Maritime

Impressment for Naval Service of seamen in British ports dates back to the reign of Edward I; Christopher Lloyd describes the practice and how it ceased in the mid-nineteenth century.

During an industrial conflict that lasted five weeks and brought the Port of London to a standstill, writes R.B. Oram, the “close fraternity of the docks” struck for better working conditions and more generous rates of pay.

In 1902 a revolutionary dictator named Castro provoked an unlikely Anglo-German naval demonstration off the coast of Venezuela.

During the American War of Independence, writes T.H. McGuffie, Gibraltar was saved by an intrepid Commander from Franco-Spanish conquest.

R.B. Chevenix Trench documents how early English naval technology attempted to warn of impending seaborne attacks.

Since the end of the Second World War, writes J. Garston, there has been an enormous increase in Aden’s importance, both commercial and strategic.

The opening naval battle of the First World War took place not in the North Sea but in Central Africa in August 1914. It would change the course of the African conflict in Britain’s favour, says Janie Hampton.

For over 400 years, writes Oliver Warner, the Sovereigns of Denmark exacted dues from all ships using the Sounds at the entrance to the Baltic Sea.

Her victory in the Russo-Japanese war, writes C. Platanov, which came to an end in September 1905, established Japan as a modern world-power.

David Woodward describes how the crews of the destroyer flotilla of the German High Sea Fleet mutinied at the end of the First World War.