Whether medieval navies used quicklime to incapacitate enemy sailors and to render their decks treacherous has not been satisfactorily answered. Drawing on the accounts of numerous medieval authors, ...

In this, the sixth episode of our Great Sea Fights series, we explore the remarkable events of 19 August 1812 when the powerful frigate USS Constitution fought and destroyed the British frigate HMS ...

This is the first episode of a two-part mini-series on the history of maritime special forces. In this episode we hear about the Second World War origins, development and early history of the SBS – ...

Abstract This article gives an account of how a mixed fleet of East Indiamen and privately owned merchantmen successfully defended themselves against a French squadron of men-o-war. The merchantmen ...

In this book, Sebastiano Tusa, one of the most important Italian underwater archaeologists and superintendent of the Sea of Sicily, offers a series of interesting suggestions about the history of the ...

Abstract Advances in warship design over the last century are displayed on the covers of this excellent book. On the front, a photograph taken in 1913 shows the launch of the battleship Queen ...

This is an article detailing the period when sidelights began to come into use and eventually became mandatory. Prior to their use it was only recommended that mooring lights be shown, with the ...

This article gives a detailed insight into the life of John Tyrrell, following archaeological investigations of the third rate ship Anne, the only English ...

This article provides a survey of Guernsey-based privateering from roughly 1689 to 1815. The opportunity is also used to discuss reciprocal privateering by the French (from St. Malo to Dieppe), as ...

Part 7 of a series of articles drawn from the manuscript of the late Sir Oswyn Murray, originally planned as a volume in the Whitehall Series. This Part deals with the organisational structure of the ...

The fighting was particularly testing in the war as the Chinese kept their forces out of reach in inland waterways and creeks, protected by shoal water, booms and fire rafts. With a draught of only ...

Abstract Five days after the shelling of Fort Sumter, Lincoln announced a blockade of the Confederate Coast. Ambitious and legally ambiguous, as it seemed to imply the Confederacy was a foreign ...