January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December

January

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• British rule re-established on the Falklands, 2 January 1833
• Columbus leaves the New World, ending his first journey, 4 January 1493
• Nelson’s body lies in state in the Painted Hall at the Greenwich Hospital, 5-7 January 1806
• Shackleton dies of a heart attack on the way to the Antarctic, 5 January 1922
• Nelson’s coffin is taken up river in a grand procession, 8 January 1806. His body is buried in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral the following day after a state funeral
• An unsuccessful slave revolt is led by Charles Deslandes in St. Charles and St. James, Louisiana, 8 January 1811
• Elizabeth I is crowned queen of England, 15 January 1559
• The Royal Naval College, Greenwich, is established by Order-in-Council, 16 January 1873
• Scott reaches the South Pole a month after Amundsen, 17-18 January 1912
• Henry Morgan captures Panama, 18 January 1670
• James Cook is the first known European to discover the Hawaiian Islands, 18 January 1778
• Captain Charles Wilkes completes circumnavigation of Antarctica, 19 January 1840
• The Bruner Mond TNT plant at Silvertown exploded, 19 January 1917
• The third and main part of First Fleet arrives at Botany Bay to establish the first European colony in New South Wales, 20 January 1788
• Dumont D'Urville discovers Adélie Land, Antarctica, 20 January 1840
• Hong Kong Island is occupied by the British, 20 January 1841
• English navigator Samuel Wallis dies, 21 January 1795
• English admiral George Rooke dies, 24 January 1709
• The British First Fleet sails into Port Jackson to establish Sydney, 26 January 1788
• British Admiral Samuel Hood dies, 27 January 1816
• Henry VIII dies and Edward VI becomes king, 28 January 1547
• Sir Francis Drake dies of dysentery off the coast of Puerto Rico, 28 January 1596
• Horatia Nelson born, daughter of Nelson and Emma Hamilton, 29 January 1801
• The first boat specializing as a lifeboat is tested on the River Tyne, 30 January 1790
• SS Great Eastern first launched at Millwall, 30 January 1858

February

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• Alexander Selkirk rescued from a desert island (inspiration for Defoe's Robinson Crusoe), 2 February 1709
• The last great Frost Fair was held on the Thames, 4 February 1814
• Greenwich Time Signal pips are broadcast on BBC Radio for the first time, 5 February 1924
• James II of England and VII of Scotland becomes King, 6 February 1685
• Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles founds Singapore, 6 February 1819
• New Zealand established as a British colony (Treaty of Waitangi), 6 February 1840
• Author Charles Dickens born, 7 February 1812
• Peter the Great dies, 8 February 1725
• Author Jules Verne born, 8 February 1828
• The first diving equipment was demonstrated in the Thames and accepted into service, 10 February 1715
• Charles Darwin, English naturalist, is born, 12 February 1809
• The first East India Company voyage sailed from Woolwich to the Spice Islands, 13 February 1601
• Joseph Banks, English botanist and naturalist, is born, 13 February 1743
• Captain Cook is killed by natives off Hawaii during his third voyage of exploration, 14 February 1779
• The Battle of Cape St Vincent (French Revolutionary War 1793-1802), 14 February 1797
• The Royal Observatory bomb, 15 February 1894
• Battle of Portland (First Dutch War), 18-20 February 1653
  Fort St. Louis established by a Frenchman at Matagorda Bay, 18 February 1685
• Trinidad is surrendered to a British fleet under Sir Ralph Abercromby, 18 February 1797
• British explorer William Smith discovers the South Shetland Islands, 19 February 1819
• Frederick Douglass, American abolitionist writer, dies, 20 February 1895
• Captain Cook is buried at sea, 21 February 1779
• Diarist Samuel Pepys born near Fleet Street, 23 February 1633
• Pope Gregory XIII announces the Gregorian calendar, 24 February 1582
• Death of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, 25 February 1601
• Death of Sir Christopher Wren, English architect, 25 February 1723
• HMHS Britannic (Titanic's sister ship) is launched, 26 February 1914
• Diarist John Evelyn dies, 27 February 1706
• The Dominican Republic gains independence from Haiti, 27 February 1844
• Columbus uses foreknowledge of a lunar eclipse to convince Native Americans to give him supplies, 29 February 1504

