Life at sea

Whitby, whaling and press gangs: the real history of Sylvia's Lovers

How a reading of a Victorian novel led to research into contemporary maritime themes and an exploration of our collections.
Life at sea

The pirate hunter's cup

What does a carved coconut shell have to do with one of the most deadly pirates in history?
Trade and empire

The story behind... The Keeper of All The Secrets

Artist Jacqueline Bishop speaks to historian Stella Dadzie about the influences behind her ceramic artwork, now on display in the Queen’s House

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Life at sea

Insight into the lives of sailors and seafarers throughout history

Whitby, whaling and press gangs: the real history of Sylvia's Lovers

How a reading of a Victorian novel led to research into contemporary maritime themes and an exploration of our collections.

Nina Baker: one of the first women navigation officers in the Merchant Navy

Learn about Dr Nina Baker’s struggle to become one of the first women navigation officers in the British Merchant Navy

Pirates: fact or fiction?

From buried treasure to walking the plank, how much of what we think we know about pirates is really true?

Who were Anne Bonny and Mary Read?

What do we really know about the notorious pirate duo, and how have later accounts shaped our perception of female pirates?

Parishes-on-sea: Royal Navy chaplains

In this blog we look at the role and experiences of Royal Navy chaplains and what their accounts can tell us about shipboard life.

The art of piracy: imagining the world of Zheng Yi Sao

A series of illustrations by Livia Giorgina Carpineto brings the world of notorious pirate queen Zheng Yi Sao to life

The art of piracy: a fresh perspective on Bonny and Read

A new artwork by Linnea Maertens questions what we think we know about notorious female pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read. See it on display in Pirates at the National Maritime Museum

The Shipping Forecast

The Shipping Forecast was first broadcast on the BBC in 1925. Explore the history of the forecast with the National Maritime Museum, and discover objects connected with the power of our ocean

Cordage: its origins, construction, properties and uses in ships

Learn more about cordage, also known as rope, including the different fibres used to make cordage and the types of rope most commonly used in sailing ships
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Ships and boats

Groundbreaking designs, doomed voyages and technology that crossed oceans

The bombing of Rainbow Warrior: 40 years on

Forty years ago, the attack on the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior and death of photographer Fernando Pereira caused international outrage.

A whistle for a life: surviving the Titanic tragedy

Meet steward Cecil and passenger Lillian, two young people whose fates intertwined during the sinking of the Titanic

How Cutty Sark came to Greenwich

The historic tea clipper is one of the most famous sights along the River Thames. But why was Greenwich chosen as Cutty Sark's final home?

Cordage: its origins, construction, properties and uses in ships

Learn more about cordage, also known as rope, including the different fibres used to make cordage and the types of rope most commonly used in sailing ships

The ship that never was

The story of a never-commissioned Second World War vessel

Meet the team: Chris Wood – the project manager 

What’s involved in replacing Cutty Sark’s deck? Project manager Chris Wood offers an insight into this major conservation project

The ships of the Windrush generation

The Empire Windrush wasn't the only ship to carry Caribbean passengers to the UK. Find out more about the vessels and people that helped to shape modern Britain

How to design a research ship: the building of HMS Challenger

Plans for HMS Challenger reveal how the ship was transformed from warship to research vessel - and set the blueprint for future scientific expeditions

What can shipwrecks tell us?

Time-capsules of their present and windows of our past, shipwrecks can offer new perspectives into life on board
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What’s On

Find maritime history events in Greenwich.

Talks and tours | Maritime history

Shipkeeping in action
This is your chance to meet the team who care for and conserve Cutty Sark
Every Wednesday | 11am-3pm | Drop-in
Free for Cutty Sark ticket holders
Cutty Sark
Exhibitions | Maritime history

Pirates
Explore the myth, discover the truth: Pirates at the National Maritime Museum is now open
Open daily until 4 January 2026 | 10am-5pm
Adult: £15 | Student: £11.25 | Child: £7.50
National Maritime Museum
Talks and tours | Museum Lates

Delve Deeper: Specialist tours
Delve deeper into Royal Museums Greenwich's collection on our specialist tours of the Prince Philip Maritime Collections Centre for over 18s.
Thursday 7 August 2025 | 7-8.30pm
£20 Adults
Prince Philip Maritime Collections Centre
Conferences | Maritime history

Britain, Conflict, and the Sea conference

This conference seeks to explore the ways in which modern Britain has been shaped by ideas and practices of maritime war
Friday 12 September 2025 9am-5.45pm | Saturday 13 September 9am-3.30pm
Adult £50 | Postgraduate Researcher/Student £25 | Members £45
National Maritime Museum
Talks and tours | Maritime History and Culture Seminars

