Maritime history

A pirate ship flying the Jolly Roger closes in on another vessel during a storm

The golden age of piracy: when pirates ruled the waves?

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)

The most famous and despicable pirates from history

The Jolly Roger, a black flag showing a skuyll and crossbones. (Photo by Henry Guttmann Collection/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Q&A Did all pirates fly the Jolly Roger?

A pirate uses his cutlass to force a bound and blindfolded man to walk the plank

Q&A Was walking the plank a real pirate punishment?

Pirates burying a treasure chest on a beach as their captain looks on

Q&A X marks the spot: did pirates bury their treasure?

A 17th century sketch of a peg-legged pirate walking with the aid of crutches

Q&A Did any real pirates wear eyepatches or have peg legs?

Photo of tall ship

Q&A Who do we say 'shot across the bows'?

Pod Kate Jamieson WL

General History

The Age of Sail: everything you wanted to know

Nelson stands in the Nile culling crocodiles in James Gillray's cartoon 'Extirpation of the Plagues of Egypt' (1798). The crocodiles represent captured or destroyed French ships at the battle of the Nile, while Nelson is cast as a cross between Moses and Hercules. (Archiv Gerstenberg/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

Admiral Lord Nelson: 10 days that created a legend

Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton

Ernest Shackleton, the great Antarctic explorer of the Heroic Age

Winston Churchill (left) with Charles de Gaulle, c1944. The British prime minister encouraged Vichy’s colonies to rally to the Free French leader. (Getty Images)

Second World War

Operation Ironclad: the WW2 battle for Madagascar

A manuscript illumination dated c1100 depicting Viking warriors sailing towards Brittany

What if... The Vikings had never left their homelands?

Engraving showing flying fish leaping over a Spanish trade ship

Winds of change: how the discovery of trade winds powered Europe’s empires

Historian Saul David

Second World War

Saul David “It was astonishing bravery – and cold-blooded bravery, too”

A mermaid combing her hair

General Early Modern

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