Shipping and industry

Artist Zoe Childerley is embarking on a project with the National Maritime Museum to bring experiences of modern seafarers to light. How did she find her first voyage on board a container ship?

Gordon 'Willie' Williamson worked aboard Thames barges throughout the 1960s, and witnessed the final years of central London as a busy cargo hub

Happy 70th birthday to the fish finger, first introduced to Britain in 1955

For many, Charles Dickens is synonymous with Christmas jollity. However, there was a darker side to Dickens’ work. Not only did he repeatedly refer in his novels and articles to the contemporary filth of the Thames, which culminated in the Great Stink crisis of 1858, he was also actively involved in kick-starting the reform programmes to resolve the issue.

What happens to offshore platforms when they are decommissioned? Follow their final journeys from the North Sea to the breaker's yard

Lifeline, water source, sewer – follow the murky history of London's relationship with the River Thames

Exploitation, slavery and even murder have been documented on board modern fishing fleets

Track the largest container ship in the world using the interactive map

From Cutty Sark to cutting edge technology, could a new era of wind power help global trade go green?