Maritime history of the United Kingdom
Encyclopedia
The Maritime history of the United Kingdom involves events including shipping
, port
s, navigation
, and seamen
, as well as marine sciences, exploration, trade, and maritime themes in the arts from the creation of the kingdom of Great Britain
as a unified sovereign state
on 1 May 1707 in accordance with the Treaty of Union
, signed on 22 July 1706. Until the advent of air transport and the creation of the Channel Tunnel
, marine transport was the only way of reaching the British Isles
. For this reason, maritime trade and naval power have always had great importance.
Prior to the Acts of Union, 1707
, the maritime history of the British Isles was largely dominated by that of England. (See Maritime history of England
for more details.)
Lloyd's List
was established in 1734 and Lloyd's Register
in 1764/5. The Marine Society
was set up in 1756 with the aim of sending poor boys to sea.
Steam technology was first applied to boats in the 1770s but sailing ships continued to be developed. In 1794 an experimental steam powered ship called the Kent was built which showed designers the way forward. Nathanial Symonds demonstrated a sinking boat in 1729.
Towards the end of the century, the Napoleonic Wars
started with Napoleon
, later crowned as French Emperor, and naval battle
s continued into the 19th century.
called the Charlotte Dundas
ran trials on a canal
near Glasgow
, towing barges. In 1815 Pierre Andriel crossed the English Channel aboard the steamship Élise
. By the mid-century steamboats were a common sight on British rivers and canals. Regular steamship sailings across the Atlantic started in the 1830s.
Shipbuilders began using iron
instead of wood as the ships could be made larger with more cargo space. Ships also began to be fitted with steam engine
s and paddle wheel
s but the latter was found to be unsuited to open sea use. From the 1840s screw propeller
s replaced paddles. In the 1870s new more efficient engines were introduced so that sailing ships began to be phased out. From the 1880s steel
began to replace iron for the hulls.
Because of the space required for coal and the large crew requirements on steamships, sailing ships were favoured for long voyages and reached a design peak with the clipper
s used for transporting tea and wool. Steamships gradually replaced sailing ships for commercial shipping during the 19th century, particularly after more efficient engine designs were developed in the later part of the period.
The Battle of Navarino
in 1827 was the last to be fought by the Royal Navy
entirely with sailing ships. By the end of the century submarine design had progressed sufficiently to be useful, as had the design of torpedo
es.
" for the fastest crossing. A significant event was the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. This led to the Global Maritime Distress Safety System
and to the Iceberg Patrol. The rise of air travel led to a decrease in ocean travel but then, towards the end of the century, cruise ship
s became important again.
During the 20th century new types of cargo ships appeared - the container ship
, the oil tanker and the gas container ship. Specialised ports for handling these were also developed.
Most warship
s used steam propulsion until the advent of the gas turbine in the mid part of the period. Steamships were superseded by diesel-driven
cargo ships in the second half of the century. Submarines were mainly powered by a combination of diesel and batteries until the advent of nuclear marine propulsion
in 1955.
There were two major wars against Germany and its allies that saw a massive expansion in naval fleets and the use of air power at sea, resulting in the construction of aircraft carrier
s that became the main centre of sea power. Both wars saw massive destruction of the British merchant fleet
but new construction exceeded the rate of destruction. After World War II there was an initial drop in warship numbers but then the rise of the Soviet naval
threat resulted in the Cold War
with the construction of new warships and submarines. The reduction of the Soviet
threat at the end of the century was offset by threats from other sources and piracy
as well as sea-borne drug trafficking
.
Cod War
, offshore oil, gas and wind farm
s. Exploitation of wave power
was started.
. The Royal Navy saw further reductions in its strength, though new larger aircraft carriers have been promised.
in 1707 the Royal Scots Navy
merged with the English navy and the British Royal Navy came into being. The early 18th century saw the Royal Navy with more ships than other navies. Although it suffered severe financial problems through the earlier part of this period, modern methods of financing government, and in particular the Navy, were developed, This financing enabled the Navy to become the most powerful force of the later 18th century without bankrupting the country. The Napoleonic Wars saw the Royal Navy reach a peak of efficiency, dominating the navies of all Britain's adversaries.
Under William and Mary
a hospital at Greenwich
was founded to relieve the sufferings of British seamen.
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Between 1793 and 1815 the Royal Navy lost 344 vessels due to non-combat causes: 75 by foundering, 234 shipwrecked and 15 from accidental burnings or explosions. In the same period it lost 103,000 seamen: 84,440 by disease and accidents, 12,680 by shipwreck or foundering and 6,540 by enemy action.
From the Battle of Trafalgar
in 1805 until the outbreak of the European War in 1914, Britain had an almost uncontested power over the world's oceans, and it was said that "Britannia ruled the waves". During the Napoleonic Wars
, there was increasing tension at sea between Britain and the United States, as American traders took advantage of their country's neutrality to trade with the French-controlled parts of Europe as well as with the British Isles. The Anglo-American War of 1812
was characterised by single-ship actions and the disruption of merchant shipping.
The start of the 20th century saw structural changes in the Navy brought about by the First Sea Lord
Jackie Fisher who retired, scrapped or placed in reserve many of the older vessels, making new funds and manpower available for newer ships. He saw the development of , the first all-big-gun ship and one of the most influential ships in naval history. This ship rendered all other battleship
s then existing obsolete, and indeed lent her name to an entire class of battleships, the dreadnought
s. Admiral Percy Scott
introduced new programmes such a gunnery training and central fire control
which greatly increased the effectiveness in battle of the Navy's ships.
During the First World War
the Royal Navy played a vital role in escorting convoy
s of food, arms and raw materials to Britain. It defeated the German
campaign of unrestricted submarine warfare
and prevented the breakout of the German High Seas Fleet
. As well as tasks in the Atlantic it also carried out operations in the Baltic, Mediterranean and Black Sea
.
In the inter-war years the Royal Navy was stripped of much of its power. The Washington Naval Treaty
of 1922, together with the deplorable financial conditions during the immediate post-war period and the Great Depression
, forced the Admiralty to scrap some capital ship
s and to cancel plans for new construction. The London Naval Treaty
of 1930 deferred new capital ship construction until 1937 and reiterated construction limits on cruiser
s, destroyer
s and submarines. As international tensions increased in the mid-thirties, the Second London Naval Treaty
of 1936 failed to halt the development of a naval arms race
and by 1938 treaty limits were effectively ignored. The re-armament of the Royal Navy was well under way by this point; the Royal Navy had constructed the King George V class
of 1936 and several aircraft carriers including . In addition to new construction, several existing battleships, battlecruisers and heavy cruisers were re-constructed and new anti-aircraft
weaponry reinforced. However, around this time the Imperial Japanese Navy
and the United States Navy
began to surpass the Royal Navy in power.
After the Second World War, the decline of the British Empire and economic hardships in Britain forced reduction in size and capability of the Royal Navy. The increasingly powerful United States Navy took on the former role of the Royal Navy as a means of keeping peace around the world. However, the treat of the Soviet Union created a new role for the Navy within NATO.
The 1960s saw the peak of the Royal Navy's capabilities in the post-war era. The fleet carriers , , the rebuilt , and gave the Royal Navy the most powerful fleet outside the United States. The navy also had a large fleet of frigate
s and destroyers. New, more modern units like the County class destroyers
and Leander class frigates
began to enter service in the 1960s. At this time the Royal Navy received its first nuclear weapon
s and was to become responsible for the maintenance of the UK's nuclear deterrent.
However, a Labour
government came into power and was determined to cut defence expenditure. After this the navy began to fall in size and by 1979 the last fleet carrier was scrapped. The navy was forced to make do with three much smaller Invincible class aircraft carriers
with Sea Harrier
aircraft. The fleet was now centred around anti-submarine warfare in the North Atlantic. Further Defence Reviews have further cut the Royal Navy.
Although the Royal Navy has significantly reduced in size since the 1960s, reflecting the reduced requirements of the state, this does not take into account the increase in technological capability of the Navy's ships. The navy is responsible for the British strategic nuclear deterrent. It concentrates on anti-submarine warfare
and mine countermeasures as part of NATO.
was responsible for providing the ships and the men to man them, including Warrant Officer
s. The Impress Service recruited volunteers but also took many against their will. After 1740 the Admiralty gained control over the Navy Board.
. This included the Fleet Air Arm
.
, a primitive submarine tried and failed to sink a British warship, the flagship
of the blockers, in New York City harbour in 1776. John Paul Jones
attacked British shipping in the Irish Sea and also the towns of Whitehaven
and Kirkcudbright
. In the Anglo-American War of 1812, an unsuccessful submarine attack was made on a British warship stationed in New London
harbour.
and at the Battle of the Nile
, and short-lived truces such as the Treaty of Amiens
. The height of the Royal Navy's achievements came on 21 October 1805 at the Battle of Trafalgar
, where a numerically smaller but more experienced British fleet under the command of Lord Horatio Nelson
decisively defeated a combined French and Spanish fleet.
had cruisers scattered across the globe. Some of them were subsequently used to attack Allied merchant shipping. The Royal Navy systematically hunted them down, though not without some embarrassment from its inability to protect Allied shipping. For example, the detached light cruiser
Emden, part of the East-Asia squadron
stationed at Qingdao
, seized or destroyed 15 merchantmen as well as sinking a Russian cruiser and a French destroyer. However, the bulk of the East-Asia squadron
- consisting of the armoured cruisers Scharnhorst
and Gneiseau
, light cruisers Nürnberg
, Leipzig
, and Dresden and two transport ships
- did not have orders to raid shipping and was instead underway to Germany when it was defeated by the British at the Battle of the Falkland Islands
in December 1914, with only Dresden escaping destruction.
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The Battle of Jutland
was the major sea battle of the First World War. Although the British Grand Fleet suffered greater losses than the German High Seas Fleet
, the latter withdrew to port and the British retained control of the North Sea.
Soon after the outbreak of hostilities the British initiated a Naval Blockade of Germany, preventing supplies from reaching its ports. The strategy proved effective, cutting off vital military and civilian supplies, though this blockade
violated generally accepted international law
codified by several international agreements of the past two centuries. A blockade of stationed ships within a three mile (5 km) radius was considered legitimate, however Britain mined international waters
to prevent any ships from entering entire sections of ocean, causing danger to neutral ships. Since there was limited response to this tactic, Germany expected a similar response to its unrestricted submarine warfare.
German U-boat
s attempted to cut the supply lines between North America and Britain during the First Battle of the Atlantic. The nature of submarine warfare meant that attacks often came without warning, giving the crews of the merchant ships little hope of survival. The United States launched a protest and Germany modified its rules of engagement. After the infamous sinking of the passenger ship RMS Lusitania
in 1915, Germany promised not to target passenger liners. Britain armed its merchant ships. Finally in early 1917 Germany adopted a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare, realizing the Americans would eventually enter the war. Germany sought to strangle Allied
sea lane
s before the US could transport a large army overseas.
The U-boat threat lessened in 1917 when merchant ships travelled in convoys escorted by destroyers. This tactic made it difficult for U-boats to find targets. The accompanying destroyers might sink a submerged submarine with depth charge
s. The losses to submarine attacks were reduced significantly, but the convoys system slowed the flow of supplies. The solution to the delays was a massive programme to build new freighters. Troop ships were too fast for the submarines and did not travel the North Atlantic in convoys. The First World War also saw the first use of aircraft carriers in combat, with launching Sopwith Camel
s in a successful raid against Zeppelin
hangars at Todern in July 1918.
U-boats again attempted to cut supply lines to Britain by sinking merchant ships. In the first four months of the war they sank more than 110 vessels. In addition to supply ships, the U-boats occasionally attacked British and Canadian warships. One U-boat sank the British carrier while another managed to sink the battleship at her home anchorage of Scapa Flow
.
In the early stages of the war the Royal Navy placed much faith in ASDIC (an early form of active sonar
) to detect submerged U-boats but the Germans countered this by the use of the "wolfpack" which attacked on the surface at night. To form this pack, the U-boats communicated to their base by radio, to coordinate the action of several U-boats. The British eventually broke the German Naval code
, which allowed this tactic to be defeated. The Germans then switched to attacking shipping off the American coast.
The British sank the Deutschland class cruiser
(German pocket battleship) Admiral Graf Spee in December 1939 and the battleship in 1941. However the threat caused by the was only countered later after many attacks. The Royal Navy suffered significant losses in the early stages of the war including the battlecruisers , which had been sunk by Bismarck, and and the battleship , both of which were sunk by Japanese bombers in late 1941
.
The Royal Navy provided critical cover for the British and French troops during the Dunkirk evacuation and rescued the bulk of the troops, the remainder being evacuated by a fleet of small ships. Later the Navy provided cover for the Dieppe Raid
catastrophe, that saw 3,623 of the 6,086 men who made it ashore killed, wounded, or captured.
In the summer of 1941, the Soviet Union entered the war on the side of Britain. Although the Soviets had tremendous reserves in manpower, they had lost much of their equipment and manufacturing base in the first few weeks following the German invasion. The Allies attempted to remedy this by sending Arctic
convoys, which travelled from Britain and later the United States to the northern ports of the Soviet Union, Arkhangelsk
(Archangel) and Murmansk
. The treacherous route around the North Cape of Norway
was the site of many battles as the Germans continually tried to disrupt the convoys using U-boats, bombers and surface ships.
Malta
was an important base for attacking the Axis
supply lines to North Africa. Submarines, aircraft and surface ships were used from Maltese bases. In 1941 "Force K
" was based in Malta which caused the Italians
to suspend their convoys but the Germans insisted that they be resumed. Force K ran into a minefield
and warships were also lost by attacks by U-boats and human torpedo
es. Axis aircraft attacked Allied
supply convoys to Malta and the situation became desperate. Eventually in 1942 "Operation Pedestal
", 14 ships with a large escort was sent. However only 5 ships got through and many escorts were lost. The renewed attacks by the submarine force prevented full use of the Axis held port of Tobruk
and eventually to victory in North Africa. Gibraltar
was also an important naval base, as was Alexandria
.
In late 1941 Winston Churchill
tried to prevent Japanese
aggression against British territories in the Far East by sending a naval deterrent called "Force Z". The Royal Navy could only spare one new battleship, HMS Prince of Wales, an old battlecruiser
HMS Repulse and the carrier . The latter hit an uncharted rock and was put out of action but Churchill insisted on the other two ships being sent. They arrived at Singapore
on 2 December 1941. A day after the attack on Pearl Harbor
, the ships with escorting destroyers sailed to attack Japanese transports. They were spotted by reconnaissance aircraft
and eventually sunk by torpedoes from planes.
The turning point in the "Second Battle of the Atlantic" was in early 1943 as the Allies refined their naval tactics, making effective use of new technology to counter the U-boats. The Allies produced ships faster that they were sunk and lost fewer ships by re-adopting the convoy system. Improved anti-submarine warfare meant that the life expectancy of a typical U-boat crew would be measured in months. The vastly improved Type 21 U-boat appeared at the end of the war but was too late to affect the outcome. In December 1943 the last major sea battle between the Royal Navy and the Kriegsmarine
(War navy) took place. At the "Battle of North Cape
" Germany's battleship Scharnhorst was sunk by , and several destroyers.
For the D-Day
landings in 1944 the Royal Navy provided most of the warships and three-quarters of the landing craft. After the German surrender, a force was sent to the Pacific Ocean to attack the Japanese.
The "Falklands War
" was fought in 1982 between Argentina
and Britain over the disputed Falkland Islands
, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
. Britain was initially taken by surprise by the Argentine attack on the South Atlantic islands, but launched a naval task force
to engage the Argentine Navy
and Air Force
, and to retake the islands by amphibious assault
. The Navy disabled one Argentine submarine, the Santa Fe, in South Georgia and sank the light cruiser General Belgrano
but lost a number of ships due to air attack. Another Argentine submarine tried to attack the task force but was held off by the British anti-submarine warfare. The assault force was landed at San Carlos Water
in the Falklands. The British eventually prevailed and the islands returned to British control.
