Why are ships female?
When Admiral Chester W Nimitz, the architect of the Allies victory in the Pacific during WW2, was asked this question, he replied; "A...
The French Captain Cook
Captain James Cook’s three voyages of exploration in the Pacific where widely admired throughout Enlightenment Europe. The southern...
The Santisima Trinidad
When she was launched in 1769, the Santisima Trinidad (Holy Trinity) was the greatest warship the age of sail had seen. She was built as...
The Search for Longitude
Mankind has long known that they lived on a spherical world. Astronomers could see the circular shadow cast by the earth on the moon...
Captain Elphinstone and the Siege of Havana
The city of Havana in Cuba was Imperial Spain’s most important base. In the 18th century it was the third largest city in the New World...
Nelson and the Essence of War
British Admiral Jackie Fisher, the great Edwardian naval reformer who was behind the introduction of dreadnought battleships and...
Warspite – the Last of the Line
There have been Royal Navy vessels called Warspite since the time of the Tudors. Sir Walter Raleigh commanded the first ship of that...
Mail at Sea
By the end of the 18th century, the British Isles enjoyed one of the most efficient postal services in the world. Purpose-built mail...
Abel Tasman
Abel Tasman was born in 1603 in a small village in rural Holland. Little is known about his early life, but this was a time when his...
The Raid on Santander
Napoleon Bonaparte was a military genius whose downfall came from two catastrophic errors of judgement. One, his decision to invade...