March

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• The PLA (Port of London Authority) is founded, 1 March 1909
• The Convention of Constantinople guarantees free maritime passage through the Suez Canal during war and peace, 2 March 1888
• Scientist Robert Hooke dies, 3 March 1703
• Second Opium War: France and UK declare war on China, 3 March 1857
• Columbus arrives back in Lisbon from his voyage of discovery, 4 March 1493
• Anne of Denmark dies, 4 March 1619
• Charles II declares war on The Netherlands, 4 March 1665
• John Flamsteed appointed first Astronomer Royal, 4 March 1675
• Royal National Lifeboat Institution founded, 4 March 1824
• Henry VII authorizes John Cabot and sons to explore unknown lands, 5 March 1496
• John Adams, last surviving Bounty mutineer, dies, 5 March 1829
• Ferdinand Magellan arrives at Guam, 6 March 1521
• British admiral George Pocock is born, 6 March 1706
• Horatia Nelson, daughter of Nelson and Emma Hamilton, dies, 6 March 1881
• Astronomer John Herschel is born, 7 March 1792
• Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood dies, 7 March 1810
• The word 'Admiral' is first recorded in English, 8 March 1297
• Anne Bonny, female pirate, is born, 8 March 1700
• British admiral Richard Howe is born, 8 March 1726
• Birth of Amerigo Vespucci, Italian explorer and cartographer, 9 March 1545
• Birth of Philip Yorke, 2nd Earl of Hardwicke, English politician, 9 March 1720
• The 'Royal Oak' is captured by the Spanish, 11 March 1727
• William Herschel discovers Uranus, 13 March 1781
• Second Boer War: British forces occupy Bloemfontein, 13 March 1900
• Admiral John Byng is executed on board HMS Monarch for neglecting his duty, 14 March 1757
• The Millwall Docks were opened, 14 March 1868
• Columbus returns to Spain after his first trip to the Americas, 15 March 1493
• Matthew Flinders is born at Donington, Lincolnshire, 16 March 1774
• Lawrence Oates of Scott's expedition leaves the tent saying 'I am just going outside and may be some time', 16 March 1912
• French explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle is murdered by his own men, 19 March 1687
• Scottish explorer David Livingstone is born, 19 March 1813
• Dutch East India Company is established, 20 March 1602
• Sir Walter Ralegh is freed from the Tower of London, 20 March 1616
• The Woolwich Free Ferry opens, 23 March 1889
• Queen Elizabeth I dies; James VI of Scotland becomes James I of England, 24 March 1603 (James dies 27 March 1625 and Charles I becomes king)
• British clockmaker John Harrison is born, 24 March 1693; dies on 83rd birthday, 24 March 1776
• Author Jules Verne dies, 24 March 1905
• The Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade is signed into law by King George III, 25 March 1807
• British abolitionist Thomas Clarkson is born, 28 March 1760
• Captain Scott dies in the Antarctic, 29 March 1912

April

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• The Royal Air Force is created by merging the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service, 1 April 1918
• Flemish cartographer Abraham Ortelius is born, 2 April 1527
• Commodore James captures the pirate fortress of Severndroog, 2 April 1755
• British destroy the Danish fleet at the Battle of Copenhagen (Napoleonic Wars), 2 April 1801
• British Admiral George Pocock dies, 3 April 1792
• Francis Drake completes circumnavigation and is knighted by Elizabeth I on board the 'Golden Hind' at Deptford, 4 April 1581
• Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen discovers Easter Island, 5 April 1722
• Willem van de Velde the younger dies, 6 April 1707
• Napoleon abdicates and is exiled to Elba, 6 April 1814
• Haitian Revolutionary Toussaint Louverture dies, 7 April 1804
• Tilbury Docks are opened, 7 April 1886
• Birth of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, 9 April 1806
• Titanic leaves port in Southampton, 10 April 1912
• The Union Flag is adopted as the flag of Great Britain, 12 April 1606
• The Battle of the Saints, 12 April 1782
• UK annexes the Transvaal, 12 April 1877
• Five days into maiden voyage, Titanic strikes iceberg in night, 14 April 1912 (sinks 15 April)
• Columbus signs a contract with Spain to sail to Asia to get spices, 17 April 1492
• Sir Ralph Abercromby attacks San Juan, Puerto Rico, 17 April 1797
• American Revolution – the British advancement by sea begins, 18 April 1775
• Martyrdom of Alphege in Greenwich, London, 19 April 1012
• Francis Drake sinks the Spanish fleet in Cádiz harbor, 19 April 1587
• Captain Cook sights and starts to survey Australia, 19 April 1770
• Charles Darwin dies, 19 April 1882
• Jacques Cartier begins voyage in which he will discover Canada and Labrador, 20 April 1534
• Admiral Robert Blake destroys a Spanish silver fleet at Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 20 April 1657
• Pedro Álvares Cabral becomes the first European to sight Brazil, 21 April 1500
• Henry VIII accedes to the throne of England, 22 April 1509
• Charles II is crowned in Westminster Abbey, 23 April 1661
• English painter J.M.W. Turner is born, 23 April 1775
• Shackleton and five of his men launch a lifeboat from Elephant Island to organise a rescue for Endurance, 24 April 1916
• Magellan dies during the first circumnavigation of the world, 27 April 1521
• Mutiny on the Bounty, 28 April 1789
• Dutch admiral Michiel de Ruyter dies, 29 April 1676
• Charles Cornwallis, First Lord of the British Admiralty, dies, 29 April 1698
• James Cook arrives at and names Botany Bay, Australia, 29 April 1770

