Maritime

John Godfrey describes how the capture of Constantinople in 1204 was an unexpected result of the Crusading movement.

Francis Austen served throughout the Napoleonic Wars and, writes David Hopkinson, lived until the age of ninety-one; an Admiral of the Fleet.

L.W. Cowie describes how, early in 1805, a series of strong points were built along the British coast-line, to defend against Napoleon’s army, then arrayed across the Channel.

T.F. Chambers describes the fate of the first large steamship to be built of iron.

Derek Severn describes how the assault secured the release of many slaves and much ransom money but Barbary pirates remained a menace until the French annexation.

M. Foster Farley describes how a powerful attack on the State of South Carolina, by the British fleet and army was met and valiantly repulsed.

Derek Severn describes how, after service at Trafalgar, Thomas Hardy spent many years with the Navy’s two American Stations and in 1830 was appointed First Sea Lord.

In the early eighteenth century, writes Zélide Cowan, John Lethbridge spent some forty years salvaging treasure from sunken ships.

From 1861-65, writes Richard Drysdale, during the American Civil War, Nassau in the Bahamas thrived on trade with the Confederacy.

The arrival in 1833 of a Russian fleet signalled Russian control for several years of the Bosporus and of the Turkish Empire, writes Lansing Collins.