Maritime history

Mutiny at sea: the forgotten story of murder and brutality aboard HMS Wager

The exact location at which John Cabot came ashore in North America is the subject of debate. (Photo by © CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

A tale of Tudor travel: John Cabot’s voyage to America

A union flag flown on HMS Queen Charlotte at the battle known as the Glorious First of June, 1794

Q&A When was the Union Jack or Union flag created?

Emma Stonex talks about the strange story of the Flannan Isles Lighthouse keepers, who vanished in December 1900. (Image by Getty Images)

The mystery of the vanishing lighthouse keepers

'Pirate queen' Grace O'Malley. (Illustration by Sue Gent for BBC History Revealed)

Grace O’Malley: the fearless pirate queen of Ireland

A 19th-century depiction of HMS Erebus in the ice, by François Etienne Musin. What exactly happened to the ship and its crew remains a mystery. (Picture by Alamy)

The Franklin Expedition: what happened on the ill-fated Victorian voyage?

Charles Spencer on the HistoryExtra podcast

The shipwreck that sunk a royal dynasty

An Australian Sea Shanty band, c1988

A brief history of sea shanties

Photo of statue of Leif Erikson

Leif Erikson’s voyage to Vinland

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

Nelson's passion for Emma – with whom he had a six-year affair – is writ large in his letters

Nelson in his own words

Edith Hall on the HistoryExtra podcast.

General ancient history

The ‘lost’ city of Atlantis

Podcast Winch Simon Parkin Web large

Second World War

A secret WW2 wargame

The White Ship disaster

Charles Spencer on the White Ship disaster, “the most disastrous moment in British maritime history”

The Oseberg ship from around AD 820 is one of the most well- preserved Viking ships ever excavated

Viking ships: 5 lesser-known facts