May

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• The Act of Union joins England and Scotland to form Great Britain, 1 May 1707
• Slavery is abolished in the British colonies, 1 May 1834
• Columbus sights land that will be called Jamaica, 3 May 1494
• Charles II orders the construction of the Royal Greenwich Observatory, 4 May 1675
• The siege of Seringapatam ends, 4 May 1799
• Napoleon begins his exile on Elba, 6 May 1814
• Columbus lands on Jamaica, 5 May 1494
• Napoleon dies on St Helena, 5 May 1821
• Lusitania is sunk by German torpedo, 7 May 1915
• The Thames Barrier is opened, 8 May 1984
• Amerigo Vespucci allegedly leaves Cádiz for his first voyage to the New World, 10 May 1497
• Columbus embarks on his final voyage to the West Indies, 11 May 1502
• Robert Gray sails into the Columbia River, 11 May 1792
• Launch of HMS Beagle, 11 May 1820
• British navy officer and explorer George Vancouver dies, 12 May 1798
• Captain Arthur Phillip leaves Portsmouth, England with 'First Fleet' to establish penal colony in Australia, 13 May 1787
• British fleet under Admiral George Anson defeats French at first battle off Cape Finisterre, 14 May 1747
• The Lewis and Clark Expedition departs from Camp Dubois, 14 May 1804
• The Seven Years' War begins, 15 May 1756
• Anne of Denmark is crowned Queen of Scotland, 17 May 1590
• Napoleonic Wars: Britain declares war on France, 18 May 1803
• Jacques Cartier embarks on second voyage to North America, 19 May 1535
• Anne Boleyn is beheaded, 19 May 1536
• Battle of La Hogue, 19-23 May 1692 (old calendar)
• John Cabot sets sail from Bristol, 20 May (or 2 May) 1497
• Vasco da Gama reaches Calicut, 20 May 1498
• Christopher Columbus dies, 20 May 1506
• Abraham Ortelius issues the first modern atlas, 20 May 1570
• John Franklin's last expedition begins, 20 May 1845
• First ever day of British Summer Time, 21 May 1916
• HMS Beagle embarks on first voyage, carrying Charles Darwin, 22 May 1826
• Blackwall Tunnel opens, 22 May 1897
• Pirate Captain Kidd is executed in Wapping, 23 May 1701
• Queen Victoria is born, 24 May 1819
• Samuel Pepys dies, 26 May 1703
• British admiral Sidney Smith dies, 26 May 1840
• The Spanish Armada sets sail from Lisbon, 28 May 1588
• King George I is born, 28 May 1660
• Battle of Solebay (Third Dutch War), 28 May 1672
• Wager's action off Cartagena, 28 May 1708
• Charles II is restored to the throne on his 30th birthday, 29 May 1660
• Dutch admiral Cornelis Tromp dies, 29 May 1691
• Martin Frobisher sets sail for Canada, 31 May 1578
• RMS Titanic is launched, 31 May 1911

