movements so visitors are able to view marine traffic on the Delaware and Chesapeake bays and the Canal.  It is also provides details on the vessels.  Many guests at the program were interested in this virtual information repository, so I am posting the link here.

www.marinetraffic.com shows real time maritime traffic on the Delaware & Chesapeake Bays and the C & D Canal.
www.marinetraffic.com shows real time maritime traffic on the Delaware & Chesapeake Bays and the C & D Canal.
It also provides information on the vessels.
It also provides information on the vessels.

 

The C & D Canal During the Civil War – A Talk at New Castle Public Library

New Castle County Reads 2013 has chosen March by Geraldine Brooks as its feature book this year.  The fascinating novel takes places during the dark years of the Civil War, as the north reels under a series of unexpected defeats and a father, Mr. March, goes off to aid the Union cause.  The New Castle County Library System is hosting a series of related programs to support the book discussion groups so I have been asked to talk about the C & D Canal during those troubling years.

There are many primary sources to help support a discussion such as this.  One, which I have found to be particularly insightful is a diary of a C & D Canal official.  During those unsettled times, the officer in charge of the waterway across the peninsula kept a daily journal of happenings on the Peninsula.  The talk takes place on Wednesday evening, March 26, at 7:00 p.m. at the New Castle Library.  This is a Delaware Humanities Forum program.

In the vicinity of the pump-house men are examining the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal in 1867.
In the vicinity of the pump-house men are examining the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal in 1867.