All articles in Maritime
18th June, 2018 in History, Maritime, Military
England’s first great naval victory
When we think of battles at sea between England and France, our minds tend to be drawn to the Georgian era and the victories of Nelson’s navy. But it is a little-known fact that the first great naval battle in the Channel took place half a millennium earlier, in the summer of 121…
20th February, 2018 in Local & Family History, Maritime, Transport & Industry
A short history of Sheerness Dockyard
The Isle of Sheppey, some nine miles long and half as wide, lies on the southern side of the Thames estuary and is separated from the north Kent coast by a narrow channel of the sea called the Swale. Sheerness in the mid-seventeenth century was a short, beak-shaped point of uninh…
26th January, 2018 in History, Maritime, Society & Culture
Transportation to Australia
Transportation overseas as the punishment for many criminal offences, next in severity to the death sentence, was first introduced into English law by the Elizabethan Act of 1597 ‘For the punishment of Rogues, Vagabonds, and Sturdy Beggars – to be banished out of this Realm and a…
11th January, 2018 in Maritime, Transport & Industry
The Falkirk Wheel: Building a waterway wonder
In 2002, British Waterways (the government department that managed Britain’s canal network at that time) conducted a poll of those interested in the inland waterways, asking them to choose the ‘Seven Wonders of the Inland Waterways for the 21st Century’. The Falkirk Wheel in Cent…
8th January, 2018 in Biography & Memoir, History, Maritime
Vice Admiral Lord Nelson’s state funeral
The funeral of Vice Admiral Lord Nelson on 9 January 1806 was a vast spectacle, at the time probably the largest public event in London’s long history. Advertisements appeared for days beforehand promoting the best vantage points for the procession to St Paul’s Cathedral, newspap…
11th October, 2017 in Maritime
The sinking and raising of the Mary Rose
The Mary Rose was one of King Henry VIII’s favourite warships until she sank during an engagement with the French fleet on 19 July 1545. Her rediscovery and raising were seminal events in the history of nautical archaeology. The Sinking England in 1544: Henry the VIII has b…
26th September, 2017 in History, Maritime
Queen Elizabeth I’s Sea Dogs
During the Elizabethan period the term ‘Sea Dogs’ was allotted to various buccaneers and adventurers enlisted by Queen Elizabeth I as privateers, or sea-raiders. Despite its shaky legal and moral foundation, the practice of privateering formed a key part of Elizabe…
18th July, 2017 in Archaeology, Maritime
Salsette: 100 years under the sea
In September 1837 the wooden paddle steamer Don Juan, of the company later known simply as ‘P&O’, sailed on the inaugural voyage of the mail service contract to the Iberian Peninsula. Up until the major restructuring of the company in 1971 P&O had owned nearly five hundre…
2nd May, 2017 in Maritime
The progression of transatlantic liners through history
Follow the changing form of the transatlantic liner from its inception in the nineteenth century through to the present day… SS Great Western The first true transatlantic liner was the Great Western built by Brunel. She was a paddle steamer and also carried auxiliary sales. The c…
7th April, 2017 in Maritime
Titanic’s maiden departure from Southampton
The day of 10th April 1912 dawned to reveal a slightly overcast sky and the temperature was to reach 48°F (9°C). Early that morning, RMS Titanic’s Captain Edward John Smith arrived from his home in Southampton, his officers having spent the night aboard. Shortly afterwards the cr…
3rd March, 2017 in History, Maritime
John Cabot and the first English expedition to America
During Tudor times Italian explorer John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto to give him his Italian name) led English ships on voyages of discovery and is credited with prompting transatlantic trade between England and the Americas. In an attempt to find a direct route to the markets of…
31st January, 2017 in Maritime
The brief but glorious career of SS Normandie
SS Normandie was the ultimate transatlantic ocean liner – assuredly of the 1930s, but perhaps of the entire 20th century. She had abundance – she was novel, innovative, glittering, exceptionally advanced, truly sensational. She was, of course, the result of a successi…