Oral history

'I want to go to sea, do you think this might be possible?' – Nina Baker in her own words

Dr Nina Baker became the first female deck cadet in the British Merchant Navy. Listen to her account of a pioneering career
Ships

The mystery of the Mary Celeste

A brigantine found abandoned in the middle of the Atlantic, its crew never seen again... discover the enduring maritime mystery of the Mary Celeste
Exploration

What happened to the crew of Erebus and Terror?

Sir John Franklin's final voyage in 1845 in HMS Erebus and HMS Terror became the worst disaster in the history of British polar exploration

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Life at sea

Insight into the lives of sailors and seafarers throughout history

Safeguarding Tresco's guardians: the Valhalla Collection

Safeguarding Tresco’s guardians: the story of the Valhalla collection

'I want to go to sea, do you think this might be possible?' – Nina Baker in her own words

Dr Nina Baker became the first female deck cadet in the British Merchant Navy. Listen to her account of a pioneering career

Thames barges and London docks – an oral history

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

'By the Stars influence'

Former Caird Fellow Dr. Jack Avery explores the seventeenth-century maritime journals held at the Caird Library and Archive, and in particular the one written by the amateur poet and astrologer Jeremy Roch

Printed ephemera: the golden age of ocean travel

Explore printed ephemera at the Caird Library and Archive, a collection that brings to life the golden age of ocean travel.

Life and love at sea: Merchant Navy oral histories

Seafarers Michael Rudder and Dominic Brown spent years working in the Merchant Navy. A chance encounter and a missed departure led to a life at sea together

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?
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Ships and boats

Groundbreaking designs, doomed voyages and technology that crossed oceans

Safeguarding Tresco's guardians: the Valhalla Collection

Safeguarding Tresco’s guardians: the story of the Valhalla collection

The mystery of the Mary Celeste

A brigantine found abandoned in the middle of the Atlantic, its crew never seen again... discover the enduring maritime mystery of the Mary Celeste

Making Waves: Gail McGarva

Gail McGarva explains how her passion for traditional wooden boatbuilding took hold

Remembering the Sea Empress oil spill

Cliff Benson reflects on how efforts to save oiled sea birds inspired a lifetime's dedication to wildlife protection

Cutty Sark’s new binnacle: charting a course for heritage crafts

A navigational case shines a light on traditional skills – and prompts intriguing questions into the tea clipper’s history

HMS Captain: Britain's forgotten maritime disaster

The historian leading the search for HMS Captain questions why the sinking of 'one of the finest ships in the world' is not better known today.

A playful painting with a pressing problem: help preserve 'The Paddle Steamer "Rob Roy" Aground’

Learn more about this comic scene with a surprising back story – and discover how your support helps care for the national collection.

The bombing of Rainbow Warrior: 40 years on

Forty years ago, the attack on the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior and the 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
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What’s on

Find maritime history events in Greenwich.

Talks and tours | Maritime history

Shipkeeping Wednesdays
Join us on the second Wednesday of the month as we bring the art and heritage of ship care to life with shipkeeping talks and activities
Second Wednesday of every month - see page for details | 11am-3pm | Drop-in
Free for Cutty Sark ticket holders
Cutty Sark
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 14 May 2026 | 7-8.30pm
Adult: £20 | Student: £15 | Members: £10
Prince Philip Maritime Collections Centre
Events and festivals | Maritime history

Sea Shanty Festival 2026
Visit Cutty Sark for a fantastic day of sea song performances and workshops in celebration of the tea clipper's 157th birthday
Saturday 21 November 2026 | 10am-4.30pm
Free for Cutty Sark ticket holders
Cutty Sark
War and conflict

Naval history and maritime conflicts

Unfit for service: healthcare and welfare in Nelson's Navy

Hidden in the seemingly mundane bureaucratic letters of the Royal Navy lie some fascinating insights into the role of the British state in providing healthcare and welfare to ill and injured seamen.

How did Nelson's Navy care for injured and aged sailors?

The Royal Navy developed some of Britain’s earliest welfare schemes in order to look after disabled and aged seamen.

Pirate flags decoded

Learn more about pirate flags, including where they came from, how they were used, and the designs of some famous Jolly Rogers

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
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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

From mapmakers to mariners: searching for women's histories at the National Maritime Museum

I couldn't wait to explore the ship model collection as part of my Museum Fellowship.

'The whole world is here, but not all our stories are visible': exploring the collections with Remiiya Badru

My Creative Research Fellowship aimed to explore the collections from new perspectives and to engage with audiences in different ways.

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.
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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 unexpected history of the shipping container

They carry everything from apples to iPhones – but how did a simple metal box have such a profound impact on the way we live, work and shop?

The ice trade: a cold business

In this blog we explore how our ancestors obtained ice in an age before widespread domestic refrigeration.

Henry Clifford, artist and engineer

Despite art being his first love, Henry Clifford went on to play a key role in the pioneering transatlantic cable-laying expeditions of the nineteenth century.

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.
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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
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Experience maritime history in Greenwich

Visit historic ship Cutty Sark, explore 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
National Maritime Museum
Discover epic stories of exploration and endeavour that have shaped our world today
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
Shop
Buried Treasure: A Pirate Miscellany
£12.99 £8.00
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
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Spotlight Series J.M.W. The Battle of Trafalgar: Commemoration and Controversy
£12.00 £6.00
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...
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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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