1714 and all that: The Board of Longitude reconsidered
Join us for a free online talk by Dr Richard Dunn
Tuesday 23 September 2025 | 5.15-6.30pm
Free Entry
Online
Events and festivals | Museum Lates

HMS Captain: Technological Triumph to Tragedy
Discover the fate of the Victorian Navy’s most revolutionary warship in a special lecture held at the Royal Geographical Society
Tuesday 23 September 2025 l 7.30-8.30pm (doors open from 7pm)
Adult: £30 l Child: £15
Other
Talks and tours | Maritime History and Culture Seminars

George Charles 'Boatswain' Smith and the Wreck of Floating Chapels
Join us for a free online talk by Professor Hilary Carey
Tuesday 28 October 2025 | 5.15-6.30pm
Free
Online
Talks and tours | Maritime History and Culture Seminars

A matter of 'good usage': towards a new interpretation of the 1797 Fleet mutinies at Spithead and the Nore
Join us for a free online talk about the largest mutinies in the history of the Royal Navy
Tuesday 27 January 2026 | 5.15-6.30pm
Free
Online
War and conflict

Naval history and maritime conflicts

Turner's 'The Battle of Trafalgar': a maligned masterpiece?

J.M.W. Turner's vast naval scene is a treasure of the Royal Museums Greenwich collection, but why was it so controversial when it was unveiled in 1824?

The Instrument of Surrender

This month we take a look at an item from the Historical Records Collection of the Caird Library and Archive: the Instrument of Surrender of the Japanese forces at Hong Kong.

The pirate hunter's cup

What does a carved coconut shell have to do with one of the most deadly pirates in history?

Cataloguing the Charles Hare manuscript collection

From handwritten manuscripts and letters to photographs and sketches, discover how this intriguing collection has been catalogued by the Library and Archive team

The Price of Victory: N.A.M. Rodger reflects on a landmark naval history

N.A.M Rodger, author of The Price of Victory and recipient of the National Maritime Museum's Caird Medal, reflects on the "happy accident" that led to an extraordinary work of naval history

A stitch in time: the secrets of textile conservation

A 19th century uniform with a dramatic history is on display at the National Maritime Museum. Come behind the scenes to discover the care that went into its conservation

Master of disguise: how a Navy sailor escaped a Napoleonic prison

Discover the true story of Charles Hare, the 19th-century midshipman who used a French officer's uniform to pull off a daring prison break

D-Day and the Royal Navy: remembering the role of Britain's maritime forces

The largest amphibious invasion of the Second World War took place on 6 June 1944. Curator Andrew Choong Han Lin explores how the Royal Navy and Merchant Navy supported the D-Day landings

The ship that never was

The story of a never-commissioned Second World War vessel
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Exploration and encounters

The voyages, histories and legacies of maritime exploration

Why is this book hairy?

Take a closer look at the hairy diary of a sailor involved in one of the search expeditions to find Sir John Franklin and his crew.

The Challenger Expedition

The 19th century voyage that transformed our understanding of the ocean

A universal map in a dead language

This blog takes a look at an almost five-hundred-year-old geographical text in the Caird Library and Archive.

Voyages in ‘search and discoverie of strange coasts, the chiefe subject of this my labour’

Explore the works and legacy of Richard Hakluyt, an Elizabethan compiler and editor of travel writing at the Caird Library and Archive.

Putting names to faces in the Challenger Expedition archives

Dr Rebecca Martin investigates the photograph albums from the Challenger Expedition, trying to recover the identities of the people the ship encountered on its global voyage

Telling the story of the Challenger Expedition, 1872–76

Daisy Chamberlain curated a recent display of Library and Archive materials relating to the Challenger Expedition (1872–76). Here she explores the hidden stories, scientific research and record of sailors' lives held within these materials.

Armchair Empires: Thomas Pennant’s ‘Outlines of the Globe’

Explore a fascinating collection in the Caird Library and Archive which was written by a “traveller” who didn’t do any travelling.

A bird’s eye view of Georgian London: John Rocque's maps

In this blog we look at cartographer John Rocque's An Exact Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster, ‘the outstanding plan of the capital in the eighteenth century’

HMS Challenger: a trailblazer for modern ocean science

150 years ago, HMS Challenger departed England on a quest to explore the world’s oceans. Its impact is still felt today
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Watch

Discover the true story of Charles Hare, the 19th-century midshipman who used a French officer's uniform to pull off a daring prison break. Watch the full series on YouTube.

