Latest news with #Holland-based
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Pocket watch from Great Lakes' deadliest shipwreck returned to family
The Great Lakes have claimed thousands of lives and ships. The exact total will never be known, but historians estimate that 25–30,000 people have drowned on around 6,000 vessels since the 17th century. Despite this uncertainty, experts do know the single deadliest documented shipwreck: the Lady Elgin. On September 8, 1860, the sidewheel steamer crashed into another boat while sailing north of Chicago on Lake Michigan. Over 300 people died as a result, etching the tragedy into cultural memory and even inspiring at least one folk song. But while the Lady Elgin's deteriorating wreckage remains interred across a mile of Lake Michigan lakebed, one remarkably preserved artifact has made it back to the surface. After nearly 165 years, a solid gold pocket watch has been returned to the family of one of the steamer's victims—a man famous for his own reasons. Herbert Ingram was born on May 27, 1811, to a butcher's family in Lincolnshire, England. After starting his career as a printer's apprentice and journeyman, Ingram began noticing newspapers often sold more copies when they included illustrations. Before he could do anything about that, however, he needed money. As luck would have it, Ingram started to amass a small fortune in 1842 thanks to his newly patented 'Parr's Life Pills.' Ingram claimed his supplements were based on a recipe created by the legendary Thomas Parr, a man who supposedly lived to the age of 152. Parr's Life Pills offered no actual medical benefits, but the proceeds did help finance an endeavor with real results. Less than a year after his foray into pharmaceuticals, Ingram launched The Illustrated London News. Unlike its competitors, the London News featured prominent illustrations and images in every weekly issue. Its success paved the way for imitators, and Ingram is now regarded as the father of pictorial journalism. By 1860, Ingram wasn't just a prominent businessman, but a member of the British Parliament. Unfortunately, none of that exactly matters to the Great Lakes. While traveling the US to obtain new material for The Illustrated London News, Ingram and one of his sons were among the hundreds of Lady Elgin passengers to drown in the shipwreck. It would take another 129 years before maritime archeologists rediscovered the wreck of the Lady Elgin. Experts traveled to the location to document the ship's remains, including Holland-based historian Valerie Van Heest in 1992. But unbeknownst to her, another group of divers had also recently visited the Lady Elgin—and they returned to land with a keepsake. 'The location had leaked, and a trio of divers… came upon a pocket watch. A gold pocket watch, an extraordinary discovery,' Van Heest told the local Michigan news outlet Fox 17. For over 30 years, the artifact remained hidden away in storage. After working to restore it, the watch's finders reached out to Van Heest to help identify its owner. Luckily, the timepiece offered a solid lead—the initials 'H.I.' engraved on its watch fob. Additional research indicated Herbert Ingram's descendents still lived in England. After reaching out to them and confirming the watch's provenance, Van Heest learned his hometown's museum was coincidentally in the process of building an exhibit dedicated to him. 'They didn't have any physical artifacts, and here I was offering not only an artifact, but Herbert Ingram's personal watch,' Van Heest explained to Fox 17. 'It was an extraordinary, serendipitous occurrence.' With the watch in the care of museum curators in Ingram's hometown of Boston, Lincolnshire, England, both his family and the public can now visit a tangible relic representing both historical triumphs and tragedies. 'Returning this watch is the right thing to do,' said Van Heest. 'This is reminding people that shipwrecks affected people, affected families, and this shows that 165 years later, we care. People care about the individuals lost.'
Khaleej Times
17-04-2025
- Automotive
- Khaleej Times
Watch: New flying car unveiled in UAE that can fly up to 500km
Imagine flying from Dubai to Bahrain in just 2 hours and 20 minutes, or cruising through the skies from Riyadh to Kuwait in 2 hours and 40. But you won't board a plane. You will be in a flying car. By 2027, flying cars could be a reality in the UAE skies. On Thursday, Holland-based mobility solution provider PAL-V unveiled its flying car at the Sharjah Research Technology and Innovation Park (SRTIP). The two-seater flydrive mobility car needs a 250-metre strip to take off and its foldable propellers allow the flying vehicle to be converted into a car. With a base model priced at $800,000 (Dh2.9 million), it is expected to take to the UAE skies in 2027 following regulatory approvals from the local authorities, Robert Dingemanse, CEO and co-founder of PAL-V, told Khaleej Times in an interview on Thursday. The payload of the flying car is limited to two persons and 20kg of luggage. Equipped with a combustion engine, it can fly up to a distance of 500km on a full fuel tank. It flies at a low altitude and can be useful to help doctors reach their destination faster in case of emergency, border patrolling, coast guarding and other military purposes. Dingemanse said flying car offers door-to-door mobility and can use existing infrastructure and regulations. 'It is faster than any other mode of transport and cost-effective from an operational perspective, cheaper than the helicopter. It is possible to reach every sport as landing nearby is fine and there is always a drive option available. It has the same range and speed as a helicopter, but safer,' he said. Dingemanse said the decision will be made by the UAE authorities regarding the private use of individuals in the UAE. 'The vehicle can be used for flying taxis as well.' Dingemanse revealed that they also aim to set up an institute in the UAE or the Middle East for pilot training. PAL-V chief expects most orders from the UAE will come from government entities. He said the UAE-based Jetex has ordered over 100 PAL-V's flying cars. In total, it has over 150 million euros worth of pre-orders. Currently, Archer Aviation and Joby are in the process of launching flying taxis in the UAE later this year or early next year. Archer has announced that it will launch test flights of its Midnight aircraft in the UAE in the summer, ahead of the roll-out of flying taxi operations in the UAE. In January 2025, the UAE's first commercial vertiport for flying taxis was named Dubai International Vertiport (DXV), reflecting both Dubai and Abu Dhabi. In April 2025, it said the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, EASA, issued a 'No Technical Objection' to PAL-V. PAL-V aims to introduce four-seater and eco-friendly flying cars in the coming years. Hussain Almahmoudi, CEO of SRTIP, said the introduction of flying cars reflects that the UAE and the wider region are interested in sustainable transport. 'As country get populated and develops, we need to have different methods of transport and technology like this could be used in different purposes from tourism to transportation and healthcare and rescue other components,' he said. 'We want to see these technologies developed here in SRTIP. We have over 20 educational institutions and over 40,000 students here. We developed a good base of labs that can produce 3D components and modern technologies,' Juma Abdulla Alhaj, director of strategic communications and market at SRTIP, said they are open to collaborating with PAL-V to set up an assembly unit for PAL-V flying cars.
