Maritime Matters

Maritime Matters
Type of site
 Travel News
Available in English
Owner Martin Cox
Slogan(s) Ocean Liner History and Cruise Ship News
Website Homepage
Alexa rank Negative increase 480,810 (April 2014)[1]
Launched 1997
Current status Online

Maritime Matters is a website dedicated to news concerning ocean liners and cruise ships, launched in 1997 by writer and professional photographer Martin Cox.

History

Cox is the founder and web master of the site, much of the content on Maritime Matters is written by travel writer and liner expert, Peter Knego. Post and blogs cover contemporary cruise ships, stories of preserved or laid up ships, shipping news, such as an announcement of a newbuild for a cruise line, or updates on what ships are being scrapped. Maritime Matters went through an upgrade to a different format at one point, its old pages available via Google until the site was moved to a new server in May 2010.[2] Knego was one of many press members who were on board the Norwegian Epic for a short cruise upon arrival in New York, and was able to post a large blog chronicling the ships interior, from the pool deck, public spaces, and suites.[3] If visitors of the site enter their name and email to a commenting engine they would be able to comment on posts. In September 2010 Google announced that news posts from the website would be featured on the news aggregator Google News.[4] It was also announced that the site would be undergoing an upgrade, which would include the option of changing pages to different languages.[5]

In May 2013 The Steamship Historical Society of America awarded Martin Cox the "C. Bradford Mitchell Award" for services to maritime history in a presentation in Long Beach, CA.

Sections

Authors

Martin Cox

Martin Cox grew up in the major British port of Southampton, inspiring him to create the site. He went to art schools in Winchester and Devon, launching Maritime Matters in 1997 and later moving to Los Angeles to launch his career in photography in 2000.[6] Cox co-wrote the book Hollywood to Honolulu: The Story of the Los Angeles Steamship with maritime author and researcher Gordon Ghareeb which was published in 2009. Cox was given the C. Bradford Mitchell for services to maritime history in May 2013 by the Steamship Historical Society of America and his photographic series, "Stranded" was exhibited at the Los Angeles Maritime Museum from June 2012 to January 2013.

Peter Knego

Peter Knego was born in Los Angeles to a fashion model and an actor, and graduated from UCLA with a BA in Theater Arts.[7] While still a school boy in early 1974, he began photographing every passenger ship that came to dock in Los Angeles, sparking interest in the passenger shipping industry. He traveled on many classic ships in the 1990s, including the Achille Lauro weeks before it sank in 1994.

Knego has, since 2003, annually visited scrapyards at Alang, India, to document ships, mostly classic liners, being scrapped.[8] His home near San Diego, California, is decorated with a large quantity of fittings rescued from the former Elder Dempster Lines flagship, the Aureol, when it was broken up at Alang.[7] Knego has also put many other fittings from ships scrapped in Alang up for sale on his own website Midshipcentury.com,[9] and has produced several films chronicling passenger ships of the world.[10]

Sail-by salutes

Main article: Near-shore salute
Passenger ship historian and writer Peter Knego says that whether approved by cruise companies or not, sail-by salutes both near land and between two ships at sea are a time-held tradition going back to the days of the ancient mariner.[11]

Shawn Dake

Shawn Dake has made increasing contributions to the site, his additions usually concerning news stories or tours of vessels.[12]

Kalle Id

Kalle Id is a Finish maritime historian and photographer with his own blog http://kships.blogspot.com/

Peter Newall

Peter Newall, cruise historian and custodian of all things maritime, a well-known writer and author of four highly acclaimed books, including the definitive histories of Union-Castle Line and Orient Line. Originally from Cape Town, Peter now lives in Dorset, UK.

References

  1. ↑ "Maritimematters.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2014-04-01.
  2. ↑ Moving to a new home
  3. ↑ Dawning of a Norwegian Epoch
  4. ↑ Knego Tweets
  5. ↑ Refitting the Site
  6. ↑ Martin Cox Bio
  7. 1 2 Richardson, Pat (25 March 2015). "Meet the man who turned his home into a cruise ship shrine". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  8. ↑ Mid-century nautical: Moorpark man's land-locked love affair with the high seas
  9. ↑ Peter Knego Bio
  10. ↑ Videos Index
  11. ↑ Cruise lines won't say whether they allow 'sail-by' salutes - USA Today, Gene Sloan
  12. ↑ Shawn Dake
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