All articles in Maritime
16th January, 2017 in Maritime
What was Captain Cook looking for when he crossed the Antarctic Circle in 1773?
‘At about a ¼ past 11 o’Clock we cross’d the Antarctic Circle…and are undoubtedly the first and only Ship that ever cross’d that line.’ — Captain Cook, 17 January 1773. Human beings are very curious; we want to know what lies over the horizon. We are also very competitive; not on…
10th January, 2017 in Maritime
HMS Victory, saved for the nation
There have been many celebrated warships in Britain’s naval history but HMS Victory can justifiably claim to be one of the most famous of them all, having served as Vice Admiral Lord Nelson’s flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar. The death of Nelson on board Victory du…
8th December, 2016 in Maritime, Society & Culture, Transport & Industry
The Atlantic Telegraph Cable: Communicating across the sea
2016 saw the 150th Anniversary of the Atlantic Telegraph Cable; from Newfoundland to Valentia, Ireland, enabling telegraph communications from New York to London. One of the links in the chain could be found at the secluded Pembrokeshire beach of Abermawr which was the landi…
2nd December, 2016 in Maritime, Women in History
Dorothy Gibson: The woman who survived the sinking of the Titanic and a Nazi prison
Dorothy Winifred Gibson (1889-1946) is arguably one of the most fascinating women of the twentieth century. Her story is more than deserving of its own film or TV show and yet, if it was to ever appear on the screen, it would be in serious danger of being criticised…
28th November, 2016 in Maritime
Immigration to the USA by White Star liner
At the turn of the twentieth century, the majority of steamers bringing immigrants to the United States still had very primitive third class accommodation. On these vessels, passengers had berths, food and air, but their sleeping quarters consisted of large compartments accommoda…
10th November, 2016 in Maritime
RMS Mauretania: Cunard’s most luxurious ocean liner
When RMS Mauretania first set sail on 16 November 1907 from Liverpool to New York, she was the Cunard company’s most luxurious ocean liner. She was also the largest and fastest ship in the world at the time. Of course, First Class passengers travelled in style but there had been…
13th October, 2016 in Maritime
The tradition of Pickle Night
The season of formal Trafalgar Night dinners, celebrated by navies throughout the Commonwealth, starts on Trafalgar Day, October 21, and ends in early November with Pickle Night, which celebrates the arrival in London of Lieutenant John Lapenotiere on HMS Pickle, carryi…
23rd May, 2016 in Maritime, Military
The Battle of Jutland, 31 May 1916
The Battle of Jutland was fought between the Royal Navy’s Grand Fleet and the Imperial German Navy’s High Seas Fleet, from 31 May to 1 June 1916, in the North Sea near Denmark’s Jutland Peninsula. Over 36 hours, one brutal day and night in 1916, around 100,000 British and German…
17th May, 2016 in Maritime, Military
The ‘big naval show’ of the Great War
On 31 May 2016 commemorations in Orkney marked the centenary of the Battle of Jutland, in which over 8,000 men died; the installation of Poppies: Weeping Window (part of the Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red installation at the Tower of London in 2014) had already taken plac…
4th March, 2016 in Maritime
Day-trip to disaster: the Zeebrugge tragedy
It’s been 35 years since a shocking maritime disaster claimed the lives of more Britons than in any other single event since the Second World War. Many people think that they have not heard of the Herald of Free Enterprise or the Zeebrugge disaster until they see a picture o…
2nd March, 2016 in Aviation, Maritime, Military
A tribute to Derek James, D-Day veteran and aviation author
David Gibbings, a retired RAF navigator and flight test engineer for helicopters and aircraft, pays tribute to fellow The History Press author and D-Day veteran, Derek James, who recently passed away. Derek James, the author, has died at the age of 92. Derek was a proli…
26th February, 2016 in Maritime
The future of the HMHS Britannic
Simon Mills, the man who purchased the rights to the wreck of the HMHS Britannic in 1996, talks about the future of the ship’s restoration project… I don’t know why but whenever someone asks me what it was that made me buy the British Government’s title to the wreck of the Britan…