The Royal Navy took part in the 1990 Gulf War
, the Kosovo War
, the Afghanistan War
and the 2003 Iraq War. In August 2005 the Royal Navy rescued seven Russians stranded in a submarine off the Kamchatka Peninsula
. Using its Scopio 45 remote-controlled mini-sub, the Russian submarine was freed from the fishing nets and cables that had held the submarine for three days.
was a British naval officer and colonial governor. He was appointed governor and commander-in-chief of the British colony of Newfoundland
in 1744. In 1758 he and James Wolfe
attacked French posts around the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River
and destroyed all of the French fishing stations along the northern shores of what is now New Brunswick
and along the Gaspé Peninsula
.
was a British admiral
who held sea command during the Seven Years' War
and during the American Revolutionary War
. In the final years of the latter conflict he served as First Lord of the Admiralty. During the Seven Years War he had seen constant service. He was in North America in 1755, on the coast of France in 1756, was dispatched on a cruise to reduce the French settlements on the west coast of Africa in 1758 and his ship was the first to get into action at the Battle of Quiberon Bay
in 1759. In 1757 he had formed part of the court-martial
that had condemned Admiral John Byng
, but was active among others who endeavoured to secure a pardon for him. However, neither he nor those who had acted with him could produce any serious reason why the sentence should not be carried out. When Spain joined France in 1762 he was sent as second in command with Sir George Peacock
in the expedition which took Havana
. His health suffered from the fever which carried off an immense proportion of the soldiers and sailors, but the £25,000 of prize money which he received freed him from the unpleasant position of a younger son of a family ruined by the extravagance of his father.
was a naval officer of the Royal Navy. During the War of the Austrian Succession
he was promoted to Rear admiral
. In the Seven Years War Hawke replaced Admiral John Byng as commander in the Mediterranean.
was a British admiral. During the rebellion in North America, Howe was known to be sympathetic to the colonists. He had in prior years sought the acquaintance of Benjamin Franklin
, who was a friend of Howe's sister, a popular lady in London society. During his career Howe displayed an uncommon tactical originality. His performance was unexcelled even by Nelson who, like Howe's other successors, was served by more highly trained squadrons and benefitted from Howe's concepts.
was a British admiral who was famous for his participation in the sea battles of the Napoleonic Wars, most notably at the Battle of Trafalgar
a decisive British victory where he lost his life. He was born in 1758 in Norfolk
and in 1771 joined . By the time he was 20 he had been to the Arctic
, the Indies
and the Caribbean. He was appointed Lieutenant
in 1777, Post-Captain
in 1779 and Commodore
in 1796. He took part in the campaign in Corsica
in 1794 where he lost his right eye. In 1797 he was at the battle of Cape St. Vincent
at which he was promoted Rear Admiral of the Blue. That year he lost his right arm after the raid on Santa Cruz
, Tenerife
and was knighted. In 1798 he fought the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile
in Abu Qir Bay
, Egypt
and was given the title "Baron of the Nile".
Nelson was noted for his considerable ability to inspire and bring out the best in his men, to the point that it gained a name "The Nelson Touch". His actions during these battles meant that before and after his death he was revered like few military figures have been throughout British history. Alexander Davidson was a contemporary and close friend of Nelson and is responsible for several acts that glorified Nelson's public image. These included the creation of a medal commemorating the victory at the Battle of Trafalgar and the creation of the Nelson Memorial
at his estate in Swarland
, Northumberland
. As a close friend of the Admiral he acted as an intermediary when Nelson's marriage to his wife Frances Nelson fell apart due in large part to his affair with Emma Hamilton
.
expedition, and in the following year his ship was wrecked on the hostile Cuban coast. His men, however, entrenched themselves and in the end were brought off safely. Parker was with his father, Sir Hyde Parker, 5th Baronet
at the Dogger Bank
and with Richard Howe in the two actions in the Strait of Gibraltar
. In 1793, having just become Rear Admiral, he served under Sir Samuel Hood at Toulon
and in Corsica. Two years later, now a Vice Admiral
, he took part under William Hotham
in the indecisive fleet actions in 1795. From 1796 to 1800 he was in command at Jamaica
and ably conducted the operations in the West Indies.
, was a British naval officer who fought during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary War and the Napoleonic Wars. Pellegrew is remembered as an officer and gentleman, earning his land and titles through courage, leadership and skill - serving as a paradigm of the versatility and determination of naval officers during the Napoleonic Wars.
was an admiral of the Royal Navy, notable for his victory at the Battle of Algeciras Bay
. In 1801 he was raised to the rank of Rear Admiral of the Blue, was created a baronet and received the command of a small squadron which was destined to watch the movements of the Spanish fleet at Cádiz
. Between the 6 and 12 of July he performed a brilliant piece of service, in which after a first repulse at Algeciras
he routed a much superior combined force of French and Spanish ships at the Battle of Algeciras Bay. For his services Saumarez received the Order of the Bath
and the Freedom of the City of London.
made voyages from Weymouth to Newfoundland, Java
, Jamaica and Honduras
. From his experiences he wrote a book A New Voyage Around The World that was much admired and resulted in his command of the first voyage of exploration organised by the Admiralty. He reached Australia but found no wealth so it was not a success. Dampier later took up privateering and rescued Alexander Selkirk
, which was the basis for Treasure Island
.
was born in Yorkshire
in 1728. Having worked in a shop, he decided that a life at sea was what he wanted and he became apprenticed to a firm of Whitby
coal shippers. He then joined the navy as a seaman and worked his way up to command. The Royal Society
wanted to observe the transit of Venus
due in June 1769 and to find the supposed southern continent. They persuaded the Admiralty to provide a ship and James Cook, a navigator who had prepared charts of the St Lawrence river. For the voyage Cook chose the HM Bark Endeavour
which was a Whitby collier
. It was adapted in the Royal Navy Dockyard
at Deptford
, and scientific instruments for observing the transit were loaded. Accompanying Cook were the astronomer Dr Green, a botanist Joseph Banks
and two artists. The Endeavour sailed around Cape Horn
to Tahiti
, then to New Zealand and finally to Australia. After a year at home, Cook took two colliers, and , to the Antarctic and then to Tahiti
, testing the new timekeeper of John Harrison
. He made a third voyage, to try and find the Northwest Passage
, with Resolution and . After encountering ice he turned back to Hawaii
. There he was treated as a god but on leaving was forced to return. When Cook tried to take the king hostage, because of the theft of a ship's boat, he was killed on 14 February 1779.
was born in King's Lynn
in 1757. He became a captain in the Royal Navy and carried out surveys of the west coast of America, using a different ship also called the , of Australia and New Zealand. Both the city of Vancouver
and Vancouver Island
are named after him. He also negotiated agreements with the king of Hawaii but died at the age of 40.
took a squadron of British ships around Cape Horn
in 1740-4 to harass the Spanish. He captured several ships, raided the Philippines
and visited Canton
(now Guangzhou). He returned with much gold and silver to great acclaim.
was an officer in the Royal Navy and an Arctic explorer. He was born in 1786 and joined the navy at the age of 16. He sailed on Matthew Flinders
voyages around Australia and took part in the Battle of Trafalgar, but is best remembered for his four Arctic voyages. He made maps of over 3000 miles (4,828 km) of the coast of northern Canada
. On his final voyage in 1845 he had two ships the and the . He was seen off Baffin Island
but then disappeared. Various expeditions were mounted to find him and his crew. One expedition met Inuit
who said that the ships had been crushed in the ice. Messages from the explorers were found but all later died. Franklin had died in 1847 and the remainder had tried to travel south. Robert McClure
completed the route in 1850.
surveyed Victoria Land
in Antarctica in 1842. The Ross Sea
and Ross Island
are named after him as is a ship of the British Antarctic Survey
.
surveyed the Great Ice Barrier in the Antarctic in 1901-4 in RRS Discovery
. He died in 1910 on the journey back from the South Pole
.
led an expedition to try to cross Antarctica in 1914. His ship became crushed in the ice but he led 28 men to safety on Elephant Island. To get help Shackleton and six men crossed 800 nautical miles (1,481.6 km) of sea in an open boat to South Georgia and then crossed the mountains to Grytviken
. He returned to rescue all his men from Elephant Island. He died on South Georgia in 1922.
, Sheerness
and Plymouth
. A mechanised block mill
was set up at Portsmouth
in 1806 that was cheaper and faster than producing them by hand. As shipbuilding centres in the north east of England
expanded, those in East Anglia
declined.
Ship sizes increased in the 19th century due to the change from wood to iron and then steel. Yards in the north east and in Scotland became dominant. British yards produced the majority of the world's shipping at the end of the century, mostly tramp steamer
s.
In 1913 Britain had 61% of the world market, with 40% in 1920 but this had declined to 0.7% in 1997. Modernisation of the shipyards took place in the 1960s allowing construction of supertankers. The British yards were nationalised
as part of the Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act 1977
and renamed "British Shipbuilders
" but were privatised
again in the 1980s. Rosyth Dockyard
was started in 1909 while HMNB Clyde
(Faslane) submarine base was created in the 1960s. American nuclear submarines were based in Holy Loch
but have since left.
was a clipper
ship built in 1869 in Dumbarton, Scotland, to carry 600 tons of cargo. She raced the Thermopylae
and other clippers in the tea
trade from China and later in the wool
trade from Australia. She was capable of sailing at over 17 knots (33.3 km/h). Built as a full rigged ship
, she spent her final trading years as a barquentine
. She was dismasted in 1916 but restored in 1922 then used as a training ship. Cutty Sark was taken over by a preservation society in 1952 and moved to Greenwich
. In 2007 she was damaged by fire during restoration work but is to be repaired.
was built in 1768 as a collier
at Whitby
. She was full rigged ship and sturdily built with a large hold. Endeavour's flat bottomed hull was well suited for sailing in shallow water and was designed to be beached. She was acquired by the Royal Navy, and after a major refit at Deptford she was used by James Cook on his first voyage to the Pacific Ocean. She ran aground on "Endeavour Reef" in the Great Barrier Reef
but was refloated and repaired. On her return to Britain, Endeavour was used as a store ship and then sold out of the navy and used as a merchant ship. Her later fate is uncertain.
A replica of Endeavour
was built in Fremantle
from the original drawings, starting in 1988. This was completed in 1994 and Endeavour undertook a voyage to Whitby where she stayed from 1997 to 2003. She is now at the Australian National Maritime Museum
in Sydney.
was Isambard Kingdom Brunel
's second ship design, after a wooden paddle steamer called the SS Great Western
. She was the first steamship to make regular crossings of the Atlantic. This was the first large iron steamship and the first to use a screw propellor. After a long career she was abandoned in the Falkland Islands but was brought back to the drydock in Bristol in which she was built. There she has been restored.
was launched in 1858 and was six times bigger than any ship before. She was the third ship designed by Brunel. The Great Eastern had six masts as well as coal fired engines driving paddle wheels. It was designed to carry enough coal to travel to Australia and return, and was intended to carry 4,000 passengers (or 10,000 soldiers). Work started on the ship in 1854 but there were many problems in building and launching the ship. After fitting out at Deptford she undertook trials in September 1859 but the heater attached to the paddle engine boilers exploded. As the ship had been fitted with watertight bulkheads
she survived and was repaired. Because of the opening of the Suez Canal
, she was not used on the Australian route as envisaged but on the Atlantic crossings. Passengers did not like the rolling in storms and she was sold to a cable laying company after only six years. The Great Eastern was used to lay the first transatlantic telegraph cable
and many others subsequently. She was broken up in 1888.
and Britannic
were built the White Star Line
to outdo the Mauritania
and Lusitania
which belonged to the rival Cunard Line
. Titanic was 269 m long and weight 46,000 tons. She was described as a luxury hotel at sea and as "unsinkable". She was fitted with a double bottom and 16 watertight compartments so that even if two were flooded she would not sink. Titanic departed from Southampton
on 10 April 1912 on her maiden voyage
to America. She called at Cherbourg
and then Queenstown
(now Cobh) before heading for New York City. Despite warnings of iceberg
s, she continued at 20 knots (39.2 km/h) on the night of 14 April. About midnight she hit an iceberg and five compartments started to flood. Two hours afterwards she sank. There was only enough lifeboats for half the passengers and 1,503 people perished. In 1985 her wreck was identified by sonar 4,000 m down and explored using a remotely operated vehicle
(ROV). Some objects from the wreck have been recovered.
was built in 1936 by John Brown & Company
in Clydebank
, Scotland for what is now the Cunard Line. She made runs across the Atlantic between Southampton, Cherbourg and New York City in partnership with Queen Elizabeth
. The Queen Mary was used as a troop ship in the Second World War, carrying 16,082 people on one voyage. After the war she resumed Atlantic runs but these became loss making. She was withdrawn from service in 1967 and is now in Long Beach
California as a hotel and tourist attraction.
was the name given to two yachts
owned by the British royal family. The last one of these was built in 1953 and served the British royal family for nearly 43 years. Britannia is 5862 tons with an overall length of 412 feet (125.6 m). During her time in service she steamed 71 million miles. She has been preserved in port at Leith
in Scotland. She was designed to be used as a hospital ship
in time of war but did not undertake this role.
with over 100 guns. She fought at Ushant
in 1778 and 1781, and at Cape St. Vincent in 1796. Victory was reconstructed in 1798 with more guns and then fought at the Battle of Trafalgar
in 1805. Later she sailed on many naval expeditions. However, in 1889, Victory became home to the "Naval School of Telegraphy". She got into in a poor state and was restored 1922-8. Victory is now in drydock at HMNB Portsmouth
(Portsmouth Historic Dockyard), where she received some damage in the Second World War. Victory is still the flagship of the Second Sea Lord
.
. She was the first iron-hulled ironclad
, with three skins of iron, teak
and iron. Warrior was broadside firing with 9 ton muzzle loading guns. She was described by Napoleon III
as a "black snake amongst the rabbits". Her construction started a revolution in shipbuilding which meant that she was soon outclassed. She ended her days as an oil jetty at Pembroke Dock
but was restored and has been on display since the 1980s at HMNB Portsmouth.
launched in 1938. At the start of the Second World War she was part of the force mounting a blockade on Germany. After sustaining mine damage she was reconstructed and became the heaviest cruiser of the class at 11553 tons. Belfast fought in the Battle of North Cape
against the Scharnhorst and took part in operations against . She was part of the bombardment force during the D-Day landings and later served in the Far East
. Belfast also took part in the Korean War
. Belfast was then modernised and went to the Far East again. She was paid off from the Royal Navy
in 1963 and is now a museum ship on the River Thames
at London.
developed four types of marine chronometer
s for use at sea to allow accurate determination of longitude
.
The gyrocompass
was introduced in 1908 while ship's radar
came in after the 1930s. Radar is also used on land for monitoring the position of shipping, for example in the Strait of Dover
which is the busiest area of sea in the world. The Decca Navigator System
was a hyperbolic
radio navigation system that was installed around the coasts of Britain in the 1940s. It was phased out after the introduction of satellite-based navigation from the 1960s. The echo sounding
was introduced in the 1930s to determine water depth.
