Maritime

A.F. Tilley explains how the Greeks propelled their boats.

G.V. Orange describes how, towards the end of the fifteenth century, Portuguese navigators rounded the Cape of Good Hope.

Bryan Waites describes how, both in the Mediterranean and in the Atlantic, the medieval powers of Europe found that the oared galley was a very effective weapon of war.

C.R. Boxer describes how one of the Dutch Indiamen carrying pieces of eight to the East Indies was fatally wrecked off the western coast of Australia in 1656.

Glyndwr Williams describes how, in 1743, Commodore Anson captured a galleon in the Pacific Ocean, containing more than one million pieces of eight.

Tom H. Inkster describes how, nearly four months after the collapse of the Confederacy, a gallant Confederate naval officer was still bent on the destruction of Union shipping.

Gregory Robinson describes how, in the days of Cromwell’s Protectorate the first English naval and military hospitals were established in London at the Savoy and at Ely House.

Why we should take greater account of Waterloo’s aftermath.

George Woodcock describes how Malacca was once a city so rich that “its merchants valued garlic more highly than gold,” and how it has slowly dwindled in wealth and importance since the middle of the seventeenth century.

From the time when the Dutch flag was first planted there in 1652, C.R. Boxer describes how the Cape became the maritime half-way house between Europe and Asia.