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Trade and empire

The maritime connections that shaped the modern world

The story behind... The Keeper of All The Secrets

Artist Jacqueline Bishop speaks to historian Stella Dadzie about the influences behind her ceramic artwork, now on display in the Queen’s House

The loss of the SS Freshfield

Our archives hold a small collection of papers related to David Lawson, master of a cargo steamer that disappeared in 1905 after leaving the coast of America to return to Europe. They offer clues on what became of SS Freshfield on its journey home.

The Syren and Shipping Illustrated

The Syren and Shipping Illustrated was a weekly journal for the merchant shipping industry, published 1887-1967.

Opium and Empires workshop

A recent visit to the Caird Library by students from the School of Oriental and African Studies shows that making collections accessible is a two-way street.

How coffee has shaped Britain's maritime history

This blog looks at how a seemingly insignificant bean provided the stimulus to advancements in naval intelligence, technology, trade and science

Lascars and British merchant shipping

For our latest Caird Library and Archive display case we highlight the lives of lascars serving on board British ships, as well as their often precarious situation in Britain.

A closer look at the Thames lightermen and watermen

In this blog we look at the larger-than-life characters who carried people and goods on London’s river in centuries gone by.

Knotted histories: addressing Britain's colonial legacy through crochet

Meet Sarah Hawke, the artist behind a new crochet kanga on display at the National Maritime Museum

Pollution in the River Thames: a history

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

The history of transatlantic slavery, and the resistance that brought an end to a cruel and violent system

The Afterlives of Slaving Vessels

Learn more about the afterlives of slaving vessels with Caird Research Fellow Dr Richard Anderson

Spot the pirate: power, perception and perspective

A new painting by Maïa Walcott seeks to reframe notions of piracy

Reframing Black history: Joseph Ijoyemi and the Atlantic Worlds gallery

From resilience to resistance, two new paintings in the Atlantic Worlds gallery at the National Maritime Museum celebrate the history of pre-colonial Africa

Unfolding the past: Elgin Cleckley and the Atlantic Worlds gallery

Through colour and cardboard, a contemporary artwork at the National Maritime Museum shifts perspectives on the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans

Dr Thomas Trotter

A brief look at the varied career of the Scottish physician, author, and campaigner, whose personal papers were recently catalogued.

Marcus Garvey's letters to a flag officer of the Royal Navy

Letters by the Pan-African civil rights leader and founder of the Black Star Line to retired naval officer Vice-Admiral Sir William Henderson have been unearthed in the Caird Library's archives

Greenwich walking tours: enslavement and abolition

Uncover Greenwich and Deptford's connections with the transatlantic slave trade in this self-guided walking tour

Seeing Ourselves podcast

How does it feel to see 'yourself’ represented – or misrepresented – in museum spaces?

The transatlantic slave trade in Greenwich

Place, legacy and memory – explore the history of transatlantic slavery in London and Greenwich
See all

Experience maritime history in Greenwich

Visit historic ship Cutty Sark, discover intriguing exhibitions at the National Maritime Museum, and find books about maritime history in our online shop

Cutty Sark
Step aboard the historic sailing ship, the fastest of its time
Gallery guide to the National Maritime Museum
Travel the world in the National Maritime Museum's free galleries, exploring everywhere from the icy Arctic to the islands of the Pacific
Pirates
Explore the myth, discover the truth: Pirates at the National Maritime Museum is now open
Shop
Buried Treasure: A Pirate Miscellany
£12.99
Published to coincide with a major new exhibition at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, Buried Treasure lifts the lid or ‘blows the gaff’ on pirate lore and sayings, setting the record straight on the lives and ways of pirates, and revealing the meanings behind and uses of common maritime sayings.
Buy now
Shop
Spotlight Series J.M.W. The Battle of Trafalgar: Commemoration and Controversy
£10.00
Published to coincide with the 250th anniversary of Turner’s birth, J.M.W. Turner’s ‘The Battle of Trafalgar’: Commemoration and Controversy explores the history of the artist’s largest painting and his only royal commission...
Buy now
Shop
A is for Atlas
£35.00
This beautifully illustrated hardback publication is full of unique and intriguing maps and globes, both Earthly and celestial, from the collection of Royal Museums Greenwich...
Buy now

Help preserve our past

Royal Museums Greenwich is a charity, and we rely on your support to care for our collections and help everyone appreciate the history of the sea. Donate today and help shape the Museum's future.
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