. The third lighthouse on the reef still stands. The first lightship
was positioned at the Nore
in 1732. Foghorn
s were incorporated in the 19th century to provide warning in low visibility. In the late 19th and early 20th century underwater bells were used as warning devices.
of Deptford was founded in 1514 to look after navigation marks in the Thames Estuary
. Similar organisations were founded at other places later. These were subsequently amalgamated and its authority was increased in 1836. Trinity House now looks after most of the marks in England and Wales, with the Northern Lighthouse Board
in Scotland and the Commissioners of Irish Lights
for the whole of Ireland.
s" to sea that were old, poorly maintained and overloaded. In 1868 Samuel Plimsoll
became concerned by the scandal and published Our Seamen which revealed the situation. A load line
(which became known as the Plimsoll Line) was required by the Merchant Shipping Act of 1876 but it was not until 1890 that the Board of Trade
became responsible for determining where it should be.
s in the 18th century, the first being in 1789 as a result of a tragic accident at the entrance to the River Tyne
. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution
was founded by Sir William Hillary
in 1824 and is financed voluntarily. It maintains many lifeboats and lifeboat stations around the coast of Britain, the stations being run by paid engineers but mostly manned by local volunteers. An exception is the station at Spurn Head
which is isolated so it is manned fully by paid crew. The boats were rowed with oars until the 1890s when steam-driven boats began to be introduced. Nowadays there are large diesel-driven offshore boats and small fast inshore boats. In some places hovercraft
are used for rescues. The RNLI boats cooperate with the other rescue services, particularly the rescue helicopters.
was formed in 1998 to look after safety in British waters. It coordinates the search rescue services and determines safety standards. It incorporated the Coastguard Agency, that had been formed from Her Majesty's Coastguard
, and the Marine Safety Agency.
) to the large (such as the Port of Felixstowe
). Ships were also simply drawn up on beaches. Over the centuries the relative importance of each port and harbour has changed due to such factors as silting and trade alterations. In later periods deep water access has been a major factor in determining a port's success.
In the 18th century there were major harbour improvements with dredging of channels and construction of pier
s. Wet dock
s were built at London, Liverpool
, Hull and Bristol.
London was still the largest port in the 19th century when new docks were built. Cardiff became a major coal exporting port after a railway
link was built, as did other South Wales
ports. The railways were responsible for developing new ports such as Newhaven
as ferry terminals
and the Manchester Ship Canal
enabled Manchester to become a significant port though far inland.
When oil replaced coal after the First World War, coal ports like Cardiff declined. London, Southampton, Manchester
, Liverpool, and Glasgow increased in trade during the inter-war years, and ferry ports such as Harwich
and Dover grew. Oil terminals were built from the 1920s and the larger ships required new docks at existing ports. After the Second World War new cargo handling methods were introduced, such as pallet
s (1950), containerisation
(1960s) and roll-on/roll-off ships. Dockers at some ports resisted this change so leading to the development of new facilities at ports such as Felixstowe
and Tilbury
.
Older port facilities became redundant and were redeveloped, such as Canary Wharf
in London. In 1977 the major ports of Britain were London, Tees and Hartlepool
, Grimsby and Immingham
, Forth, and Milford Haven
. Many of the small ports were redeveloped as marina
s, such as Watchet
.
had a monopoly of the African trade until 1712 but there was much privateering. Later a major part of this trade was in the "Triangular trade
" which involved taking goods from Britain to West Africa, slaves
from Africa to the West Indies and America, then sugar to Britain. The main ports involved were London, Bristol and Liverpool but there were many others, with a total of 11,615 sailings with 3.4 million slaves between 1662 and 1807. William Wilberforce
and his supporters got the slave trade
abolished in 1808 and subsequently the Royal Navy tried to suppress it.
In 1600 Queen Elizabeth had given the Honourable East India Company the right to trade east of the Cape of Good Hope
. By 1804 the company's fleet from India was said to be worth £6M. The Virginia Company
failed in 1624. The South Sea Company had been set up to trade in the Pacific but became involved in domestic politics. The Levant Company
was set up to trade with Turkey.
The Industrial Revolution
caused a large increase in shipping movements. Raw materials were imported and manufactured goods were exported. In addition there was a need for coal. In the 19th century Britain built up the largest merchant fleet in the world. Around half the ocean-going tonnage was under the Red Ensign
.
Examinations for masters and mates of large merchant ships were introduced in 1845 for foreign-going ships and in 1854 for coastal ones. Engineers tickets were required after 1862. Logs were required to be kept after 1850.
In the First World War a fifth of Britain's pre-war merchant shipping had been sunk by 1917, including 1349 ships in August of that year. Most deep water ships were sunk by torpedoes while most coastal ones hit mines. The fleets of neutral countries had expanded and in the 1920s there was a slump in shipping. Development of refrigerated ships allowed the importation of lamb and other meats from places such as New Zealand. A large number of merchant ships were sunk in the Second World War, but Britain's fleet had expanded by the end due to new construction. In the 1950s "flags of Convenience
" were taking an increasing share of world trade and the Eastern Bloc
's shipping was expanding to earn foreign currency.
Excluding tankers and the US War Reserve
, Britain still had the world's largest merchant fleet in 1957. However since then there has been a sharp decline, partly because of "re-flagging" to cut costs. Britain now the world's fifth largest trading nation, exports 26% of its gross domestic product
with 95% of this trade going by sea.
was originally set up to take passengers to Gibraltar and this was extended to India, the company eventually becoming "P&O". The "White Star Line
" originally concentrated on the emigrant trade but had fast liners after 1871. During war time the liners were used as troop ships. Southampton became the main passenger port because of its deep harbour with four tides.
, Britain used Australia as a penal colony
. The First Fleet in 1787 consisted of 1,200 people including 780 convicts. After the Second World War emigrants travelled by sea to the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
operate across the English Channel, the Irish Sea, to the Isle of Man
, to the Isle of Wight
, the Isles of Scilly and to many Scottish islands. Ships have probably sailed these routes since prehistoric times. However, regular ferry services only started in the 18th century. On the Isle of Man route, sailing ships were used until 1830 but steamships proved faster and more reliable. The ferry trade expanded with the advent of roll-on/roll-off ship designs. The ferries across the English Channel were badly affected by the opening of the Channel Tunnel
in 1994.
Cruise boats became popular in the 19th century. They operated from beaches in Dorset and Devon, and from Liverpool to North Wales. They also operated in the River Clyde
, Thames and Bristol Channel
. A paddle steamer, the Waverley
built in 1946, is still running, making trips for example to Lundy
.
duties
are payable on specified goods imported or exported. The range of goods on which there are charges has varied over time. Customs men were put into the various ports and they tried to keep watch over the adjoining coasts. These boards were combined as the Board of Customs and Excise
(later Her Majesty's Customs and Excise, which was formed in 1909, and became part of Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs
in 2005.
In the 18th and 19th centuries there was extensive smuggling
by sea from the continent to Britain because of the high duty on luxury goods. The later was to finance the wars with France and the United States. Silks, spirits and tobacco came from France while gin came from Holland. Revenue cutters were used to try and intercept the smugglers but with little success. After the Napoleonic Wars there was surplus manpower that was used to try and suppress smuggling. In certain areas (such as in Kent and Cornwall) smuggling was for many communities more economically significant than legal activities such as farming or fishing.
fishing was a major activity in Britain. Herring fishing stopped in England and Wales during the 1960s but continued in Scotland until 1977/8. In 1937 the herring catch at Yarmouth dropped dramatically, then that at Lowestoft
declined.
Trawling
has also been a major activity, with the use of radio navigation aids and echo sounders making life easier now. Fishing in waters off Iceland
became important, which led to three "Cod War
s" from the 1950s to the 1970s. British boats were excluded from Icelandic waters in 1976. In 1977 a 200 miles (321.9 km) fishing limit was set up by the European Economic Community, and British waters were opened to other Community members. This led to overfishing. Landings decreased 28% between 1967 and 1997, with fishing now mainly off Scotland.
Other sorts of fishing also take place on a commercial basis such as for crab
, lobster
, shellfish
and mackerel
. Sport fishing is popular from coasts and boats, including for shark
off south west England.
In the past local conditions led to the development of a wide range of types of fishing boats. The bawley and the smack
were used in the Thames Estuary and off East Anglia
, while trawlers and drifters
were use on the east coast. In 1870 paddle tugs were being used to tow luggers and smacks to sea. Steam trawlers were introduced in 1881, mainly at Grimsby and Hull. The steam drifter was not used in the herring fishery until 1897. In 1890 it was estimated that there were 20,000 men on the North Sea. The first trawlers fished over the side but in 1961 the first stern trawler was used at Lowestoft for fishing in Arctic waters
. By 1981 only 27 of 130 deep sea trawlers were still going to sea. Many were converted to oil rig
safety vessels. However the "inshore" boats landed a greater weight of fish even in 1973.
Herring fishing started in the Moray Firth
in 1819. The peak of the fishing at Aberdeen
was in 1937 with 277 steam trawlers, though the first diesel drifter was introduced in 1926.
had 170 tankers.
The gas fields in the North Sea have been in production since the 1960s while oil was discovered off Scotland in 1975. This led to the development of several support bases in Scotland. Platform construction has declined since 1985. The imminent decline of North Sea gas
has led to the construction of liquid gas tankers and import facilities at Milford Haven.
s around the coast of Britain. The wreck of the Torrey Canyon
in March 1967 resulted in the first major oil
spill. The ship grounded on the Seven Stones reef
between Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. The ship was bombed to break it up and detergent
used to disperse the 700 km² oil slick. It is estimated that 15,000 birds were killed and there was also a large effect on marine life
. As a result of this incident many lessons were learned on how to handle such problems and it led to changes in regulations. The grounding of MV Braer in January 1993 in the Shetlands led to the loss of 84,700 tons of light crude oil
. There was again a large effect on wildlife, both birds and mammals. Because of the stormy conditions, the oil slick became broken up and had dispersed by October 1994. The Sea Empress
hit a rock off Milford Haven in February 1996. Some 730,00 tons of oil were spilt, resulting in an estimated 5,000 birds being killed with much oil being washed up on beaches. It is estimated that the cost of the spill was £60 million.
s off shore in the year 2000. By February 2007 this had reached 2 GW
capacity though its average output was much less. It could provide up to 1.5% of the United Kingdom's electricity. The capacity of offshore wind farms exceeds that of the onshore ones and is expected to rise over the coming years with many proposals being made.
is the east coast of England, where in particular the town of Dunwich
has been swallowed by the sea. At one time it was one of the largest ports in England but is completely gone. Another place that was largely destroyed is Hallsands, which was hit by storms in 1917, its defences having been removed by offshore dredging. Many beaches have had groyne
s constructed on them to control the movement of material.
Some areas of the UK are now under threat from rising sea levels while in the past the North Sea, Bristol Channel and English Channel have been flooded. The land is also still recovering from the deposition of ice on northern parts in the last ice age
. Thus southern England
is sinking while Scotland is rising. In some cases it has been decided to not defend areas against sea encroachments in storms, such as in Porlock
bay, while valuable areas are being protected. The Thames Barrier
was completed in 1994 to prevent flooding in the upper Thames estuary.
made Weymouth his summer home around 1800 and later King George IV
built a palace at Brighton
. Many resorts such as Blackpool
became popular when they were linked by railways to the big conurbations. More recently there has been a decline in popularity of British resorts due to the advent of cheap package holiday
s abroad with their better weather.
based on those originally used in the Isles of Scilly
for pilotage
and attending wrecks as well as smuggling. These are six oared vessels up to about 10 m long with nearly a 2 m beam.
Many yacht club
"one designs" were popular between 1920 and 1960, such as the Salcombe yawl
which was later built in plastic as the Devon yawl. Later more wide spread dinghy
designs became more popular such as the "Enterprise" introduced in 1960. In the late 19th and early part of the 20th century great yachts such as the J-Class were built, including "Shamrock V" constructed to attempt to win the America's Cup
which originated in 1851. Cowes Week
has been held since 1826 and includes a race around the Isle of Wight
. The Fastnet race
was first sailed in 1925. The first single-handed
circumnavigation by a Briton was by John Gusswell between 1955 and 1959, while the first Single-Handed Trans-Atlantic Race
was held in 1960 and won by Francis Chichester
. The first non stop circumnavigation race in 1968 was won by Robin Knox-Johnston
while the first "wrong way" circumnavigation was by Chay Blyth
in 1970. A Round Britain Single Handed Race was instituted in 1966. A sailing speed world record of 36 knots (70.6 km/h) was set at Portland
by a catamaran in 1980.
Frederick W. Lanchester built the first power boat
in 1898 using a 8 hp, water-cooled engine. Since then power boats have been used as run-abouts and for racing, as well as for water-skiing. Both inboard and outboard engines are used. The British Power Boat Company
built many power boats between 1927 and 1946 including Miss Britain III
and PT9 that became the basis of Motor Torpedo Boat
s and the US PT boat
s during the Second World War. The power speed record rose from 95 knots (186.2 km/h) in 1930 to 123 knots (241.1 km/h) in 1939. After the war the record speed rose again with runs by Donald Campbell
, who was killed during an attempt on the record in 1967.
s and the conversion of existing harbours. See List of marinas#United Kingdom for those in the United Kingdom.
(first the Admiralty then the Ministry of Defence) is responsible for publishing navigational nautical chart
s in Britain, now with worldwide cover. It also produces related publications. Originally based in London, it moved to Taunton
in the Second World War. The Hydrographic Department of the Admiralty was set up in 1795 and had seven vessels by 1820. One of its chief interests was in finding a Northwest Passage
around Canada. The first catalogue of charts was produced in 1825. The hydrographic squadron still forms part of the Royal Navy.
was by James Cook
who included information on the oceans in his report on his voyages between 1768 and 1779. James Rennell
wrote the first textbooks about currents in the Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean
around 1800. Sir James Clark Ross
took the first sounding in the deep sea in 1840 and Charles Darwin
published a paper on reef
s and atoll
s as a result of the second voyage of in 1831-6. The Royal Society
sponsored the expedition (1872–76) that resulted in a 50 volume report, covering biological, physical and geological aspects. The 1910 North Atlantic expedition headed by Sir John Murray
and Johan Hjort
resulted in the classic book The Depths of the Oceans.
The National Oceanographic Laboratory (later the Institute of Oceanographic Sciences) was set up at Godalming
but was transferred to the Southampton Oceanographic Centre in 1994. The latter was renamed the National Oceanographic Centre
. It operates a number of vessels that undertake exploratory cruises as well as various unmanned vehicles and buoys.
. These courses lead to Certificates of Competency for particular jobs. Other places, such as Liverpool John Moores University
, provide more academic courses on mercantile practice, ship design and operation. The University of Exeter
is one of those places that has specialised in maritime history.
governing relations between entities that operate vessels on the oceans is dealt with by special courts. There was a High Court of Admiralty
in London and Vice Admiral's Courts in other ports. Originally they dealt with administrative and naval matters but then included piracy cases (from 1700). By the 16th century they had wide powers but these were later reduced until restored in the 19th century. Trade disputes generally are dealt with by the commercial court
. The admiralty laws were a prominent feature in causing the American Revolution.
- in 1956, 1960 and 1967 - which have been ratified by Britain. The last one came into force in 1994.
, or naval architecture
, was by the skill of the shipwright only. In the 16th century shipwrights were authorised by the crown and under Henry VII a list of master shipwrights was produced. A treatise on ship design was written in the 16th century. A school of naval architecture was set up at Portsmouth in 1811. Nowadays ship design can be studied at a number of colleges in Britain. The professional body for ship designers in Britain is the Royal Institution of Naval Architects
at Greenwich
. However there are nearly 300 smaller ones (including ships) at various ports around Britain. These include museums at Kingston upon Hull
, Hartlepool
and Liverpool
as well as HMNB Portsmouth
. These provide much information on the maritime history of Britain.
is important in Britain because of the large number of shipwrecks around the coast and because of the large areas off the coast that have been submerged by rising sea levels. The archaeology of shipwrecks
covers sites from the Bronze Age
onward. Many artifacts have been obtained from the southern North Sea, for example. A recent find on the coast was Seahenge
. The subject can be studied at universities in Bristol
, Bournemouth
and Southampton
while English Heritage
is also interested.
have been produced by British artists and on British maritime topics. One of the best known paintings in Britain is "The Fighting Temeraire
" by J. M. W. Turner
that hangs in London's National Gallery
. A lot of seaside resorts have art galleries selling marine subjects.
In addition there is art produced by the sailors themselves, such as scrimshaw
.
