CSTHA History
31 July 2021
The Cruise Ship Technical Historical Association, or CSTHA, is founded by Winston Clapper. The initial goal was to preserve the original plans and other technical documents, so that future generations would be able to have easy access to this. He had struggled for many years to obtain the often lost, destroyed, or impossibly expensive plans for old ocean liners, and decided the time had come to change things up.
21 January 2022
The mission of the CSTHA is changed to include not only older ships, but currently serving ships as well.
29 May 2022
The first official CSTHA report was issued, in response to the Carnival Freedom funnel fire on 26 May 2022.
August 2022
The CSTHA Executive Board was created, with two new members. Winston Clapper, with his clear vision of the mission and an unparalleled drive to achieve the goals of the group, was selected as the Chairman of the Executive Board.
29 August 2022
The CSTHA officially launched their website, cstha.org, which was entirely designed and developed in-house. The website was still a bare skeleton of what it would become, however it was a step in the right direction to help push the organization and its message to as many people as possible.
8 September 2022
The Executive Board voted to approve the creation of a YouTube channel, where videos explaining elements of cruise ship design and construction would be explained. It wouldn't be announced until the following day, 9 September 2022, out of respect for the passing of Queen Elizabeth II.
September 2022
Project Phoenix is unveiled, and Winston Clapper steps up as Executive Director of what is described as an exciting new initiative.
23 September 2023
Several ship profiles are updated to demonstrate a new standard of detail which CSTHA management plan to roll out to every profile eventually. The testing period will be used to determine the success of this project, or if it will be shelved until later to focus on other marquis projects.
7 October 2023
Inspired by the promising effects of their limited trial update, the CSTHA embarks on a full refresh of the website, fleshing out as much information as possible on each of the listed cruise ships. The goal is to have this completed by the end of December 2023, making it a banner year for the CSTHA. Further expansions are announced to bring the organization more into the ocean liner and large ferry realm, as opposed to just focusing on cruise ships. The website was also updated to reflect separate new sections for cruise ships, ocean liners, and ferries under the "Fleet List" umbrella. A separate VP will be appointed for each of those divisions of the organization, each of whom will be a member of, and will report to, the Executive Board.
8 October 2023
Winston Clapper, Chairman of the Executive Board, announced the upcoming release of an updated report on the Carnival Freedom funnel fire on 26 May 2022. The initial report, issued on 29 May 2022, was preliminary in nature, although every piece of gathered evidence as well as the conclusion still stands against the new evidence. The update will cover the corrosive effects of the scrubber system to the upper exhaust pipes, and how that likely caused the breach which allowed the fire to begin.
Additionally, it was announced that one of the two Executive Board members added in August 2022 had been removed from his position. No reason was provided, although the CSTHA alluded to it being a voluntary decision based on time constraints.
9 October 2023
CSTHA management is listed on the website for the first time.
7 February 2024
The first plans are uploaded to the plans section of the website.
22-23 March 2024
Major updates are made to the website, including a restructuring of the site to allow separate spaces for cruise ship plans and factsheets. Many ocean liner and cruise ship plans are added as well, to begin serving the mission which the organization was founded for. They will now be preserved and maintained online, for the benefit of anyone who wishes to view and study them from home at their leisure.