• Salem Maritime National Historic Site

    Salem Maritime

    National Historic Site Massachusetts

  • Friendship of Salem away for repairs

    The park's tall ship, Friendship of Salem, is away for repairs. We currently anticipate a May 2012 return. More »

Salem Maritime Festival 2007

Did You Know?

The octant is a navigational tool based on the curve of one eighth of a circle. It measures angles for solar and celestial navigation.

In 1799, Salem native Nathaniel Bowditch revised John H. Moore's New Practical Navigator, the standard navigation manual of the 18th century. Bowditch discovered and corrected over 8,000 errors in Moore's manual! In 1802, Bowditch published the New American Practical Navigator.