I am currently researching the transmission of Iberian geographic knowledge into English cartography, specifically how Portuguese toponyms may have found their way onto the Molyneux globe of 1592. One ...

Thomas Doughty was beheaded in Patagonia by Drake in 1578. Doughty’s brother, John, commenced murder proceedings against Drake upon their return to England. After establishing his locus standi, ...

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Wooden ships have three main enemies – fire, dry-rot and worms, and rot was a major problem that affected the operational readiness of the fleet. Although rot must have been a problem for many ...

During the American Revolution the Dutch Caribbean island of St Eustatius was a major transit point for trade with the rebels and French islands. The British Administration was particularly aggrieved ...

In July 1742 Parliament appointed the Earl of Warwick to command the fleet instead of Sir John Pennington, the King’s choice, and excluded two other captains. Despite these precautions, another nine ...

King Philip II delayed sending galleys to defend Santo Domingo from pirates, due to instability, corruption, and monetary chaos on the island of Hispaniola. The two galleys finally sent in 1582 soon ...

The Naval Academy at Portsmouth was established in 1733. During its 104 years of operation it developed a poor reputation; Lord St. Vincent called it a “sink of vice and abomination…” Closed in 1833, ...

In February 1946, a “sit down” strike/mutiny broke out among seamen at the RIN Signal School at Colaba, Bombay, and was followed by general disaffection and in some cases violence in RIN bases and ...

The author throws new light on Norris’s origins, early service, marriage and death. Norris entered the Navy aged 9 or 10 as the ‘servant’ of Captain Richard Borthwick and almost immediately joined the ...

The majority of the images used in this site come from the vast image collections of the Royal Museums, Greenwich. They can be searched in their entirety here.

During the British gunboat war against Denmark–Norway in the period 1808–13, the Danish island of Anholt posed a navigational hazard to Baltic convoys carrying strategic materials and manufactured ...