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 ...

The free quarterly newsletter of the Society for Nautical Research keeping you up to date with all society news, short research articles, headlines from the world of maritime research and heritage, ...

The use of the wheel to activate a ship’s rudder via the tiller came into use in the early 1700’s, in England, France and later Venetia. The essential problem was to translate the rotary motion of the ...

The free quarterly newsletter of the Society for Nautical Research keeping you up to date with all society news, short research articles, headlines from the world of maritime research and heritage, ...

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 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 ...

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 ...

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, ...

This provides a detailed chronological account of how the Royalists and Parliament used their individual navies during the English Civil War to respectively facilitate or thwart Royalist attempts to ...

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 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.

This article describes how a British Fleet, under Sir William Parker, consisting of a line-of-battle ship, some frigates, sloops and transports, in all seventy sailing vessels, proceeded under canvas ...