A Royal Navy 28 gun frigate c1794

Maritime history

A purple and blue illustration shows a young woman in a long dress with frilly sleeves, holding a red book. Around her, there is a pirate ship and a man dressed in white robes, sitting crossed-legged on a rug

In 1756, a young Englishwoman was taken hostage by Barbary pirates. This is her story.

A large drawing showing multiple different sea creatures in a light blue ocean

From krakens to serpents: 5 fearsome sea monsters from history.

A black and white photograph of a large, smoky explosion on the sea

Terror in the deep: how Hitler's U-boats pushed Britain to the brink.

The place where TIME began | A history of GMT.

Tudor explorers: everything you wanted to know.

A vessel at sea comes across the mythical ghost ship The Flying Dutchman

General History

Seven of history's most disturbing ghost ship stories that will haunt your dreams

The Catalan Atlas from 1375

North, south, east and west: how ancient civilisations found their bearings before the compass.

A map showing the Cinque ports

Q&AWhat are the Cinque Ports?

Clotilda: the last slave ship to America.

Ships in battle on the sea

General Early Modern

When pirates ruled Asia's waves

A c1943 photograph of USS Indianapolis. Built in New Jersey, the Portland-class heavy cruiser was launched in 1931 (Photo by US Navy/Interim Archives/Getty Images)

Into the jaws of hell: the WW2 sinking of USS Indianapolis.

A mermaid combing her hair

General Early Modern

Tails from the deep: separating the real folklore of mermaids from Disney stories

An engraving of the pirate Henry Avery with his ship in a notorious raid that almost pushed England and India to war (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

Hell on high water: the rise and fall of the golden age of piracy.

Passengers and crew leap from the Gloucester after the ship is wrecked in 1682, in a contemporary painting by Johan Danckerts (Image by National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London)

The sinking of the Gloucester: the shipwreck that rocked Restoration England.

HMS Bittern on fire and severely damaged after a German air attack in Namsos fjord, 30 April 1940. Both sides sustained heavy losses in the battle of Norway but the German navy was less able to absorb these than its British foe. (Photo by Topfoto)

Second World War

Narvik in contextHow battle for Norway in 1940 saved Britain

Illustration of Major Stede Bonnet, the Gentleman Pirate

Stede Bonnet, Gentleman Pirate: how a mid-life crisis created the 'worst pirate of all time'

Britannia and beyond: a history of royal yachts

Mary Rose being risen from the sea (Picture by Alamy))

Raising the Mary RoseThe quest to save Henry VIII's lost warship.

Episode 6Protecting the wreck.

Episode 5The mysterious men on-board.

Episode 4Inside the Tudor treasure trove.

Portrait of Henry VIII, King of England from 1509-1547

"Hopes and dreams"Why the Mary Rose was so important to Henry VIII.

The Mary Rose shown in the Anthony Roll (1546), a record of Henry VIII’s navy

Six theoriesWhat caused the Mary Rose to sink?

Episode 3The fatal final moments.

Episode 2The Tudor heyday of Henry VIII’s warship.

Episode 1Raising the wreck.

Return of the Viking raiders.

A spare anchor sits in its well on the forepeek of the shipwrecked Titanic.

General History

From Terror to Titanic: 7 famous shipwrecks

In partnership with St Helena Tourism

The sinking of the Gloucester as depicted in a c1682 painting

Why the Gloucester might be the most important shipwreck since the Mary Rose.

Discovering a lost royal battleship.