, who was born in Poland in 1857, came to Britain in 1878 and was naturalised in 1886. He undertook a voyage in a collier and then a wool clipper, obtaining a master's ticket in 1887. His last voyage in 1916 was in a Q-ship
during the war. Conrad wrote many stories based on his experiences, such as "Lord Jim
". Basil Lubbock went out to the Klondike
and then sailed back from San Francisco
on a grain ship. From this he wrote "Round the Horn before the Mast" describing the life of an ordinary seaman. After settling down in England he collected facts on sailing ships and wrote books about them. Alan Villiers
first sailed in a British square rigger and then in Danish ones. He bought a small Danish fully rigged ship and sailed around the world. After his return he wrote books about square riggers. Many works of fiction have also been written, perhaps the most famous being the series on Horatio Hornblower
by C. S. Forester
.
that have been collected, many by Cecil Sharp
at Watchet
.
Shipping
Shipping has multiple meanings. It can be a physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo, by land, air, and sea. It also can describe the movement of objects by ship.Land or "ground" shipping can be by train or by truck...
, port
Port
A port is a location on a coast or shore containing one or more harbors where ships can dock and transfer people or cargo to or from land....
s, navigation
Navigation
Navigation is the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another. It is also the term of art used for the specialized knowledge used by navigators to perform navigation tasks...
, and seamen
Sailor
A sailor, mariner, or seaman is a person who navigates water-borne vessels or assists in their operation, maintenance, or service. The term can apply to professional mariners, military personnel, and recreational sailors as well as a plethora of other uses...
, as well as marine sciences, exploration, trade, and maritime themes in the arts from the creation of the kingdom of Great Britain
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
as a unified sovereign state
Sovereign state
A sovereign state, or simply, state, is a state with a defined territory on which it exercises internal and external sovereignty, a permanent population, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states. It is also normally understood to be a state which is neither...
on 1 May 1707 in accordance with the Treaty of Union
Treaty of Union
The Treaty of Union is the name given to the agreement that led to the creation of the united kingdom of Great Britain, the political union of the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland, which took effect on 1 May 1707...
, signed on 22 July 1706. Until the advent of air transport and the creation of the Channel Tunnel
Channel Tunnel
The Channel Tunnel is a undersea rail tunnel linking Folkestone, Kent in the United Kingdom with Coquelles, Pas-de-Calais near Calais in northern France beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. At its lowest point, it is deep...
, marine transport was the only way of reaching the British Isles
British Isles (terminology)
Various terms are used to describe the different geographical and political areas of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, and surrounding islands. The terminology is often a source of confusion, partly owing to the similarity between some of the actual words used, but also because they are often...
. For this reason, maritime trade and naval power have always had great importance.
Prior to the Acts of Union, 1707
Acts of Union 1707
The Acts of Union were two Parliamentary Acts - the Union with Scotland Act passed in 1706 by the Parliament of England, and the Union with England Act passed in 1707 by the Parliament of Scotland - which put into effect the terms of the Treaty of Union that had been agreed on 22 July 1706,...
, the maritime history of the British Isles was largely dominated by that of England. (See Maritime history of England
Maritime history of England
The Maritime history of England involves events including shipping, ports, navigation, and seamen, as well as marine sciences, exploration, trade, and maritime themes in the arts of England...
for more details.)
Eighteenth century
The main British export in the 18th century was corn.Lloyd's List
Lloyd's List
Lloyd's List is one of the world's oldest continuously-running journals, having provided weekly shipping news in London as early as 1734. Now published daily, a recent issue was numbered 59,200...
was established in 1734 and Lloyd's Register
Lloyd's Register
The Lloyd's Register Group is a maritime classification society and independent risk management organisation providing risk assessment and mitigation services and management systems certification. Historically, as Lloyd's Register of Shipping, it was a specifically maritime organisation...
in 1764/5. The Marine Society
The Marine Society
The Marine Society was the world's first seafarers’ charity. In 1756, at the beginning of the Seven Years' War against France, Austria, Russia, Sweden and Saxony Britain urgently needed to recruit men for the navy...
was set up in 1756 with the aim of sending poor boys to sea.
Steam technology was first applied to boats in the 1770s but sailing ships continued to be developed. In 1794 an experimental steam powered ship called the Kent was built which showed designers the way forward. Nathanial Symonds demonstrated a sinking boat in 1729.
Towards the end of the century, the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
started with Napoleon
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
, later crowned as French Emperor, and naval battle
Naval battle
A naval battle is a battle fought using boats, ships or other waterborne vessels. Most naval battles have occurred at sea, but a few have taken place on lakes or rivers. The earliest recorded naval battle took place in 1210 BC near Cyprus...
s continued into the 19th century.
Nineteenth century
In 1801 a steamshipSteamboat
A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
called the Charlotte Dundas
Charlotte Dundas
The Charlotte Dundas is regarded as the world's "first practical steamboat", the first towing steamboat and the boat that demonstrated the practicality of steam power for ships....
ran trials on a canal
Canal
Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...
near Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, towing barges. In 1815 Pierre Andriel crossed the English Channel aboard the steamship Élise
Steam ship Élise
The Élise was the first steamship to cross the English Channel.She was bought in England 1814 by Pierre Andriel as Margery, and renamed Élise. Andriel intended to accomplish a spectacular crossing of the Channel to convince public opinion that steam ships could be ocean-worthy.The Élise departed...
. By the mid-century steamboats were a common sight on British rivers and canals. Regular steamship sailings across the Atlantic started in the 1830s.
Shipbuilders began using iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
instead of wood as the ships could be made larger with more cargo space. Ships also began to be fitted with steam engine
Steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
s and paddle wheel
Paddle steamer
A paddle steamer is a steamship or riverboat, powered by a steam engine, using paddle wheels to propel it through the water. In antiquity, Paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses were wheelers driven by animals or humans...
s but the latter was found to be unsuited to open sea use. From the 1840s screw propeller
Propeller
A propeller is a type of fan that transmits power by converting rotational motion into thrust. A pressure difference is produced between the forward and rear surfaces of the airfoil-shaped blade, and a fluid is accelerated behind the blade. Propeller dynamics can be modeled by both Bernoulli's...
s replaced paddles. In the 1870s new more efficient engines were introduced so that sailing ships began to be phased out. From the 1880s steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
began to replace iron for the hulls.
Because of the space required for coal and the large crew requirements on steamships, sailing ships were favoured for long voyages and reached a design peak with the clipper
Clipper
A clipper was a very fast sailing ship of the 19th century that had three or more masts and a square rig. They were generally narrow for their length, could carry limited bulk freight, small by later 19th century standards, and had a large total sail area...
s used for transporting tea and wool. Steamships gradually replaced sailing ships for commercial shipping during the 19th century, particularly after more efficient engine designs were developed in the later part of the period.
The Battle of Navarino
Battle of Navarino
The naval Battle of Navarino was fought on 20 October 1827, during the Greek War of Independence in Navarino Bay , on the west coast of the Peloponnese peninsula, in the Ionian Sea. A combined Ottoman and Egyptian armada was destroyed by a combined British, French and Russian naval force...
in 1827 was the last to be fought by the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
entirely with sailing ships. By the end of the century submarine design had progressed sufficiently to be useful, as had the design of torpedo
Torpedo
The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...
es.
Twentieth century
At the start of the century 25% of the world's trade was through British ports, 18% of this being to North America. Trans-oceanic travel was important at the start of the century with transatlantic liners competing for the "Blue RibandBlue Riband
The Blue Riband is an unofficial accolade given to the passenger liner crossing the Atlantic Ocean in regular service with the record highest speed. The term was borrowed from horse racing and was not widely used until after 1910. Under the unwritten rules, the record is based on average speed...
" for the fastest crossing. A significant event was the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. This led to the Global Maritime Distress Safety System
Global Maritime Distress Safety System
The Global Maritime Distress and Safety System is an internationally agreed-upon set of safety procedures, types of equipment, and communication protocols used to increase safety and make it easier to rescue distressed ships, boats and aircraft....
and to the Iceberg Patrol. The rise of air travel led to a decrease in ocean travel but then, towards the end of the century, cruise ship
Cruise ship
A cruise ship or cruise liner is a passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the ship's amenities are part of the experience, as well as the different destinations along the way...
s became important again.
During the 20th century new types of cargo ships appeared - the container ship
Container ship
Container ships are cargo ships that carry all of their load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. They form a common means of commercial intermodal freight transport.-History:...
, the oil tanker and the gas container ship. Specialised ports for handling these were also developed.
Most warship
Warship
A warship is a ship that is built and primarily intended for combat. Warships are usually built in a completely different way from merchant ships. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster and more maneuvrable than merchant ships...
s used steam propulsion until the advent of the gas turbine in the mid part of the period. Steamships were superseded by diesel-driven
Diesel engine
A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...
cargo ships in the second half of the century. Submarines were mainly powered by a combination of diesel and batteries until the advent of nuclear marine propulsion
Nuclear marine propulsion
Nuclear marine propulsion is propulsion of a ship by a nuclear reactor. Naval nuclear propulsion is propulsion that specifically refers to naval warships...
in 1955.
There were two major wars against Germany and its allies that saw a massive expansion in naval fleets and the use of air power at sea, resulting in the construction of aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
s that became the main centre of sea power. Both wars saw massive destruction of the British merchant fleet
Ship transport
Ship transport is watercraft carrying people or goods . Sea transport has been the largest carrier of freight throughout recorded history. Although the importance of sea travel for passengers has decreased due to aviation, it is effective for short trips and pleasure cruises...
but new construction exceeded the rate of destruction. After World War II there was an initial drop in warship numbers but then the rise of the Soviet naval
Soviet Navy
The Soviet Navy was the naval arm of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy would have played an instrumental role in a Warsaw Pact war with NATO, where it would have attempted to prevent naval convoys from bringing reinforcements across the Atlantic Ocean...
threat resulted in the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
with the construction of new warships and submarines. The reduction of the Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
threat at the end of the century was offset by threats from other sources and piracy
Piracy
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence at sea. The term can include acts committed on land, in the air, or in other major bodies of water or on a shore. It does not normally include crimes committed against persons traveling on the same vessel as the perpetrator...
as well as sea-borne drug trafficking
Illegal drug trade
The illegal drug trade is a global black market, dedicated to cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of those substances which are subject to drug prohibition laws. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs by drug prohibition laws.A UN report said the...
.
Cod War
Cod War
The Cod Wars, also called the Icelandic Cod Wars , were a series of confrontations in the 1950s and 1970s between the United Kingdom and Iceland regarding fishing rights in the North Atlantic....
, offshore oil, gas and wind farm
Wind farm
A wind farm is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electric power. A large wind farm may consist of several hundred individual wind turbines, and cover an extended area of hundreds of square miles, but the land between the turbines may be used for agricultural or other...
s. Exploitation of wave power
Wave power
Wave power is the transport of energy by ocean surface waves, and the capture of that energy to do useful work — for example, electricity generation, water desalination, or the pumping of water...
was started.
Twenty-first century
The start of the century saw the building of superlinersSuperliner (passenger ship)
A superliner is an ocean liner of over 10,000 gross tons. The term was coined in the late 19th century, when ocean liners were rapidly increasing in size and speed...
. The Royal Navy saw further reductions in its strength, though new larger aircraft carriers have been promised.
Eighteenth century navy
Under the Acts of Union 1707Acts of Union 1707
The Acts of Union were two Parliamentary Acts - the Union with Scotland Act passed in 1706 by the Parliament of England, and the Union with England Act passed in 1707 by the Parliament of Scotland - which put into effect the terms of the Treaty of Union that had been agreed on 22 July 1706,...
in 1707 the Royal Scots Navy
Royal Scots Navy
The Royal Scots Navy was the navy of the Kingdom of Scotland from its foundation in the 11th century until its merger with the Kingdom of England's Royal Navy per the Acts of Union 1707.- Origins :...
merged with the English navy and the British Royal Navy came into being. The early 18th century saw the Royal Navy with more ships than other navies. Although it suffered severe financial problems through the earlier part of this period, modern methods of financing government, and in particular the Navy, were developed, This financing enabled the Navy to become the most powerful force of the later 18th century without bankrupting the country. The Napoleonic Wars saw the Royal Navy reach a peak of efficiency, dominating the navies of all Britain's adversaries.
Under William and Mary
William and Mary
The phrase William and Mary usually refers to the coregency over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland, of King William III & II and Queen Mary II...
a hospital at Greenwich
Greenwich
Greenwich is a district of south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich.Greenwich is best known for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time...
was founded to relieve the sufferings of British seamen.
Nineteenth century navy
From the Battle of Trafalgar
Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars ....
in 1805 until the outbreak of the European War in 1914, Britain had an almost uncontested power over the world's oceans, and it was said that "Britannia ruled the waves". During the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
, there was increasing tension at sea between Britain and the United States, as American traders took advantage of their country's neutrality to trade with the French-controlled parts of Europe as well as with the British Isles. The Anglo-American War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
was characterised by single-ship actions and the disruption of merchant shipping.
Twentieth century navy
First Sea Lord
The First Sea Lord is the professional head of the Royal Navy and the whole Naval Service; it was formerly known as First Naval Lord. He also holds the title of Chief of Naval Staff, and is known by the abbreviations 1SL/CNS...
Jackie Fisher who retired, scrapped or placed in reserve many of the older vessels, making new funds and manpower available for newer ships. He saw the development of , the first all-big-gun ship and one of the most influential ships in naval history. This ship rendered all other battleship
Battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
s then existing obsolete, and indeed lent her name to an entire class of battleships, the dreadnought
Dreadnought
The dreadnought was the predominant type of 20th-century battleship. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's had such an impact when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her were referred to as "dreadnoughts", and earlier battleships became known as pre-dreadnoughts...
s. Admiral Percy Scott
Percy Scott
Admiral Sir Percy Moreton Scott, 1st Baronet GCB KCVO was a British Royal Navy officer and a pioneer in modern naval gunnery.-Early years:...
introduced new programmes such a gunnery training and central fire control
Fire control
control of fire 'control of fire' is the practice of reducing the heat output of a fire, or reducing the area over which the fire exists, or suppressing or extinguishing the fire by depriving a fire of fuel, oxygen or heat ....
which greatly increased the effectiveness in battle of the Navy's ships.
During the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
the Royal Navy played a vital role in escorting convoy
Convoy
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support, though it may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas.-Age of Sail:Naval...
s of food, arms and raw materials to Britain. It defeated the German
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
campaign of unrestricted submarine warfare
Unrestricted submarine warfare
Unrestricted submarine warfare is a type of naval warfare in which submarines sink merchantmen without warning, as opposed to attacks per prize rules...
and prevented the breakout of the German High Seas Fleet
High Seas Fleet
The High Seas Fleet was the battle fleet of the German Empire and saw action during World War I. The formation was created in February 1907, when the Home Fleet was renamed as the High Seas Fleet. Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz was the architect of the fleet; he envisioned a force powerful enough to...
. As well as tasks in the Atlantic it also carried out operations in the Baltic, Mediterranean and Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
.
