Maritime

Nigel Richardson describes the impact of the Titanic disaster on Southampton, the city from which she sailed and home to more than a third of those who lost their lives when the ship went down on April 15th, 1912.

Richard Challoner unearths a letter, written in support of a widow and her children, which is revealing of a humanitarian aspect of Lord Nelson.

A series of archaeological discoveries off the coast of Sicily reveal how Rome turned a piece of lethal naval technology pioneered by its enemy, Carthage, to its own advantage, explains Ann Natanson.

Ian Friel argues that popular ideas of the nature of Elizabethan seapower are distorted by concentration on big names and major events. Elizabethan England’s emergence on to the world stage owed much more to merchant ships and common seamen than we might think.

In 1759, Admiral Hawke secured a daring victory over the French fleet at Quiberon Bay. It surpasses Nelson’s triumph at Trafalgar in its significance, claims Brian James.

David Childs argues that Mary Rose, the Tudor battleship which was raised twenty-five years ago this month, represented the beginning of British naval greatness.

Charlie Cottrell describes the on-going efforts to save for the nation one of its best-loved maritime monuments.

During the Seven Years War, Admiral Byng was charged with 'failing to do his utmost'. He was executed on board the Monarch on March 14th, 1757.

Janet MacDonald looks at the surprisingly good rations that kept the Jack-Tars jolly.

The United States battleship was blown up in an explosion which killed 260 men on board on February 15th, 1898. What caused the explosion and who was responsible?

Richard Cavendish discovers that old ships do not just die or fade away, thanks to the Maritime Trust.

Hearts of oak - but those of the Don, not John Bull. John Harbron argues for a revaluation of the expertise, both of men and materiel, which made Spain a formidable naval foe on the eve of Trafalgar.

Charles Boxer examines the impact of 1688 on Anglo-Dutch relationship with nations east of Suez.