June

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• The first pensioners arrive at the Royal Hospital Greenwich, 1 June 1705
• Battle of the Glorious First of June, 1 June 1794
• James Clark Ross discovers North Magnetic Pole, 1 June 1831
• Battle of the Gabbard, 2-3 June 1653
• Walter Ralegh establishes first English colony on Roanoke Island, 4 June 1584
• George III is born, 4 June 1738
• Explorer Robert Falcon Scott is born, 6 June 1868
• French admiral Charles Baudin dies, 7 June 1854
• Launch of RMS Lusitania, 7 June 1906
• Vikings raid Lindisfarne abbey, 8 June 793
• Attack on the Medway by the Dutch fleet begins, 9 June 1667
• Peter the Great is born, 9 June 1672
• Charles Dickens dies, 9 June 1870
• Captain Cook runs aground on the Great Barrier Reef, 10 June 1770
• Sir John Franklin dies, 11 June 1847
• Nelson is blinded in right eye at Calvi, 12 June 1794
• Charles I marries Henrietta Maria de Bourbon, 13 June 1625
• Bounty mutiny survivors including Bligh reach Timor, 14 June 1789
• End of Falklands War, 14 June 1982
• Siege of Gibraltar begins, 16 June 1779
• Roald Amundsen leaves Oslo for the first navigation of the North-West Passage, 16 June 1903
• Francis Drake claims 'Nova Albion' (California) for England, 17 June 1579
• Cornwallis's retreat off Belle Ile, 17 June 1795
• Great Eastern's maiden voyage begins, 17 June 1860
• Samuel Wallis sights Tahiti, 18 June 1767
• King James I born, 19 June 1566
• Naturalist Joseph Banks dies, 19 June 1820
• Baltimore, Ireland attacked by Algerian pirates, 20 June 1631
• Architect Inigo Jones dies, 21 June 1652
• British admiral Sidney Smith born, 21 June 1764
• First Victoria Cross won during bombardment of Bomarsund, 21 June 1854
• British explorer George Vancouver born, 22 June 1757
• HMS Camperdown accidentally rams and sinks HMS Victoria, 22 June 1893
• Dragut Reis dies during the Siege of Malta, 23 June 1565
• Henry Hudson, his son and loyal crew members are set adrift by mutineers, 23 June 1611
• Bridport's action off Groix, 23 June 1795
• John Cabot lands in Newfoundland, 24 June 1497
• Coronation of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, 24 June 1509
• Kingston, Jamaica is founded, 24 June 1692
• Explorer John Ross is born, 24 June 1777
• Cook sails from Deptford on his third voyage, 25 June 1776
• Joshua Slocum completes the first solo circumnavigation of the globe, 27 June 1898
• Henry VIII is born at Greenwich, 28 June 1491
• Cartographer Abraham Ortelius dies, 28 June 1598
• Coronation of Queen Victoria, 28 June 1838
• Jacques Cartier discovers Prince Edward Island, 29 June 1534
• Battle of Beachy Head, 30 June 1690

July

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• Martin Frobisher sights Baffin Island, 2 July 1578
• Robert Pitcairn discovers Pitcairn Island, 3 July 1767
• George Vancouver claims Puget Sound for Britain, 4 July 1792
• Slavery is abolished in New York State, 4 July 1827
• RMS Britannia leaves for Nova Scotia (first transatlantic crossing with scheduled end), 4 July 1840
• John Guy sails from Bristol for Newfoundland with 39 colonists, 5 July 1610
• HMS Pickle captures armed slave ship Voladora off Cuba, 5 July 1829
• Admiral Napier defeats Dom Miguel's navy at third Battle of Cape St. Vincent, 5 July 1833
• Abolitionist Granville Sharp dies, 6 July 1813
• Vasco da Gama embarks on first direct European voyage to India, 8 July 1497
• Explorer Francis Leopold McClintock born, 8 July 1819
• Explorer Sir William Edward Parry dies, 8 July 1855
• Lady Jane Grey takes the throne of England, 10 July 1553
• Martin Frobisher sights Greenland, 11 July 1576
• English privateer Kenelm Digby born, 11 July 1603
• Captain James Cook begins his third voyage, 11 July 1776
• Battle of Gravelines, 13 July 1558
• Hotham's action off Hyères, 13 July 1795
• Architect Inigo Jones born, 14 July 1573
• The Darien scheme begins with five ships leaving Leith for Panama, 14 July 1698
• Napoleon Bonaparte surrenders aboard HMS Bellerophon, 15 July 1815
• Roald Amundsen born, 16 July 1872
• Bloody Falls Massacre witnessed by Samuel Hearne, 17 July 1771
• Scientist Robert Hooke born, 18 July 1635
• Shelley drowns when Ariel capsizes, 18 July 1822
• Mary Rose sinks in Solent, 19 July 1545
• Spanish Armada sighted in England, 19 July 1588
• Matthew Flinders dies, 19 July 1814
• Brunel's SS Great Britain launched, 19 July 1843
• First Moon landing, 20 July 1969
• Calder's action off Finisterre, 23 July 1805
• The St James's Day Fight, 25 July 1666
• The Battle of Ushant, 27 July 1778
• Cook sails from Deptford for Plymouth to embark on his first voyage, 30 July 1768
• Discovery of Malden Island, 30 July 1825
• Battle of Scheveningen, 31 July 1653

