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Ocean Portal by The Smithsonian Institution

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IMAGE GALLERY Pirates of the Golden Age Meet seven of the most fearsome pirates from the Golden Age of Piracy. Like pirates? Read more about William Dampier, a most fearsome pirate -- and naturalist.MORE GALLERIES


	VIDEO MORE VIDEOS Protecting Titanic: 100 Years Later One hundred years after it sank on April 15, the RMS Titanic still rests on the...
	PHOTO MORE PHOTOS Giant Squid Myth A giant squid attacks a boat - something that has not been known to happen in re...
	BLOG POST MORE STORIES Still Blue After a Century of Ocean Science and Exploration This year marks 100 years since the National Museum of Natural History opened it...

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					The Trouvadore: A Story of Deliverance May 22, 2013 - 9:31AMJoin marine archeologists as they trace the history of the Trouvadore, a slave ship bound for Cuba that wrecked in the Turks and Caicos Islands in 1841, and the ship’s passengers unusual path to freedom.

Fish Swim Around Shipwreck

Mar 11, 2013 - 7:27AM

Fish swim around the wreck of the HMT Bedfordshire, an Arctic fishing...

First Giant Squid Photo

Mar 6, 2013 - 8:27AM

This 1874 photo of a squid draped over a bathtub was the first ever taken of...

SPOTLIGHT


The Sant Ocean Hall: Salmon Shape a Way of Life Boats Connect Us to the Ocean More than any other objects, boats symbolize human connection to the ocean. As you look...

Sharing the Booty Jul 6 2010 - 3:21pm Pirates divide up the riches they plundered. Most pirates abided by their own codes of conduct, and life aboard pirate ships was more democratic than that on naval ships of the time.	2011 Student Summit on the Ocean & Coasts Webcast, Part 1 Mar 28 2011 - 2:47pm Recorded Feb. 15, 2011, this video from the Third Student Summit on the Ocean and Coasts includes a tribal song written and sung by Suquamish Tribal member Bearon Old Coyote; a welcome to the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History by Director Dr. Cristian Samper; a lecture about the "...
Rev. Harvey Buys a Giant Squid Jan 26 2010 - 11:46am In 1874, Reverend Moses Harvey of Newfoundland bought a dead giant squid caught by fishermen. More about the giant squid can be found in our Giant Squid featured story.	Excavation of an Inuit House Sep 9 2011 - 3:11pm Excavations between 2002 through 2011 at Hare Harbor have shown that this site was a whaling and fishing station occupied by Basque and Inuit assistants ca. 1680-1730. Archaeologists have uncovered a cookhouse, a blacksmith shop, and the remains of several Inuit winter houses like the one seen here...
Ann Bonny and Mary Read Jul 7 2010 - 12:57pm Yes, there were women pirates! And Bonny (left) and Read were among the most famous. Dressed in men’s clothes, they fought side-by-side with other pirates—many of whom believed the two women were men. In the Caribbean, Ann Bonny and Mary Read served with Captain “Calico” Jack Rackham. In 1720...	Fresh Shellfish for Sale Nov 18 2010 - 5:20pm A local woman sells live shellfish from her boat in Halong Bay, Vietnam.
Map of Early European Whaling Region Sep 9 2011 - 2:52pm For over a decade scientists have been investigating an early European whaling site at Hare Harbor in Quebec, Canada. Located in the Gulf of St.	Gyotaku Flounder Jul 14 2011 - 5:32pm Gyotaku is a traditional form of Japanese art that began as a way for fisherman to keep a record of the fish they caught. The fisherman would apply sumi ink to one side of a freshly caught fish, then cover the fish with rice paper and rub to create an exact image of the fish. The ink was non-...
Celebrating Traditional Canoes Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am Members of the Squamish Nation paddle their canoe to a 1997 festival celebrating traditional Native canoe arts. Native peoples of the Northwest Coast believe each canoe has its own spirit. Designs on their canoes reflect this spiritual relationship with the natural world.	Whale Products in Fashion Jan 23 2013 - 12:35pm In the 19th century, "whalebone" was an important fashion tool—however, it wasn't made out of bone, but whale baleen. Dried baleen was flexible yet strong, and used to create structure in clothing, such as tight corsets, used by high-fashion women to present a curvy waistline, collars and hooped...
Earth Day, Spawned from the Sea Apr 22 2013 - 10:29am Sometimes I think that our planet Earth, named for the Old English word for “dry land” (eorthe), should get a new name. Despite our knowledge that more than 70% of the planet’s surface is ocean—definitely not “dry land”—we still refer to our home by an 8th century description. The same goes for...	Still Blue After a Century of Ocean Science and Exploration Sep 24 2010 - 12:08pm This year marks 100 years since the National Museum of Natural History opened its doors, but the Smithsonian’s work in marine science dates back more than 160 years.
Canoe Figurehead Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am With the sun in its beak, a raven figurehead points the way for the Raven Spirit canoe, now on display at the Smithsonian Institution. More about raven spirit can be found in our Raven Spirit featured story.	Pacific Ocean Currents Jul 9 2010 - 1:41pm The arrows show the direction of ocean currents recorded by William Dampier while crossing “La Grande Mer du Sud”—the Pacific Ocean. The map appeared in Dampier’s second book, Voyages and Descriptions, published in early 1699.
The Sant Ocean Hall: Salmon Shape a Way of Life Sep 20 2011 - 5:08pm Boats Connect Us to the Ocean More than any other objects, boats symbolize human connection to the ocean. As you look through the center of the Ocean Hall, past the model right whale, you can see a magnificent carved canoe.	Bonny and Read in Jamaica Jul 29 2010 - 3:26pm In the Caribbean, Ann Bonny and Mary Read served with Captain “Calico” Jack Rackham. In 1720 Rackham and his entire crew were captured and executed—except for Bonny and Read. They said to the judge: “My Lord, we plead our bellies.” Both Bonny and Read were pregnant, and they were sent to prison...