Ships have unintended passengers As ships travel across the oceans between the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa and elsewhere they take with them unintended passengers. These stowaways include seeds mixed in with ballast. In order to be properly...

Cargo ships are designed to carry heavy weights, and without it they ride too high in the water and are unstable.  Ships not laden with enough goods would take on ballast, often in the form of sand or gravel to allow them to safely sail. ...

A former "Pointer" recalls his childhood growing up in the Erie Basin and the sometimes heated relationship between the "Pointers" and the "Creekers."  A reference in the 1890s sugest that terms go back as far as the 1840s. Pointers lived in...