August

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• Battle of the Nile, 1 August 1798
• Henry Hudson sails into Hudson Bay, 2 August 1610
• East India Company, abolished, 2 August 1858
• Columbus sets sail, 3 August 1492
• Battle of Negapatam, 3 August 1758
• East India Docks opens, 4 August 1806
• First transatlantic cable is laid, 5 August 1858
• Battle of Gravelines, 8 August 1588
• Royal Observatory, Greenwich founded, 10 August 1675
• Martin Frobisher 'discovers' Frobisher Bay, Canada, 11 August 1576
• Battle of the Texel (3rd Dutch War), 11 August 1673
• Great dock workers strike begins, 14 August 1889
• Napoleon is born, 15 August 1769
• Admiral Robert Blake dies, 17 August 1657
• HMS Guerrière captured by USS Constitution, 19 August 1812
• Admiral Edward Boscawen born, 19 August 1711
• Slave rebellion led by Nat Turner, 22 August 1831
• The first America's Cup is won by the yacht America, 22 August 1851
• Galileo demonstrates his first telescope, 25 August 1609
• Cook sets sail from Plymouth on his first voyage, 26 August 1768
• The West India dock is officially opened, 27 August 1802
• Shackleton's men are rescued from Elephant Island, 30 August 1916

September

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• Great Fire of London begins, 2 September 1666
• Great Eastern leaves the Thames, 6 September 1859
• Wreck of Forfarshire – Grace Darling and her father rescue, 7 September 1838
• The Blitz begins and the docks are severely bombed, 7 September 1940
• William IV crowned king of Great Britain, 8 September 1831
• William Bligh is born, 9 September 1754
• Battle of the Chesapeake – action between Graves and de Grasse,
  9 September 1781
• Henry Hudson born, 12 September 1575; discovers the Hudson River, 12 Sept 1609 (Hudson's 34th birthday)
• Duke of Wellington dies, 14 September 1852
• Isambard Kingdom Brunel dies, 15 September 1859. He was buried 5 days later in Kensall Green Cemetery.
• HMS Beagle reaches the Galápagos Islands, 15 September 1835
• Columbus lands at Costa Rica on his final voyage, 18 September 1502
• Magellan begins his circumnavigation of the globe, 20 September 1519.
• Vasco Núñez de Balboa reaches the Pacific Ocean, 25 September 1513
• Fletcher Christian (Bounty mutineer) is born, 25 September 1764
• Francis Drake completes circumnavigation, 26 September 1580
• SS Arctic sinks in the Atlantic with 300 people on board, 27 September 1854
• Liner Queen Elizabeth is launched in Glasgow, 27 September 1938
• Horatio Nelson born, 29 September 1758 (250 years ago in 2008)

October

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• Captain Cook anchors in Alaska, 3 October 1778
• Napoleon uses cannon to suppress armed counter-revolutionaries threatening the French National Convention, raising him to national prominence, 4 October 1795.
• The Battle of Cable Street, 4 October 1936
• Captain Cook reaches New Zealand, 7 October 1769
• Will Thorne, one of the first trade Union activists, is born, 8 October 1857
• Columbus lands in the Bahamas, 12 October 1492
• Warren's action off Donegal (French Revolutionary War), 12 October 1798
• Phineas Pett's Sovereign of the Seas launched at Deptford, 13 October 1637
• Houses of Parliament destroyed by fire, 16 October 1834
• First submarine telegraph message sent, 17 October 1851
• Battle of Trafalgar and death of Nelson, 21 October 1805
• Royal Hospital for Seamen, Greenwich founded by Charter of King William and Queen Mary, 21 October 1694
• St Katharine's Dock opens, 25 October 1828
• Robert McClure 'finds' North-West Passage, 26 October 1850
• Alfred the Great dies, 27 October 899
• James Cook born, 27 October 1728 (7 November in Gregorian calendar)
• The Duke of York and Albany's Maritime Regiment of Foot (later the Royal Marines) established, 28 October 1664
• Walter Ralegh beheaded, 29 October 1618
• Thomas Cochrane dies, 31 October 1860

