Ian Friel argues that popular ideas of the nature of Elizabethan seapower are distorted by concentration on big names and major events. Elizabethan England’s emergence on to the world stage owed much more to merchant ships and common seamen than we might think.
In 1759, Admiral Hawke secured a daring victory over the French fleet at Quiberon Bay. It surpasses Nelson’s triumph at Trafalgar in its significance.
Richard Cavendish recounts the birth of a great warship, on July 23rd, 1759.
Nelson was born on 29 September 1758.
David Childs argues that Mary Rose, the Tudor battleship which was raised from the depths in 1982, represented the beginning of British naval greatness.
The great English admiral died on August 17th, 1657.
Charlie Cottrell describes the on-going efforts to save for the nation one of its best-loved maritime monuments.
During the Seven Years War, Admiral Byng was charged with 'failing to do his utmost'. He was executed on board the Monarch on March 14th, 1757.
Meriel Larken takes the helm of the Yavari, a Victorian ship plying the highest navigable lake in the world.
The Mauretania was launched on 20 September 1906.