In the inter-war years the Royal Navy was stripped of much of its power. The Washington Naval Treaty
Washington Naval Treaty
The Washington Naval Treaty, also known as the Five-Power Treaty, was an attempt to cap and limit, and "prevent 'further' costly escalation" of the naval arms race that had begun after World War I between various International powers, each of which had significant naval fleets. The treaty was...
of 1922, together with the deplorable financial conditions during the immediate post-war period and the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, forced the Admiralty to scrap some capital ship
Capital ship
The capital ships of a navy are its most important warships; they generally possess the heaviest firepower and armor and are traditionally much larger than other naval vessels...
s and to cancel plans for new construction. The London Naval Treaty
London Naval Treaty
The London Naval Treaty was an agreement between the United Kingdom, the Empire of Japan, France, Italy and the United States, signed on April 22, 1930, which regulated submarine warfare and limited naval shipbuilding. Ratifications were exchanged in London on October 27, 1930, and the treaty went...
of 1930 deferred new capital ship construction until 1937 and reiterated construction limits on cruiser
Cruiser
A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...
s, destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
s and submarines. As international tensions increased in the mid-thirties, the Second London Naval Treaty
Second London Naval Treaty
The Second London Naval Disarmament Conference opened in London, the United Kingdom, on 9 December 1935. It resulted in the Second London Naval Treaty which was signed on 25 March 1936.- Description :...
of 1936 failed to halt the development of a naval arms race
Arms race
The term arms race, in its original usage, describes a competition between two or more parties for the best armed forces. Each party competes to produce larger numbers of weapons, greater armies, or superior military technology in a technological escalation...
and by 1938 treaty limits were effectively ignored. The re-armament of the Royal Navy was well under way by this point; the Royal Navy had constructed the King George V class
King George V class battleship (1939)
The King George V-class battleships were the most modern British battleships used during World War II. Five ships of this class were built and commissioned: King George V , Prince of Wales , Duke of York , Howe , and Anson .The Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 limiting all of the number,...
of 1936 and several aircraft carriers including . In addition to new construction, several existing battleships, battlecruisers and heavy cruisers were re-constructed and new anti-aircraft
Anti-aircraft warfare
NATO defines air defence as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action." They include ground and air based weapon systems, associated sensor systems, command and control arrangements and passive measures. It may be to protect naval, ground and air forces...
weaponry reinforced. However, around this time the Imperial Japanese Navy
Imperial Japanese Navy
The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...
and the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
began to surpass the Royal Navy in power.
After the Second World War, the decline of the British Empire and economic hardships in Britain forced reduction in size and capability of the Royal Navy. The increasingly powerful United States Navy took on the former role of the Royal Navy as a means of keeping peace around the world. However, the treat of the Soviet Union created a new role for the Navy within NATO.
Frigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
s and destroyers. New, more modern units like the County class destroyers
County class destroyer
The County class was a class of guided missile destroyers, the first such vessels built by the Royal Navy. Designed specifically around the Sea Slug anti-aircraft missile system, the primary role of these ships was area air-defence around the aircraft carrier task force in the nuclear-war...
and Leander class frigates
Leander class frigate
The Leander class, or Type 12I frigates, comprising twenty-six vessels, was among the most numerous and long-lived classes of frigate in the Royal Navy's modern history. The class was built in three batches between 1959 and 1973...
began to enter service in the 1960s. At this time the Royal Navy received its first nuclear weapon
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
s and was to become responsible for the maintenance of the UK's nuclear deterrent.
However, a Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
government came into power and was determined to cut defence expenditure. After this the navy began to fall in size and by 1979 the last fleet carrier was scrapped. The navy was forced to make do with three much smaller Invincible class aircraft carriers
Invincible class aircraft carrier
The Invincible class is a class of light aircraft carrier operated by the British Royal Navy. Three ships were constructed, , and . The vessels were built as aviation-capable anti-submarine warfare platforms to counter the Cold War North Atlantic Soviet submarine threat, and initially embarked...
with Sea Harrier
BAE Sea Harrier
The British Aerospace Sea Harrier is a naval VTOL/STOVL jet fighter, reconnaissance and attack aircraft, a development of the Hawker Siddeley Harrier. It first entered service with the Royal Navy in April 1980 as the Sea Harrier FRS1 and became informally known as the "Shar"...
aircraft. The fleet was now centred around anti-submarine warfare in the North Atlantic. Further Defence Reviews have further cut the Royal Navy.
Although the Royal Navy has significantly reduced in size since the 1960s, reflecting the reduced requirements of the state, this does not take into account the increase in technological capability of the Navy's ships. The navy is responsible for the British strategic nuclear deterrent. It concentrates on anti-submarine warfare
Anti-submarine warfare
Anti-submarine warfare is a branch of naval warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, or other submarines to find, track and deter, damage or destroy enemy submarines....
and mine countermeasures as part of NATO.
The Navy Board
The Navy BoardNavy Board
The Navy Board is today the body responsible for the day-to-day running of the British Royal Navy. Its composition is identical to that of the Admiralty Board of the Defence Council of the United Kingdom, except that it does not include any of Her Majesty's Ministers.From 1546 to 1831, the Navy...
was responsible for providing the ships and the men to man them, including Warrant Officer
Warrant Officer
A warrant officer is an officer in a military organization who is designated an officer by a warrant, as distinguished from a commissioned officer who is designated an officer by a commission, or from non-commissioned officer who is designated an officer by virtue of seniority.The rank was first...
s. The Impress Service recruited volunteers but also took many against their will. After 1740 the Admiralty gained control over the Navy Board.
Ministry of Defence
In 1964 the Admiralty and the Navy Board became part of the integrated Ministry of DefenceMinistry of Defence (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....
. This included the Fleet Air Arm
Fleet Air Arm
The Fleet Air Arm is the branch of the British Royal Navy responsible for the operation of naval aircraft. The Fleet Air Arm currently operates the AgustaWestland Merlin, Westland Sea King and Westland Lynx helicopters...
.
American Wars
During the American RevolutionAmerican Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
, a primitive submarine tried and failed to sink a British warship, the flagship
Flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...
of the blockers, in New York City harbour in 1776. John Paul Jones
John Paul Jones
John Paul Jones was a Scottish sailor and the United States' first well-known naval fighter in the American Revolutionary War. Although he made enemies among America's political elites, his actions in British waters during the Revolution earned him an international reputation which persists to...
attacked British shipping in the Irish Sea and also the towns of Whitehaven
Whitehaven
Whitehaven is a small town and port on the coast of Cumbria, England, which lies equidistant between the county's two largest settlements, Carlisle and Barrow-in-Furness, and is served by the Cumbrian Coast Line and the A595 road...
and Kirkcudbright
Kirkcudbright
Kirkcudbright, is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.The town lies south of Castle Douglas and Dalbeattie, in the part of Dumfries and Galloway known as the Stewartry, at the mouth of the River Dee, some six miles from the sea...
. In the Anglo-American War of 1812, an unsuccessful submarine attack was made on a British warship stationed in New London
New London, Connecticut
New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States.It is located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, southeastern Connecticut....
harbour.
French Revolutionary/Napoleonic Wars
In 1793 France declared war on Britain. The next 12 years saw many battles such as that at Cape St. VincentCape St. Vincent
Cape St. Vincent , next to the Sagres Point, on the so-called Costa Vicentina , is a headland in the municipality of Sagres, in the Algarve, southern Portugal.- Description :This cape is the southwesternmost point in Portugal...
and at the Battle of the Nile
Battle of the Nile
The Battle of the Nile was a major naval battle fought between British and French fleets at Aboukir Bay on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt from 1–3 August 1798...
, and short-lived truces such as the Treaty of Amiens
Treaty of Amiens
The Treaty of Amiens temporarily ended hostilities between the French Republic and the United Kingdom during the French Revolutionary Wars. It was signed in the city of Amiens on 25 March 1802 , by Joseph Bonaparte and the Marquess Cornwallis as a "Definitive Treaty of Peace"...
. The height of the Royal Navy's achievements came on 21 October 1805 at the Battle of Trafalgar
Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars ....
, where a numerically smaller but more experienced British fleet under the command of Lord Horatio Nelson
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronté, KB was a flag officer famous for his service in the Royal Navy, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. He was noted for his inspirational leadership and superb grasp of strategy and unconventional tactics, which resulted in a number of...
decisively defeated a combined French and Spanish fleet.
Maritime events of World War I
At the start of the war the German EmpireGerman Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
had cruisers scattered across the globe. Some of them were subsequently used to attack Allied merchant shipping. The Royal Navy systematically hunted them down, though not without some embarrassment from its inability to protect Allied shipping. For example, the detached light cruiser
Light cruiser
A light cruiser is a type of small- or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck...
Emden, part of the East-Asia squadron
German East Asia Squadron
The German East Asia Squadron was a German Navy cruiser squadron which operated mainly in the Pacific Ocean between the 1870s and 1914...
stationed at Qingdao
Qingdao
' also known in the West by its postal map spelling Tsingtao, is a major city with a population of over 8.715 million in eastern Shandong province, Eastern China. Its built up area, made of 7 urban districts plus Jimo city, is home to about 4,346,000 inhabitants in 2010.It borders Yantai to the...
, seized or destroyed 15 merchantmen as well as sinking a Russian cruiser and a French destroyer. However, the bulk of the East-Asia squadron
Squadron (naval)
A squadron, or naval squadron, is a unit of 3-4 major warships, transport ships, submarines, or sometimes small craft that may be part of a larger task force or a fleet...
- consisting of the armoured cruisers Scharnhorst
SMS Scharnhorst
SMS Scharnhorst was an armored cruiser of the Imperial German Navy, built at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg, Germany. She was the lead ship of her class, which also included her sister . Scharnhorst and her sister were enlarged versions of the preceding ; they were equipped with a greater...
and Gneiseau
SMS Gneisenau
SMS Gneisenau was an armored cruiser of the German navy, part of the two-ship . She was named after August von Gneisenau, a Prussian general of the Napoleonic Wars. The ship was laid down in 1904 at the AG Weser dockyard in Bremen, launched in June 1906, and completed in March 1908, at a cost of...
, light cruisers Nürnberg
SMS Nürnberg (1906)
SMS Nürnberg, named after the Bavarian city of Nuremberg, was a Königsberg class light cruiser of 3,450 tons laid down in 1905 and launched in 1907. Nürnberg's was similar in both size and appearance to the famous , differing mainly in its uneven funnel spacing. She was armed with ten guns, eight...
, Leipzig
SMS Leipzig
SMS Leipzig was a Bremen class light cruiser, of the German Imperial Navy. It was named after the German city of Leipzig.The ship was stationed off the west coast of Mexico at the outbreak of war in 1914...
, and Dresden and two transport ships
Troopship
A troopship is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime...
- did not have orders to raid shipping and was instead underway to Germany when it was defeated by the British at the Battle of the Falkland Islands
Battle of the Falkland Islands
The Battle of the Falkland Islands was a British naval victory over the Imperial German Navy on 8 December 1914 during the First World War in the South Atlantic...
in December 1914, with only Dresden escaping destruction.
Battle of Jutland
The Battle of Jutland was a naval battle between the British Royal Navy's Grand Fleet and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet during the First World War. The battle was fought on 31 May and 1 June 1916 in the North Sea near Jutland, Denmark. It was the largest naval battle and the only...
was the major sea battle of the First World War. Although the British Grand Fleet suffered greater losses than the German High Seas Fleet
High Seas Fleet
The High Seas Fleet was the battle fleet of the German Empire and saw action during World War I. The formation was created in February 1907, when the Home Fleet was renamed as the High Seas Fleet. Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz was the architect of the fleet; he envisioned a force powerful enough to...
, the latter withdrew to port and the British retained control of the North Sea.
Soon after the outbreak of hostilities the British initiated a Naval Blockade of Germany, preventing supplies from reaching its ports. The strategy proved effective, cutting off vital military and civilian supplies, though this blockade
Blockade
A blockade is an effort to cut off food, supplies, war material or communications from a particular area by force, either in part or totally. A blockade should not be confused with an embargo or sanctions, which are legal barriers to trade, and is distinct from a siege in that a blockade is usually...
violated generally accepted international law
International law
Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...
codified by several international agreements of the past two centuries. A blockade of stationed ships within a three mile (5 km) radius was considered legitimate, however Britain mined international waters
International waters
The terms international waters or trans-boundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed regional seas and estuaries, rivers, lakes, groundwater systems , and wetlands.Oceans,...
to prevent any ships from entering entire sections of ocean, causing danger to neutral ships. Since there was limited response to this tactic, Germany expected a similar response to its unrestricted submarine warfare.
German U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
s attempted to cut the supply lines between North America and Britain during the First Battle of the Atlantic. The nature of submarine warfare meant that attacks often came without warning, giving the crews of the merchant ships little hope of survival. The United States launched a protest and Germany modified its rules of engagement. After the infamous sinking of the passenger ship RMS Lusitania
RMS Lusitania
RMS Lusitania was a British ocean liner designed by Leonard Peskett and built by John Brown and Company of Clydebank, Scotland. The ship entered passenger service with the Cunard Line on 26 August 1907 and continued on the line's heavily-traveled passenger service between Liverpool, England and New...
in 1915, Germany promised not to target passenger liners. Britain armed its merchant ships. Finally in early 1917 Germany adopted a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare, realizing the Americans would eventually enter the war. Germany sought to strangle Allied
Allies of World War I
The Entente Powers were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The members of the Triple Entente were the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire; Italy entered the war on their side in 1915...
sea lane
Sea lane
A sea lane or shipping lane is a regularly used route for ocean-going and Great Lakes vessels. In the time of sailing ships they were not only determined by the distribution of land masses but also the prevailing winds, whose discovery was crucial for the success of long voyages...
s before the US could transport a large army overseas.
The U-boat threat lessened in 1917 when merchant ships travelled in convoys escorted by destroyers. This tactic made it difficult for U-boats to find targets. The accompanying destroyers might sink a submerged submarine with depth charge
Depth charge
A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare weapon intended to destroy or cripple a target submarine by the shock of exploding near it. Most use explosives and a fuze set to go off at a preselected depth in the ocean. Depth charges can be dropped by either surface ships, patrol aircraft, or from...
s. The losses to submarine attacks were reduced significantly, but the convoys system slowed the flow of supplies. The solution to the delays was a massive programme to build new freighters. Troop ships were too fast for the submarines and did not travel the North Atlantic in convoys. The First World War also saw the first use of aircraft carriers in combat, with launching Sopwith Camel
Sopwith Camel
The Sopwith Camel was a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter introduced on the Western Front in 1917. Manufactured by Sopwith Aviation Company, it had a short-coupled fuselage, heavy, powerful rotary engine, and concentrated fire from twin synchronized machine guns. Though difficult...
s in a successful raid against Zeppelin
Zeppelin
A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship pioneered by the German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin in the early 20th century. It was based on designs he had outlined in 1874 and detailed in 1893. His plans were reviewed by committee in 1894 and patented in the United States on 14 March 1899...
hangars at Todern in July 1918.
Maritime events of World War II
In the North Atlantic, GermanNazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
U-boats again attempted to cut supply lines to Britain by sinking merchant ships. In the first four months of the war they sank more than 110 vessels. In addition to supply ships, the U-boats occasionally attacked British and Canadian warships. One U-boat sank the British carrier while another managed to sink the battleship at her home anchorage of Scapa Flow
Scapa Flow
right|thumb|Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern endScapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay and Hoy. It is about...
.
In the early stages of the war the Royal Navy placed much faith in ASDIC (an early form of active sonar
Sonar
Sonar is a technique that uses sound propagation to navigate, communicate with or detect other vessels...
) to detect submerged U-boats but the Germans countered this by the use of the "wolfpack" which attacked on the surface at night. To form this pack, the U-boats communicated to their base by radio, to coordinate the action of several U-boats. The British eventually broke the German Naval code
Enigma machine
An Enigma machine is any of a family of related electro-mechanical rotor cipher machines used for the encryption and decryption of secret messages. Enigma was invented by German engineer Arthur Scherbius at the end of World War I...
, which allowed this tactic to be defeated. The Germans then switched to attacking shipping off the American coast.
Deutschland class cruiser
The Deutschland class was a series of three panzerschiffe , a form of heavily armed cruiser, built by the Reichsmarine officially in accordance with restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles...
(German pocket battleship) Admiral Graf Spee in December 1939 and the battleship in 1941. However the threat caused by the was only countered later after many attacks. The Royal Navy suffered significant losses in the early stages of the war including the battlecruisers , which had been sunk by Bismarck, and and the battleship , both of which were sunk by Japanese bombers in late 1941
Sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse
The sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse was a Second World War naval engagement that took place north of Singapore, off the east coast of Malaya, near Kuantan, Pahang where the British Royal Navy battleship HMS Prince of Wales and battlecruiser HMS Repulse were sunk by land-based bombers and...
