Maritime history

HistoryExtra’s top 15 most listened to podcast episodes

Painting of Bligh and those loyal to him being cast adrift from the Bounty in a small boat

Mutiny on the Bounty: the incredible tale of how castaway captain William Bligh made it back to England

Digitally restored vintage photo of the RMS Titantic departing Southampton on 10 April 1912. (Photo by John Parrot/Stocktrek Images via Getty Images)

Your history guide to RMS Titanic, plus 9 fascinating facts about the disaster

Illustration of Elizabeth I in a cage

What if... The Spanish Armada had landed?

The Battle of Lepanto between Holy League soldiers and Ottoman troops

The battle of Lepanto: when Ottoman forces clashed with Christians

Historian Stephen Tomkins (Photo by Fran Monks)

Puritans and the Mayflower

German submarine on mission in the Atlantic ocean, 1942/1943 (Photo by ullstein bild via Getty Images)

Second World War

World War Two’s secret heroes

The Cunard liner Lusitania

First World War

How did Britain react to the sinking of the Lusitania?

The American aircraft carrier USS Yorktown is being bombed in the Battle of Midway, June 1942. (Photo by Corbis via Getty Images)

Second World War

Midway: the Pacific War on screen

'Yorktown' sustains a hit during the battle of Midway. The US aircraft carrier sank three days later but, by then, the Japanese had accepted that their attempt to land a war-winning blow had failed. (Photo by © CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

Second World War

How miraculous was the battle of Midway?

Simon the cat

10 top cats in history

Illustration of pirate John Ward

Pirate John Ward: the real Captain Jack Sparrow

Historian and writer William Dalrymple during the Edinburgh International Book Festival 2017 (Photo by Martina Bocchio / Awakening / Alamy)

William Dalrymple on the East India Company

William Dalrymple is an award-winning writer and historian based in India. (Photo by Bikramjt Bose)

“This was a corporation that could topple kings”: William Dalrymple on the East India Company

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