Maritime history
The Vikings
Flourishing from the 8th to the 11th century, these people of the north had a legendary reputation for destruction and gruesome violence. However, the real Vikings were a bit different.
Titanic:
A beginner’s guide
A selection of the best websites and books on the ill-fated
British liner that sank on 14/15 April 1912.
- Battle Stations: Liberty ship
Short account of the merchant ships that may have won World War II for the Allies. - The Belgrano Controversy
The sinking of the Belgrano by HMS Conqueror during the Falklands War sparked off a needless political controversy whose major casualty was, according to Dr Eric Grove, a senior British civil servant. - The British Slave Trade: A chronology
From the first British slave trader Sir John Hawkins to the Slavery Abolition Act and US Emancipation Proclamation. - Children and war
The history of child warriors extends from the youths of ancient Sparta and the youngsters below decks in Nelson’s navy to the young people engaged in military activity in the 21st century. - Classic
Weapons of World War II
Database cataloguing nearly 100 machines and tools of war, including a ‘Marine’ section: battleships, aircraft carriers, submarines, small craft. - Elizabeth’s
Pirates
How the Virgin Queen turned to her privateers to raise money and wage war. - Endurance:
Shackleton and the Antarctic
Background to Ernest Shackleton and his astonishing expedition, including his magnificent 800-mile make-or-break voyage in a lifeboat. - Going
Critical: HMS Coventry
The sinking of HMS Coventry during the Falklands War, which killed 17 men, and the science behind what went wrong. - Hood and Bismarck
An extract of the book by David Mearns and Rob White on the two famous battleships of World War II. - Hunt
for the Hood
In July 2001, Channel 4 launched an expedition to find the wreck of HMS Hood, 3000 metres under the sea. This is the story of that voyage into the past. - Japan at War: A beginner’s
guide
Books and websites, from the seizure of Manchuria in 1931 to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Includes a section on the Pacific war. - Mystery
of the Missing U-Boat
The story of the discovery, in 1991 off the New Jersey coast, of a German U-boat lost in 1945, plus details of submarines and the Battle of the Atlantic, including a timeline. - Nelson’s Navy
While ‘rum, sodomy and the lash’ might be the stereotype of life at sea in in the 18th and early 19th century, it is far from the reality. - Prince William the Atheling
The royal heir whose death by drowning on the White Ship in 1120 led to 14 years of civil war. - Secret
History: The search for the Struma
Brief account of the ill-fated ship torpedoed by the Soviets in 1941, killing almost 800 Jews. - Sink the Bismarck
If you want an accessible version of the dramatic pursuit of the Bismarck in May 1941, this 1960 film is, according to Dr Eric Grove, as good a place to start as any. - Speed Machines
Stories of eight battles to design and build the fastest car, ship, plane, boat and train. - The Vikings
Flourishing from the 8th to the 11th century, these people of the north had a legendary reputation for destruction and gruesome violence. However, the real Vikings were a bit different. - Tony Robinson’s Titanic Adventure
Historical background to the shipwreck plus details of an investigation of the remains carried out in 2005 by film-maker James Cameron. - U-234: Hitler’s last submarine
The astonishing contents of the submarine that the Nazis sent to Japan in the last days of the war. - U-571
It may be have the right period details, but this purely imaginary tale purporting to show that the Americans, and not the Brits, captured a vital Enigma codebook in 1942 fails to win over Daniel Lee. - USS Indianapolis
The terrible fate of the crew of the ship that transported the Hiroshima bomb across the Pacific. - War against Napoleon
Facts and figures about the wars fought on sea and land between Britain and France during 1793-1815, including a short biography of Lord Nelson. - What Happened at Jutland?
Maritime historian Bill Jurens gives the reasons why the battle of Jutland went so disastrously wrong for the British fleet - The
Worst Jobs in History
Twenty centuries of British history and the worst jobs of each era, including loblolly boy, topman and powder monkey in the Georgian period.