.
The Royal Navy provided critical cover for the British and French troops during the Dunkirk evacuation and rescued the bulk of the troops, the remainder being evacuated by a fleet of small ships. Later the Navy provided cover for the Dieppe Raid
Dieppe Raid
The Dieppe Raid, also known as the Battle of Dieppe, Operation Rutter or later on Operation Jubilee, during the Second World War, was an Allied attack on the German-occupied port of Dieppe on the northern coast of France on 19 August 1942. The assault began at 5:00 AM and by 10:50 AM the Allied...
catastrophe, that saw 3,623 of the 6,086 men who made it ashore killed, wounded, or captured.
In the summer of 1941, the Soviet Union entered the war on the side of Britain. Although the Soviets had tremendous reserves in manpower, they had lost much of their equipment and manufacturing base in the first few weeks following the German invasion. The Allies attempted to remedy this by sending Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
convoys, which travelled from Britain and later the United States to the northern ports of the Soviet Union, Arkhangelsk
Arkhangelsk
Arkhangelsk , formerly known as Archangel in English, is a city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina River near its exit into the White Sea in the north of European Russia. The city spreads for over along the banks of the river...
(Archangel) and Murmansk
Murmansk
Murmansk is a city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast, Russia. It serves as a seaport and is located in the extreme northwest part of Russia, on the Kola Bay, from the Barents Sea on the northern shore of the Kola Peninsula, not far from Russia's borders with Norway and Finland...
. The treacherous route around the North Cape of Norway
North Cape, Norway
North Cape is a cape on the island of Magerøya in Northern Norway, in the municipality of Nordkapp. Its 307 m high, steep cliff is often referred to as the northernmost point of Europe, located at , 2102.3 km from the North Pole. However, the neighbouring point Knivskjellodden is actually...
was the site of many battles as the Germans continually tried to disrupt the convoys using U-boats, bombers and surface ships.
Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
was an important base for attacking the Axis
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
supply lines to North Africa. Submarines, aircraft and surface ships were used from Maltese bases. In 1941 "Force K
Force K
Force K was the designation for three British Royal Navy task forces during World War II. The first Force K operated from West Africa in 1939. The second and third Force Ks operated from Malta in 1941-1943.-First Force K:...
" was based in Malta which caused the Italians
Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)
The Kingdom of Italy was a state forged in 1861 by the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was its legal predecessor state...
to suspend their convoys but the Germans insisted that they be resumed. Force K ran into a minefield
Naval mine
A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, an enemy vessel...
and warships were also lost by attacks by U-boats and human torpedo
Human torpedo
Human torpedoes or manned torpedoes are a type of rideable submarine used as secret naval weapons in World War II. The basic design is still in use today; they are a type of diver propulsion vehicle....
es. Axis aircraft attacked Allied
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
supply convoys to Malta and the situation became desperate. Eventually in 1942 "Operation Pedestal
Operation Pedestal
Operation Pedestal was a British operation to get desperately needed supplies to the island of Malta in August 1942, during the Second World War. Malta was the base from which surface ships, submarines and aircraft attacked Axis convoys carrying essential supplies to the Italian and German armies...
", 14 ships with a large escort was sent. However only 5 ships got through and many escorts were lost. The renewed attacks by the submarine force prevented full use of the Axis held port of Tobruk
Tobruk
Tobruk or Tubruq is a city, seaport, and peninsula on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near the border with Egypt. It is the capital of the Butnan District and has a population of 120,000 ....
and eventually to victory in North Africa. Gibraltar
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
was also an important naval base, as was Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
.
In late 1941 Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
tried to prevent Japanese
Empire of Japan
The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...
aggression against British territories in the Far East by sending a naval deterrent called "Force Z". The Royal Navy could only spare one new battleship, HMS Prince of Wales, an old battlecruiser
Battlecruiser
Battlecruisers were large capital ships built in the first half of the 20th century. They were developed in the first decade of the century as the successor to the armoured cruiser, but their evolution was more closely linked to that of the dreadnought battleship...
HMS Repulse and the carrier . The latter hit an uncharted rock and was put out of action but Churchill insisted on the other two ships being sent. They arrived at Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
on 2 December 1941. A day after the attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
, the ships with escorting destroyers sailed to attack Japanese transports. They were spotted by reconnaissance aircraft
Surveillance aircraft
A surveillance aircraft is an aircraft used for surveillance — collecting information over time. They are operated by military forces and other government agencies in roles such as intelligence gathering, battlefield surveillance, airspace surveillance, observation , border patrol and fishery...
and eventually sunk by torpedoes from planes.
The turning point in the "Second Battle of the Atlantic" was in early 1943 as the Allies refined their naval tactics, making effective use of new technology to counter the U-boats. The Allies produced ships faster that they were sunk and lost fewer ships by re-adopting the convoy system. Improved anti-submarine warfare meant that the life expectancy of a typical U-boat crew would be measured in months. The vastly improved Type 21 U-boat appeared at the end of the war but was too late to affect the outcome. In December 1943 the last major sea battle between the Royal Navy and the Kriegsmarine
Kriegsmarine
The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...
(War navy) took place. At the "Battle of North Cape
Battle of North Cape
The Battle of the North Cape was a Second World War naval battle which occurred on 26 December 1943, as part of the Arctic Campaign. The German battlecruiser , on an operation to attack Arctic Convoys of war materiel from the Western Allies to the USSR, was brought to battle and sunk by superior...
" Germany's battleship Scharnhorst was sunk by , and several destroyers.
For the D-Day
D-Day
D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...
landings in 1944 the Royal Navy provided most of the warships and three-quarters of the landing craft. After the German surrender, a force was sent to the Pacific Ocean to attack the Japanese.
Post War Operations
Falklands War
The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...
" was fought in 1982 between Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
and Britain over the disputed Falkland Islands
Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located about from the coast of mainland South America. The archipelago consists of East Falkland, West Falkland and 776 lesser islands. The capital, Stanley, is on East Falkland...
, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is a British overseas territory and overseas territory of the European Union in the southern Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote and inhospitable collection of islands, consisting of South Georgia and a chain of smaller islands, known as the South Sandwich...
. Britain was initially taken by surprise by the Argentine attack on the South Atlantic islands, but launched a naval task force
Task force
A task force is a unit or formation established to work on a single defined task or activity. Originally introduced by the United States Navy, the term has now caught on for general usage and is a standard part of NATO terminology...
to engage the Argentine Navy
Argentine Navy
The Navy of the Argentine Republic or Armada of the Argentine Republic is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the Army and the Air Force....
and Air Force
Argentine Air Force
The Argentine Air Force is the national aviation branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic. , it had 14,606 military and 6,854 civilian staff.-History:...
, and to retake the islands by amphibious assault
Amphibious warfare
Amphibious warfare is the use of naval firepower, logistics and strategy to project military power ashore. In previous eras it stood as the primary method of delivering troops to non-contiguous enemy-held terrain...
. The Navy disabled one Argentine submarine, the Santa Fe, in South Georgia and sank the light cruiser General Belgrano
ARA General Belgrano
The ARA General Belgrano was an Argentine Navy light cruiser in service from 1951 until 1982. Formerly the , she saw action in the Pacific theater of World War II before being sold to Argentina. After almost 31 years of service, she was sunk during the Falklands War by the Royal Navy submarine ...
but lost a number of ships due to air attack. Another Argentine submarine tried to attack the task force but was held off by the British anti-submarine warfare. The assault force was landed at San Carlos Water
San Carlos Water
Not to be confused with the San Carlos River.San Carlos Water is a bay/fjord on the west coast of East Falkland, facing onto the Falkland Sound.-Name:...
in the Falklands. The British eventually prevailed and the islands returned to British control.
The Royal Navy took part in the 1990 Gulf War
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
, the Kosovo War
Kosovo War
The term Kosovo War or Kosovo conflict was two sequential, and at times parallel, armed conflicts in Kosovo province, then part of FR Yugoslav Republic of Serbia; from early 1998 to 1999, there was an armed conflict initiated by the ethnic Albanian "Kosovo Liberation Army" , who sought independence...
, the Afghanistan War
War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
The War in Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001, as the armed forces of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Afghan United Front launched Operation Enduring Freedom...
and the 2003 Iraq War. In August 2005 the Royal Navy rescued seven Russians stranded in a submarine off the Kamchatka Peninsula
Kamchatka Peninsula
The Kamchatka Peninsula is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of . It lies between the Pacific Ocean to the east and the Sea of Okhotsk to the west...
. Using its Scopio 45 remote-controlled mini-sub, the Russian submarine was freed from the fishing nets and cables that had held the submarine for three days.
Charles Hardy
Charles HardyCharles Hardy
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Charles Hardy was a Royal Navy officer and colonial governor of New York.-Early career:Born at Portsmouth, the son of a vice admiral, Charles Hardy joined the Royal Navy as a volunteer in 1731....
was a British naval officer and colonial governor. He was appointed governor and commander-in-chief of the British colony of Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...
in 1744. In 1758 he and James Wolfe
James Wolfe
Major General James P. Wolfe was a British Army officer, known for his training reforms but remembered chiefly for his victory over the French in Canada...
attacked French posts around the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River
Saint Lawrence River
The Saint Lawrence is a large river flowing approximately from southwest to northeast in the middle latitudes of North America, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. It is the primary drainage conveyor of the Great Lakes Basin...
and destroyed all of the French fishing stations along the northern shores of what is now New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
and along the Gaspé Peninsula
Gaspé Peninsula
The Gaspésie , or Gaspé Peninsula or the Gaspé, is a peninsula along the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River in Quebec, Canada, extending into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence...
.
Augustus Keppel
Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount KeppelAugustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel
Admiral Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel PC was an officer of the Royal Navy during the Seven Years' War and the War of American Independence...
was a British admiral
Admiral (United Kingdom)
Admiral is a senior rank of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, which equates to the NATO rank code OF-9, outranked only by the rank Admiral of the Fleet...
who held sea command during the Seven Years' War
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...
and during the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
. In the final years of the latter conflict he served as First Lord of the Admiralty. During the Seven Years War he had seen constant service. He was in North America in 1755, on the coast of France in 1756, was dispatched on a cruise to reduce the French settlements on the west coast of Africa in 1758 and his ship was the first to get into action at the Battle of Quiberon Bay
Battle of Quiberon Bay
The naval Battle of Quiberon Bay took place on 20 November 1759 during the Seven Years' War in Quiberon Bay, off the coast of France near St. Nazaire...
in 1759. In 1757 he had formed part of the court-martial
Court-martial
A court-martial is a military court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the armed forces subject to military law, and, if the defendant is found guilty, to decide upon punishment.Most militaries maintain a court-martial system to try cases in which a breach of...
that had condemned Admiral John Byng
John Byng
Admiral John Byng was a Royal Navy officer. After joining the navy at the age of thirteen he participated at the Battle of Cape Passaro in 1718. Over the next thirty years he built up a reputation as a solid naval officer and received promotion to Vice-Admiral in 1747...
, but was active among others who endeavoured to secure a pardon for him. However, neither he nor those who had acted with him could produce any serious reason why the sentence should not be carried out. When Spain joined France in 1762 he was sent as second in command with Sir George Peacock
George Peacock
George Peacock was an English mathematician.-Life:Peacock was born on 9 April 1791 at Thornton Hall, Denton, near Darlington, County Durham. His father, the Rev. Thomas Peacock, was a clergyman of the Church of England, incumbent and for 50 years curate of the parish of Denton, where he also kept...
in the expedition which took Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
. His health suffered from the fever which carried off an immense proportion of the soldiers and sailors, but the £25,000 of prize money which he received freed him from the unpleasant position of a younger son of a family ruined by the extravagance of his father.
Edward Hawke
Edward Hawke, 1st Baron HawkeEdward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke
Admiral of the Fleet Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke KB, PC was an officer of the Royal Navy. He is best remembered for his service during the Seven Years' War, particularly his victory over a French fleet at the Battle of Quiberon Bay in 1759, preventing a French invasion of Britain...
was a naval officer of the Royal Navy. During the War of the Austrian Succession
War of the Austrian Succession
The War of the Austrian Succession – including King George's War in North America, the Anglo-Spanish War of Jenkins' Ear, and two of the three Silesian wars – involved most of the powers of Europe over the question of Maria Theresa's succession to the realms of the House of Habsburg.The...
he was promoted to Rear admiral
Rear Admiral
Rear admiral is a naval commissioned officer rank above that of a commodore and captain, and below that of a vice admiral. It is generally regarded as the lowest of the "admiral" ranks, which are also sometimes referred to as "flag officers" or "flag ranks"...
. In the Seven Years War Hawke replaced Admiral John Byng as commander in the Mediterranean.
Richard Howe
Richard Howe, 1st Earl HoweRichard Howe, 1st Earl Howe
Admiral of the Fleet Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe KG was a British naval officer, notable in particular for his service during the American War of Independence and French Revolutionary Wars. He was the brother of William Howe and George Howe.Howe joined the navy at the age of thirteen and served...
was a British admiral. During the rebellion in North America, Howe was known to be sympathetic to the colonists. He had in prior years sought the acquaintance of Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
, who was a friend of Howe's sister, a popular lady in London society. During his career Howe displayed an uncommon tactical originality. His performance was unexcelled even by Nelson who, like Howe's other successors, was served by more highly trained squadrons and benefitted from Howe's concepts.
Horatio Nelson
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount NelsonHoratio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronté, KB was a flag officer famous for his service in the Royal Navy, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. He was noted for his inspirational leadership and superb grasp of strategy and unconventional tactics, which resulted in a number of...
was a British admiral who was famous for his participation in the sea battles of the Napoleonic Wars, most notably at the Battle of Trafalgar
Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars ....
a decisive British victory where he lost his life. He was born in 1758 in Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
and in 1771 joined . By the time he was 20 he had been to the Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
, the Indies
Indies
The Indies is a term that has been used to describe the lands of South and Southeast Asia, occupying all of the present India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and also Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Brunei, Singapore, the Philippines, East Timor, Malaysia and...
and the Caribbean. He was appointed Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
in 1777, Post-Captain
Post-Captain
Post-captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of captain in the Royal Navy.The term served to distinguish those who were captains by rank from:...
in 1779 and Commodore
Commodore (Royal Navy)
Commodore is a rank of the Royal Navy above Captain and below Rear Admiral. It has a NATO ranking code of OF-6. The rank is equivalent to Brigadier in the British Army and Royal Marines and to Air Commodore in the Royal Air Force.-Insignia:...
in 1796. He took part in the campaign in Corsica
Corsica
Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....
in 1794 where he lost his right eye. In 1797 he was at the battle of Cape St. Vincent
Cape St. Vincent
Cape St. Vincent , next to the Sagres Point, on the so-called Costa Vicentina , is a headland in the municipality of Sagres, in the Algarve, southern Portugal.- Description :This cape is the southwesternmost point in Portugal...
at which he was promoted Rear Admiral of the Blue. That year he lost his right arm after the raid on Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz de Tenerife
Santa Cruz de Tenerife is the capital , second-most populous city of the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands and the 21st largest city in Spain, with a population of 222,417 in 2009...
, Tenerife
Tenerife
Tenerife is the largest and most populous island of the seven Canary Islands, it is also the most populated island of Spain, with a land area of 2,034.38 km² and 906,854 inhabitants, 43% of the total population of the Canary Islands. About five million tourists visit Tenerife each year, the...
and was knighted. In 1798 he fought the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile
Battle of the Nile
The Battle of the Nile was a major naval battle fought between British and French fleets at Aboukir Bay on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt from 1–3 August 1798...
in Abu Qir Bay
Abu Qir Bay
The Abū Qīr Bay is a spacious bay on the Mediterranean Sea in Egypt, lying between Abu Qir and the Rosetta mouth of the Nile. It contains a natural gas field, discovered in the 1970s.On August 1, 1798, Horatio Nelson fought the Battle of the Nile, often referred to as the "Battle of Aboukir Bay"...
