PHILIP K ALLAN

In the 16th century the Ottoman Empire was on the march. Having established rule over almost all of North Africa, the Middle East, Turkey and modern-day Iraq, they had set their sight on expansion into Europe. Greece, the Balkans and much of Southern Ukraine was conque...

Age of sail ships were utterly reliant on the health and strength of their crews. Before the introduction of steam winches in the 19th century, the only source of power available to them were the muscles of the sailors. Some of the forces involved were enormous. Anchor...

Robert Louis Stevenson, writer, traveller and creator of some of literature’s most enduring tales, was a crashing disappointment to his family. Producing global bestsellers like Treasure Island, Kidnapped and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was all very well,...

On a cold, blustery February day in 1756, large crowds gathered on both sides of the River Thames at Woolwich to witness the launch of the Royal Navy’s latest ship. With a displacement of over two thousand tons and carrying a hundred guns on three decks, the Royal Geor...

Captain James McNamara was known as one of the Royal Navy’s best fighting captains. Born into a naval family from County Clare on the Atlantic coast of Ireland, he had joined the service as a fourteen-year old during the American War of Independence. Almost immediately...

Of all the myths and legends of the sea, mermaids are amongst the most persistent. Almost as soon as humans started to sail in ships around five thousand years ago, they began to be reported. They feature in the maritime cultures of Europe, the Americas, the Middle Eas...

Vice-Admiral Sir William Cornwallis came from a military family. His older brother, Charles, was a British general during the American War of Independence, and is best remembered for surrendering his army at Yorktown to a combined force of French and Rebel troops under...

The most important port on France’s Biscay coast for centuries was La Rochelle. Heavily fortified, with a deep-water port, it had all the attributes of an excellent naval base. Unfortunately, it was also the centre of Protestant resistance to Paris, and in 1627 was sur...

Nelson will always be associated with HMS Victory. She was his flagship for his final battle at Trafalgar, and it was on her orlop deck that he breathed his last, just as the battle was won. This association with Britain’s great naval hero would go on to help save the ...

The tide, as Geoffrey Chaucer observed, waits for no man. Even out at sea, when all seems calm on the surface, the tide is there, constantly changing, flooding in and then ebbing away. Remorseless and powerful, its effect is most dramatic close to the shore. For sailor...