The Ugly Duckling’s Last Stand
The sloop HMS Arrow was one of the least attractive commands in the Royal Navy. Along with her sister ship HMS Dart, she was built to an...
The Buccaneering career of Robert Surcouf
Robert Surcouf was born in 1773 in the Breton port of St Malo. Positioned in a relatively poor part of France, for centuries the only...
The Royal Dockyards
At the start of the 18th century it was unclear which of several European naval powers would go on to dominate the seas of the world. The...
A Tug-of-War, Naval style – HMS Rattler vs HMS Alecto
The Industrial Revolution that swept through 18th and 19th century Britain was driven by steam. Coal-fired engines were everywhere,...
Cochrane’s Castle
In 1808 Napoleon Bonaparte made his momentous decision to invade Spain, an ally at the time, and replace its government with one headed...
Blackbeard the Pirate
The years from 1713 to 1725 are thought of as the Golden Age of Piracy. The popular image of a pirate is firmly rooted in this period,...
Clash in the Gut – the First and Second Battles of Algeciras
The British naval base at Gibraltar lies on one side of a small bay, directly opposite its Spanish equivalent at Algeciras. Both were...
Hearts of Oak are our Women
In the early 1990s, at the end of a long campaign for gender equality, all positions on Royal Navy ships were finally opened to women....
Captain Jorge Juan - International Spy in the Age of Sail
In April 1748, the long War of Austrian Succession came to an end, leaving the Spanish Navy in a terrible plight. Spain was dependent for...
Ship's Carpenters
Age of sail ships were made almost entirely from wood. Oak, prized for its strength, was the most popular type of timber used but other...