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
and was given the title "Baron of the Nile".
Nelson was noted for his considerable ability to inspire and bring out the best in his men, to the point that it gained a name "The Nelson Touch". His actions during these battles meant that before and after his death he was revered like few military figures have been throughout British history. Alexander Davidson was a contemporary and close friend of Nelson and is responsible for several acts that glorified Nelson's public image. These included the creation of a medal commemorating the victory at the Battle of Trafalgar and the creation of the Nelson Memorial
Nelson Memorial, Swarland
A relatively obscure memorial to Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, victor of the Battle of Trafalgar, is situated by the old A1 , at Swarland in north Northumberland, England...
at his estate in Swarland
Swarland
Swarland is a small modern village in the county of Northumberland, England, situated about south of the market town of Alnwick and north of the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. Swarland's 'village rival' is Felton.- History :...
, Northumberland
Northumberland
Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...
. As a close friend of the Admiral he acted as an intermediary when Nelson's marriage to his wife Frances Nelson fell apart due in large part to his affair with Emma Hamilton
Emma, Lady Hamilton
Emma, Lady Hamilton is best remembered as the mistress of Lord Nelson and as the muse of George Romney. She was born Amy Lyon in Ness near Neston, Cheshire, England, the daughter of a blacksmith, Henry Lyon, who died when she was two months old...
.
Hyde Parker
In 1778 Sir Hyde Parker was engaged in the SavannahSavannah, Georgia
Savannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important...
expedition, and in the following year his ship was wrecked on the hostile Cuban coast. His men, however, entrenched themselves and in the end were brought off safely. Parker was with his father, Sir Hyde Parker, 5th Baronet
Sir Hyde Parker, 5th Baronet
Vice-Admiral Sir Hyde Parker, 5th Baronet was a British naval commander.Parker was born at Tredington, Gloucestershire. His father, a clergyman, was a son of Sir Henry Parker. His paternal grandfather had married a daughter of Alexander Hyde, Bishop of Salisbury. He began his career at sea in the...
at the Dogger Bank
Dogger Bank
Dogger Bank is a large sandbank in a shallow area of the North Sea about off the east coast of England. It extends over approximately , with its dimensions being about long and up to broad. The water depth ranges from 15 to 36 metres , about shallower than the surrounding sea. It is a...
and with Richard Howe in the two actions in the Strait of Gibraltar
Strait of Gibraltar
The Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Spain in Europe from Morocco in Africa. The name comes from Gibraltar, which in turn originates from the Arabic Jebel Tariq , albeit the Arab name for the Strait is Bab el-Zakat or...
. In 1793, having just become Rear Admiral, he served under Sir Samuel Hood at Toulon
Toulon
Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence....
and in Corsica. Two years later, now a Vice Admiral
Vice Admiral
Vice admiral is a senior naval rank of a three-star flag officer, which is equivalent to lieutenant general in the other uniformed services. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral...
, he took part under William Hotham
William Hotham, 1st Baron Hotham
Admiral William Hotham, 1st Baron Hotham was an officer in the Royal Navy. He was the son of Sir Beaumont Hotham , a lineal descendant of Sir John Hotham....
in the indecisive fleet actions in 1795. From 1796 to 1800 he was in command at Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
and ably conducted the operations in the West Indies.
Edward Pellew
Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount ExmouthEdward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth
Admiral Sir Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, GCB was a British naval officer. He fought during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary, and the Napoleonic Wars...
, was a British naval officer who fought during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary War and the Napoleonic Wars. Pellegrew is remembered as an officer and gentleman, earning his land and titles through courage, leadership and skill - serving as a paradigm of the versatility and determination of naval officers during the Napoleonic Wars.
James Saumarez
James Saumarez, 1st Baron de SaumarezJames Saumarez, 1st Baron de Saumarez
Admiral James Saumarez, 1st Baron de Saumarez , GCB was an admiral of the British Royal Navy, notable for his victory at the Battle of Algeciras.-Early life:...
was an admiral of the Royal Navy, notable for his victory at the Battle of Algeciras Bay
Battle of Algeciras Bay
The Battle of Algeciras Bay refers to two separate battles in July 1801 between an allied French-Spanish fleet and the British near Gibraltar. In the first battle, the French drove off an attack by the larger British fleet and captured one ship of the line...
. In 1801 he was raised to the rank of Rear Admiral of the Blue, was created a baronet and received the command of a small squadron which was destined to watch the movements of the Spanish fleet at Cádiz
Cádiz
Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....
. Between the 6 and 12 of July he performed a brilliant piece of service, in which after a first repulse at Algeciras
Algeciras
Algeciras is a port city in the south of Spain, and is the largest city on the Bay of Gibraltar . Port of Algeciras is one of the largest ports in Europe and in the world in three categories: container,...
he routed a much superior combined force of French and Spanish ships at the Battle of Algeciras Bay. For his services Saumarez received the Order of the Bath
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
and the Freedom of the City of London.
William Dampier
William DampierWilliam Dampier
William Dampier was an English buccaneer, sea captain, author and scientific observer...
made voyages from Weymouth to Newfoundland, Java
Java
Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...
, Jamaica and Honduras
Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
. From his experiences he wrote a book A New Voyage Around The World that was much admired and resulted in his command of the first voyage of exploration organised by the Admiralty. He reached Australia but found no wealth so it was not a success. Dampier later took up privateering and rescued Alexander Selkirk
Alexander Selkirk
Alexander Selkirk was a Scottish sailor who spent four years as a castaway when he was marooned on an uninhabited island. It is probable that his travels provided the inspiration for Daniel Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe....
, which was the basis for Treasure Island
Treasure Island
Treasure Island is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of "pirates and buried gold". First published as a book on May 23, 1883, it was originally serialized in the children's magazine Young Folks between 1881–82 under the title Treasure Island; or, the...
.
James Cook
James CookJames Cook
Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...
was born in Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
in 1728. Having worked in a shop, he decided that a life at sea was what he wanted and he became apprenticed to a firm of Whitby
Whitby
Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a combined maritime, mineral and tourist heritage, and is home to the ruins of Whitby Abbey where Caedmon, the...
coal shippers. He then joined the navy as a seaman and worked his way up to command. The Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
wanted to observe the transit of Venus
Transit of Venus
A transit of Venus across the Sun takes place when the planet Venus passes directly between the Sun and Earth, becoming visible against the solar disk. During a transit, Venus can be seen from Earth as a small black disk moving across the face of the Sun...
due in June 1769 and to find the supposed southern continent. They persuaded the Admiralty to provide a ship and James Cook, a navigator who had prepared charts of the St Lawrence river. For the voyage Cook chose the HM Bark Endeavour
HMS Endeavour
HMS Endeavour may refer to one of the following ships:In the Royal Navy:, a 36-gun ship purchased in 1652 and sold in 1656, a 4-gun bomb vessel purchased in 1694 and sold in 1696, a fire ship purchased in 1694 and sold in 1696, a storeship hoy purchased in 1694 and sold in 1705, a storeship...
which was a Whitby collier
Collier (ship type)
Collier is a historical term used to describe a bulk cargo ship designed to carry coal, especially for naval use by coal-fired warships. In the late 18th century a number of wooden-hulled sailing colliers gained fame after being adapted for use in voyages of exploration in the South Pacific, for...
. It was adapted in the Royal Navy Dockyard
Royal Navy Dockyard
Royal Navy Dockyards are harbours where either commissioned ships are based, or where ships are overhauled and refitted. Historically, the Royal Navy maintained a string of dockyards around the world, although few are now operating today....
at Deptford
Deptford
Deptford is a district of south London, England, located on the south bank of the River Thames. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne, and from the mid 16th century to the late 19th was home to Deptford Dockyard, the first of the Royal Navy Dockyards.Deptford and the docks are...
, and scientific instruments for observing the transit were loaded. Accompanying Cook were the astronomer Dr Green, a botanist Joseph Banks
Joseph Banks
Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, GCB, PRS was an English naturalist, botanist and patron of the natural sciences. He took part in Captain James Cook's first great voyage . Banks is credited with the introduction to the Western world of eucalyptus, acacia, mimosa and the genus named after him,...
and two artists. The Endeavour sailed around Cape Horn
Cape Horn
Cape Horn is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island...
to Tahiti
Tahiti
Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...
, then to New Zealand and finally to Australia. After a year at home, Cook took two colliers, and , to the Antarctic and then to Tahiti
Tahiti
Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...
, testing the new timekeeper of John Harrison
John Harrison
John Harrison was a self-educated English clockmaker. He invented the marine chronometer, a long-sought device in solving the problem of establishing the East-West position or longitude of a ship at sea, thus revolutionising and extending the possibility of safe long distance sea travel in the Age...
. He made a third voyage, to try and find the Northwest Passage
Northwest Passage
The Northwest Passage is a sea route through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways amidst the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans...
, with Resolution and . After encountering ice he turned back to Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
. There he was treated as a god but on leaving was forced to return. When Cook tried to take the king hostage, because of the theft of a ship's boat, he was killed on 14 February 1779.
George Vancouver
George VancouverGeorge Vancouver
Captain George Vancouver RN was an English officer of the British Royal Navy, best known for his 1791-95 expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of contemporary Alaska, British Columbia, Washington and Oregon...
was born in King's Lynn
King's Lynn
King's Lynn is a sea port and market town in the ceremonial county of Norfolk in the East of England. It is situated north of London and west of Norwich. The population of the town is 42,800....
in 1757. He became a captain in the Royal Navy and carried out surveys of the west coast of America, using a different ship also called the , of Australia and New Zealand. Both the city of Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
and Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island is a large island in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several North American locations named after George Vancouver, the British Royal Navy officer who explored the Pacific Northwest coast of North America between 1791 and 1794...
are named after him. He also negotiated agreements with the king of Hawaii but died at the age of 40.
Admiral Anson
George Anson, 1st Baron AnsonGeorge Anson, 1st Baron Anson
Admiral of the Fleet George Anson, 1st Baron Anson PC, FRS, RN was a British admiral and a wealthy aristocrat, noted for his circumnavigation of the globe and his role overseeing the Royal Navy during the Seven Years' War...
took a squadron of British ships around Cape Horn
George Anson's voyage around the world
While Great Britain was at war with Spain in 1740, Commodore George Anson led a squadron of eight ships on a mission to disrupt or capture Spain's Pacific possessions...
in 1740-4 to harass the Spanish. He captured several ships, raided the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
and visited Canton
Guangzhou
Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
(now Guangzhou). He returned with much gold and silver to great acclaim.
Sir John Franklin
John FranklinJohn Franklin
Rear-Admiral Sir John Franklin KCH FRGS RN was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. Franklin also served as governor of Tasmania for several years. In his last expedition, he disappeared while attempting to chart and navigate a section of the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic...
was an officer in the Royal Navy and an Arctic explorer. He was born in 1786 and joined the navy at the age of 16. He sailed on Matthew Flinders
Matthew Flinders
Captain Matthew Flinders RN was one of the most successful navigators and cartographers of his age. In a career that spanned just over twenty years, he sailed with Captain William Bligh, circumnavigated Australia and encouraged the use of that name for the continent, which had previously been...
voyages around Australia and took part in the Battle of Trafalgar, but is best remembered for his four Arctic voyages. He made maps of over 3000 miles (4,828 km) of the coast of northern Canada
Northern Canada
Northern Canada, colloquially the North, is the vast northernmost region of Canada variously defined by geography and politics. Politically, the term refers to the three territories of Canada: Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut...
. On his final voyage in 1845 he had two ships the and the . He was seen off Baffin Island
Baffin Island
Baffin Island in the Canadian territory of Nunavut is the largest island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, the largest island in Canada and the fifth largest island in the world. Its area is and its population is about 11,000...
but then disappeared. Various expeditions were mounted to find him and his crew. One expedition met Inuit
Inuit
The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...
who said that the ships had been crushed in the ice. Messages from the explorers were found but all later died. Franklin had died in 1847 and the remainder had tried to travel south. Robert McClure
Robert McClure
Sir Robert John Le Mesurier McClure was an Irish explorer of the Arctic.In 1854, he was the first to transit the Northwest Passage , as well as the first to circumnavigate the Americas.-Early life and career:He was born at Wexford, in Ireland, the posthumous son of one of Abercrombie's captains,...
completed the route in 1850.
James Clarke Ross
James Clark RossJames Clark Ross
Sir James Clark Ross , was a British naval officer and explorer. He explored the Arctic with his uncle Sir John Ross and Sir William Parry, and later led his own expedition to Antarctica.-Arctic explorer:...
surveyed Victoria Land
Victoria Land
Victoria Land is a region of Antarctica bounded on the east by the Ross Ice Shelf and the Ross Sea and on the west by Oates Land and Wilkes Land. It was discovered by Captain James Clark Ross in January 1841 and named after the UK's Queen Victoria...
in Antarctica in 1842. The Ross Sea
Ross Sea
The Ross Sea is a deep bay of the Southern Ocean in Antarctica between Victoria Land and Marie Byrd Land.-Description:The Ross Sea was discovered by James Ross in 1841. In the west of the Ross Sea is Ross Island with the Mt. Erebus volcano, in the east Roosevelt Island. The southern part is covered...
and Ross Island
Ross Island
Ross Island is an island formed by four volcanoes in the Ross Sea near the continent of Antarctica, off the coast of Victoria Land in McMurdo Sound.-Geography:...
are named after him as is a ship of the British Antarctic Survey
British Antarctic Survey
The British Antarctic Survey is the United Kingdom's national Antarctic operation and has an active role in Antarctic affairs. BAS is part of the Natural Environment Research Council and has over 400 staff. It operates five research stations, two ships and five aircraft in and around Antarctica....
.
Robert Scott
Robert Falcon ScottRobert Falcon Scott
Captain Robert Falcon Scott, CVO was a Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery Expedition, 1901–04, and the ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition, 1910–13...
surveyed the Great Ice Barrier in the Antarctic in 1901-4 in RRS Discovery
RRS Discovery
The RRS Discovery was the last traditional wooden three-masted ship to be built in Britain. Designed for Antarctic research, she was launched in 1901. Her first mission was the British National Antarctic Expedition, carrying Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton on their first, successful...
. He died in 1910 on the journey back from the South Pole
South Pole
The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is one of the two points where the Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on the surface of the Earth and lies on the opposite side of the Earth from the North Pole...
.
Ernest Shackleton
Ernest ShackletonErnest Shackleton
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, CVO, OBE was a notable explorer from County Kildare, Ireland, who was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration...
led an expedition to try to cross Antarctica in 1914. His ship became crushed in the ice but he led 28 men to safety on Elephant Island. To get help Shackleton and six men crossed 800 nautical miles (1,481.6 km) of sea in an open boat to South Georgia and then crossed the mountains to Grytviken
Grytviken
Grytviken is the principal settlement in the British territory of South Georgia in the South Atlantic. It was so named in 1902 by the Swedish surveyor Johan Gunnar Andersson who found old English try pots used to render seal oil at the site. It is the best harbour on the island, consisting of a...
. He returned to rescue all his men from Elephant Island. He died on South Georgia in 1922.
Shipbuilding
At the time of the creation of the United Kingdom, England had important royal dockyards at HarwichHarwich
Harwich is a town in Essex, England and one of the Haven ports, located on the coast with the North Sea to the east. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the northeast, Ipswich to the northwest, Colchester to the southwest and Clacton-on-Sea to the south...