November

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• Ferdinand Magellan navigates the Strait of Magellan, 1 November 1520
• Columbus first sights Dominica, 3 November 1492
• Admiral John Benbow dies, 4 November 1702
• Strachan's action off Cape Ortegal, 4 November 1805
• Slave leader Nat Turner sentenced to death, 4 November 1831
• News of Nelson's death reaches Britain, 6 November 1805
• Mayflower sights land at Cape Cod, 9 November 1620
• Failed launch of the 'Great Eastern'. The ship moves 1.5 metres and one of the workmen is killed. 11 November 1857
• Armistice Day, 11 November 1918
• French explorer Louis Antoine de Bougainville is born, 12 November 1729
• Second relief of Lucknow. The most Victoria Crosses - 24 - won in a single day. 16 November 1857
• Cunard's Mauretania sets sail on her maiden voyage from Liverpool, England to New York City, 16 November 1907.
• Mary I dies and Elizabeth I becomes queen, 17 November 1558
• Sir Walter Ralegh goes on trial for treason, 17 November 1603
• Columbus sights what is now Puerto Rico, 18 November 1493
• Charles I born, 19 November 1600
• Samuel Cunard born, 21 November 1787
• British pirate Edward Teach ('Blackbeard') is killed in battle off the North Carolina coast, 22 November 1718
• Cutty Sark is launched at Dumbarton, 22 November 1869
• Richard Hakluyt dies, 23 November 1616
• Abel Tasman becomes first European to discover Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), 24 November 1642
• Charles Darwin's Origin of Species published, 24 November 1859
• Captain Cook becomes the first European to visit Maui in Hawaiian Islands, 26 November 1778
• Magellan's men become the first Europeans to sail from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 28 November 1520
• The crew of the Zong throw over 130 Africans overboard to claim insurance, 29 November 1781

December

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• Second Eddystone Lighthouse destroyed by fire, 2 December 1755
• Napoleon Bonaparte crowns himself Emperor of the French, 2 December 1804
• The abandoned Mary Celeste is found by the British brig Dei Gratia, 4 December 1872
• Columbus sets foot on Hispaniola, 5 December 1492
• Charles Saunders, British Admiral, dies, 7 December 1775
• William Bligh dies, 7 December 1817
• Michiel de Ruyter founds the Royal Netherlands Marine Corps, 10 December 1665
• Second Battle of Ushant: Royal Naval squadron led by Kempenfelt in HMS Victory defeats a French fleet, 12 December 1781
• Drake's circumnavigation starts out from Plymouth, 13 December 1577
• Ignatius Sancho dies, 14 December 1780
• Amundsen's team reaches the South Pole, 14 December 1911
• Boston Tea Party. Boston traders throw tea into the sea to protest about British taxes, 16 December 1773
• Drake sets sail from Plymouth to explore the Pacific Coast of the Americas for Elizabeth I, 17 December 1577
• The Mayflower lands in what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts, 18 December 1620
• Surrender of frigate La Lutine by French royalists to Lord Hood, 18 December 1793
• HMS Challenger, under Captain George Nares, sails from Portsmouth, 21 December 1872
• Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama dies, 23 December 1524
• Cook discovers Christmas Island (Pacific), 24 December 1777
• Christmas Island (Indian Ocean) is founded, 25 December 1643
• Darwin embarks on HMS Beagle, 27 December 1831
• Charles Cornwallis, First Lord of the British Admiralty, is born, 28 December 1655
• USS Constitution captures the HMS Java off Brazil, 29 December 1812
• HMS Warrior, the first British seagoing ironclad ship, is launched, 29 December 1860
• East India Company receives charter, 31 December 1600