Maritime history

Pilgrim Fathers boarding the Mayflower

5 facts about the Mayflower

Simon was found with his whiskers burned off and hurt by four pieces of shrapnel. The medical officer thought he wouldn’t survive the night (Photo by Keystone Pictures USA / Alamy Stock Photo)

10 top cats in history

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Building RMS Titanic: exploring Belfast’s “world-leading” shipbuilding heritage

Henry VIII's Mary Rose (© 19th era/Alamy)

7 things you (probably) didn’t know about Henry VIII’s flagship, the Mary Rose

An episode of the naval battle at Trafalgar: the ship Redoutable (French) against the vessels Victory (British), Téméraire (British) and Thunderer (British). (Photo by Fototeca Gilardi/Getty Images).

Britain didn’t “rule the waves” after the battle of Trafalgar, says historian Sam Willis

Clash between the English Temeraire and the French Redoutable ships during the Battle of Trafalgar, October 21, 1805. (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

The battle of Trafalgar

Winner takes all: A painting shows the French ship 'Redoutable' clashing with the British 'Temeraire'. "Regardless of the victory off Cape Trafalgar, it was another decade before Britain and her allies defeated Napoleon. (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

Trafalgar, a futile victory? Why Nelson’s triumph didn’t turn the tide on Napoleon

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4 revelations about the Titanic disaster

The Endurance, the ship of Ernest Shackleton

My history hero: Ernest Shackleton (d1922)

Illustration by Davide Bonazzi

Did the Age of Exploration bring more harm than good?

James Cook, commander of HMS 'Endeavour', meets Tahitians in an 18th-century engravings. The ship's naturalist Joseph Banks declared the Polynesian island "the truest picture of an Arcadia". (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

How the arrival of Europeans rocked the native cultures of Tahiti and Australia

Captain Edward Teach, better known as 'Blackbeard', a pirate who plundered the coasts of the West Indies, North Carolina and Virginia. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

6 despicable pirates from history

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

The Library The battle for Norway, 1940: the forgotten Battle of Britain

The Spanish Armada defeated in the English Channel in July 1588, by Hendrick Cornelis Vroom, c1600. (Picture by DEA PICTURE LIBRARY/Getty Images)

10 things you (probably) didn’t know about the Spanish Armada