, Sheerness
Sheerness
Sheerness is a town located beside the mouth of the River Medway on the northwest corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent, England. With a population of 12,000 it is the largest town on the island....
and Plymouth
Plymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
. A mechanised block mill
Portsmouth Block Mills
The Portsmouth Block Mills form part of the Portsmouth Dockyard at Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, and were built during the Napoleonic Wars to supply the British Royal Navy with pulley blocks. They started the age of mass-production using all-metal machine tools and are regarded as one of the...
was set up at Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
in 1806 that was cheaper and faster than producing them by hand. As shipbuilding centres in the north east of England
North East England
North East England is one of the nine official regions of England. It covers Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Teesside . The only cities in the region are Durham, Newcastle upon Tyne and Sunderland...
expanded, those in East Anglia
East Anglia
East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...
declined.
Ship sizes increased in the 19th century due to the change from wood to iron and then steel. Yards in the north east and in Scotland became dominant. British yards produced the majority of the world's shipping at the end of the century, mostly tramp steamer
Tramp steamer
A ship engaged in the tramp trade is one which does not have a fixed schedule or published ports of call. As opposed to freight liners, tramp ships trade on the spot market with no fixed schedule or itinerary/ports-of-call...
s.
In 1913 Britain had 61% of the world market, with 40% in 1920 but this had declined to 0.7% in 1997. Modernisation of the shipyards took place in the 1960s allowing construction of supertankers. The British yards were nationalised
Nationalization
Nationalisation, also spelled nationalization, is the process of taking an industry or assets into government ownership by a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to private assets, but may also mean assets owned by lower levels of government, such as municipalities, being...
as part of the Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act 1977
Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act 1977
The Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act 1977 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that nationalised large parts of the UK aerospace and shipbuilding industries and established two corporations, British Aerospace and British Shipbuilders ....
and renamed "British Shipbuilders
British Shipbuilders
British Shipbuilders Corporation was a public corporation that owned and managed the shipbuilding industry in England and Scotland from 1977 and through the 1980s...
" but were privatised
Privatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...
again in the 1980s. Rosyth Dockyard
Rosyth Dockyard
Rosyth Dockyard is a large naval dockyard on the Firth of Forth at Rosyth, Fife, Scotland, owned by Babcock Marine, which primarily undertakes refitting of Royal Navy surface vessels.-History:...
was started in 1909 while HMNB Clyde
HMNB Clyde
Her Majesty's Naval Base Clyde is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy...
(Faslane) submarine base was created in the 1960s. American nuclear submarines were based in Holy Loch
Holy Loch
The Holy Loch is a sea loch in Argyll and Bute, Scotland.Robertson's Yard at Sandbank, a village on the loch, was a major wooden boat building company in the late 19th and early 20th centuries....
but have since left.
Cutty Sark
The Cutty SarkCutty Sark
The Cutty Sark is a clipper ship. Built in 1869, she served as a merchant vessel , and then as a training ship until being put on public display in 1954...
was a clipper
Clipper
A clipper was a very fast sailing ship of the 19th century that had three or more masts and a square rig. They were generally narrow for their length, could carry limited bulk freight, small by later 19th century standards, and had a large total sail area...
ship built in 1869 in Dumbarton, Scotland, to carry 600 tons of cargo. She raced the Thermopylae
Thermopylae (clipper)
Thermopylae was an extreme composite clipper ship built in 1868 by Walter Hood & Co of Aberdeen, to the design of Bernard Weymouth of London.-Construction:...
and other clippers in the tea
Tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...
trade from China and later in the wool
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....
trade from Australia. She was capable of sailing at over 17 knots (33.3 km/h). Built as a full rigged ship
Full rigged ship
A full rigged ship or fully rigged ship is a sailing vessel with three or more masts, all of them square rigged. A full rigged ship is said to have a ship rig....
, she spent her final trading years as a barquentine
Barquentine
A barquentine is a sailing vessel with three or more masts; with a square rigged foremast and fore-and-aft rigged main, mizzen and any other masts.-Modern barquentine sailing rig:...
. She was dismasted in 1916 but restored in 1922 then used as a training ship. Cutty Sark was taken over by a preservation society in 1952 and moved to Greenwich
Greenwich
Greenwich is a district of south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich.Greenwich is best known for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time...
. In 2007 she was damaged by fire during restoration work but is to be repaired.
Endeavour
HM Bark EndeavourHM Bark Endeavour
HMS Endeavour, also known as HM Bark Endeavour, was a British Royal Navy research vessel commanded by Lieutenant James Cook on his first voyage of discovery, to Australia and New Zealand from 1769 to 1771....
was built in 1768 as a collier
Collier (ship type)
Collier is a historical term used to describe a bulk cargo ship designed to carry coal, especially for naval use by coal-fired warships. In the late 18th century a number of wooden-hulled sailing colliers gained fame after being adapted for use in voyages of exploration in the South Pacific, for...
at Whitby
Whitby
Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a combined maritime, mineral and tourist heritage, and is home to the ruins of Whitby Abbey where Caedmon, the...
. She was full rigged ship and sturdily built with a large hold. Endeavour's flat bottomed hull was well suited for sailing in shallow water and was designed to be beached. She was acquired by the Royal Navy, and after a major refit at Deptford she was used by James Cook on his first voyage to the Pacific Ocean. She ran aground on "Endeavour Reef" in the Great Barrier Reef
Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is the world'slargest reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,600 kilometres over an area of approximately...
but was refloated and repaired. On her return to Britain, Endeavour was used as a store ship and then sold out of the navy and used as a merchant ship. Her later fate is uncertain.
A replica of Endeavour
HM Bark Endeavour Replica
The HM Bark Endeavour Replica is a replica of , the bark commanded by Lieutenant James Cook when he charted New Zealand and discovered the eastern coast of Australia...
was built in Fremantle
Fremantle, Western Australia
Fremantle is a city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle was the first area settled by the Swan River colonists in 1829...
from the original drawings, starting in 1988. This was completed in 1994 and Endeavour undertook a voyage to Whitby where she stayed from 1997 to 2003. She is now at the Australian National Maritime Museum
Australian National Maritime Museum
The Australian National Maritime Museum is a federally-operated maritime museum located in Darling Harbour, Sydney. After consideration of the idea to establish a maritime museum, the Federal government announced that a national maritime museum would be constructed at Darling Harbour, tied into...
in Sydney.
Great Britain
The SS Great BritainSS Great Britain
SS Great Britain was an advanced passenger steamship designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel for the Great Western Steamship Company's transatlantic service between Bristol and New York. While other ships had previously been built of iron or equipped with a screw propeller, Great Britain was the first...
was Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel, FRS , was a British civil engineer who built bridges and dockyards including the construction of the first major British railway, the Great Western Railway; a series of steamships, including the first propeller-driven transatlantic steamship; and numerous important bridges...
's second ship design, after a wooden paddle steamer called the SS Great Western
SS Great Western
SS Great Western of 1838, was an oak-hulled paddle-wheel steamship; the first purpose-built for crossing the Atlantic and the initial unit of the Great Western Steamship Company. Designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Great Western proved satisfactory in service and was the model for all successful...
. She was the first steamship to make regular crossings of the Atlantic. This was the first large iron steamship and the first to use a screw propellor. After a long career she was abandoned in the Falkland Islands but was brought back to the drydock in Bristol in which she was built. There she has been restored.
Great Eastern
The SS Great EasternSS Great Eastern
SS Great Eastern was an iron sailing steam ship designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and built by J. Scott Russell & Co. at Millwall on the River Thames, London. She was by far the largest ship ever built at the time of her 1858 launch, and had the capacity to carry 4,000 passengers around the...
was launched in 1858 and was six times bigger than any ship before. She was the third ship designed by Brunel. The Great Eastern had six masts as well as coal fired engines driving paddle wheels. It was designed to carry enough coal to travel to Australia and return, and was intended to carry 4,000 passengers (or 10,000 soldiers). Work started on the ship in 1854 but there were many problems in building and launching the ship. After fitting out at Deptford she undertook trials in September 1859 but the heater attached to the paddle engine boilers exploded. As the ship had been fitted with watertight bulkheads
Bulkhead (partition)
A bulkhead is an upright wall within the hull of a ship or within the fuselage of an airplane. Other kinds of partition elements within a ship are decks and deckheads.-Etymology:...
she survived and was repaired. Because of the opening of the Suez Canal
Suez Canal
The Suez Canal , also known by the nickname "The Highway to India", is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigation...
, she was not used on the Australian route as envisaged but on the Atlantic crossings. Passengers did not like the rolling in storms and she was sold to a cable laying company after only six years. The Great Eastern was used to lay the first transatlantic telegraph cable
Transatlantic telegraph cable
The transatlantic telegraph cable was the first cable used for telegraph communications laid across the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. It crossed from , Foilhommerum Bay, Valentia Island, in western Ireland to Heart's Content in eastern Newfoundland. The transatlantic cable connected North America...
and many others subsequently. She was broken up in 1888.
Titanic
The Titanic and her sister ships OlympicRMS Olympic
RMS Olympic was the lead ship of the Olympic-class ocean liners built for the White Star Line, which also included Titanic and Britannic...
and Britannic
HMHS Britannic
HMHS Britannic was the third and largest of the White Star Line. She was the sister ship of and , and was intended to enter service as a transatlantic passenger liner. She was launched just before the start of the First World War and was laid up at her builders in Belfast for many months before...
were built the White Star Line
White Star Line
The Oceanic Steam Navigation Company or White Star Line of Boston Packets, more commonly known as the White Star Line, was a prominent British shipping company, today most famous for its ill-fated vessel, the RMS Titanic, and the World War I loss of Titanics sister ship Britannic...
to outdo the Mauritania
RMS Mauretania (1906)
RMS Mauretania was an ocean liner designed by Leonard Peskett and built by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson at Wallsend, Tyne and Wear for the British Cunard Line, and launched on 20 September 1906. At the time, she was the largest and fastest ship in the world. Mauretania became a favourite among...
and Lusitania
RMS Lusitania
RMS Lusitania was a British ocean liner designed by Leonard Peskett and built by John Brown and Company of Clydebank, Scotland. The ship entered passenger service with the Cunard Line on 26 August 1907 and continued on the line's heavily-traveled passenger service between Liverpool, England and New...
which belonged to the rival Cunard Line
Cunard Line
Cunard Line is a British-American owned shipping company based at Carnival House in Southampton, England and operated by Carnival UK. It has been a leading operator of passenger ships on the North Atlantic for over a century...
. Titanic was 269 m long and weight 46,000 tons. She was described as a luxury hotel at sea and as "unsinkable". She was fitted with a double bottom and 16 watertight compartments so that even if two were flooded she would not sink. Titanic departed from Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
on 10 April 1912 on her maiden voyage
Maiden voyage
The maiden voyage of a ship, aircraft or other craft is the first journey made by the craft after shakedown. A number of traditions and superstitions are associated with it....
to America. She called at Cherbourg
Cherbourg-Octeville
-Main sights:* La Glacerie has a race track.* The Cité de la Mer is a large museum devoted to scientific and historical aspects of maritime subjects.* Cherbourg Basilica* Jardin botanique de la Roche Fauconnière, a private botanical garden.* Le Trident theatre...
and then Queenstown
Cobh
Cobh is a seaport town on the south coast of County Cork, Ireland. Cobh is on the south side of Great Island in Cork Harbour. Facing the town are Spike Island and Haulbowline Island...
(now Cobh) before heading for New York City. Despite warnings of iceberg
Iceberg
An iceberg is a large piece of ice from freshwater that has broken off from a snow-formed glacier or ice shelf and is floating in open water. It may subsequently become frozen into pack ice...
s, she continued at 20 knots (39.2 km/h) on the night of 14 April. About midnight she hit an iceberg and five compartments started to flood. Two hours afterwards she sank. There was only enough lifeboats for half the passengers and 1,503 people perished. In 1985 her wreck was identified by sonar 4,000 m down and explored using a remotely operated vehicle
Remotely operated vehicle
A remotely operated vehicle is a tethered underwater vehicle. They are common in deepwater industries such as offshore hydrocarbon extraction. An ROV may sometimes be called a remotely operated underwater vehicle to distinguish it from remote control vehicles operating on land or in the air. ROVs...
(ROV). Some objects from the wreck have been recovered.
Queen Mary
RMS Queen MaryRMS Queen Mary
RMS Queen Mary is a retired ocean liner that sailed primarily in the North Atlantic Ocean from 1936 to 1967 for the Cunard Line...
was built in 1936 by John Brown & Company
John Brown & Company
John Brown and Company of Clydebank was a pre-eminent Scottish marine engineering and shipbuilding firm, responsible for building many notable and world-famous ships, such as the , the , the , the , the , and the...
in Clydebank
Clydebank
Clydebank is a town in West Dunbartonshire, in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, Clydebank borders Dumbarton, the town with which it was combined to form West Dunbartonshire, as well as the town of Milngavie in East Dunbartonshire, and the Yoker and...
, Scotland for what is now the Cunard Line. She made runs across the Atlantic between Southampton, Cherbourg and New York City in partnership with Queen Elizabeth
RMS Queen Elizabeth
RMS Queen Elizabeth was an ocean liner operated by the Cunard Line. Plying with her running mate Queen Mary as a luxury liner between Southampton, UK and New York City, USA via Cherbourg, France, she was also contracted for over twenty years to carry the Royal Mail as the second half of the two...
. The Queen Mary was used as a troop ship in the Second World War, carrying 16,082 people on one voyage. After the war she resumed Atlantic runs but these became loss making. She was withdrawn from service in 1967 and is now in Long Beach
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
California as a hotel and tourist attraction.
Britannia
HMY BrittaniaHMY Britannia
Her Majesty's Yacht Britannia is the former Royal Yacht of the British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. She was the 83rd such vessel since the restoration of King Charles II in 1660. She is the second Royal yacht to bear the name, the first being the famous racing cutter built for The Prince of Wales...
was the name given to two yachts
Luxury yacht
The term luxury yacht, “Superyacht” and "Large Yacht" refers to very expensive, privately owned yachts which are professionally crewed. Also known as a Super Yacht, a luxury yacht may be either a sailing or motor yacht.-History:...
owned by the British royal family. The last one of these was built in 1953 and served the British royal family for nearly 43 years. Britannia is 5862 tons with an overall length of 412 feet (125.6 m). During her time in service she steamed 71 million miles. She has been preserved in port at Leith
Leith
-South Leith v. North Leith:Up until the late 16th century Leith , comprised two separate towns on either side of the river....
in Scotland. She was designed to be used as a hospital ship
Hospital ship
A hospital ship is a ship designated for primary function as a floating medical treatment facility or hospital; most are operated by the military forces of various countries, as they are intended to be used in or near war zones....
in time of war but did not undertake this role.
Victory
was built between 1759 and 1765 at Chatham DockyardChatham Dockyard
Chatham Dockyard, located on the River Medway and of which two-thirds is in Gillingham and one third in Chatham, Kent, England, came into existence at the time when, following the Reformation, relations with the Catholic countries of Europe had worsened, leading to a requirement for additional...
with over 100 guns. She fought at Ushant
Ushant
Ushant is an island at the south-western end of the English Channel which marks the north-westernmost point of metropolitan France. It belongs to Brittany and is in the traditional region of Bro-Leon. Administratively, Ushant is a commune in the Finistère department...
in 1778 and 1781, and at Cape St. Vincent in 1796. Victory was reconstructed in 1798 with more guns and then fought at the Battle of Trafalgar
Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars ....
in 1805. Later she sailed on many naval expeditions. However, in 1889, Victory became home to the "Naval School of Telegraphy". She got into in a poor state and was restored 1922-8. Victory is now in drydock at HMNB Portsmouth
HMNB Portsmouth
Her Majesty's Naval Base Portsmouth is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the British Royal Navy...
(Portsmouth Historic Dockyard), where she received some damage in the Second World War. Victory is still the flagship of the Second Sea Lord
Second Sea Lord
The Second Sea Lord and Commander-in-Chief Naval Home Command , commonly just known as the Second Sea Lord , is one of the most senior admirals of the British Royal Navy , and is responsible for personnel and naval shore establishments.-History:In 1805, for the first time, specific functions were...
.
Warrior
was built in 1860 in response to the French ship La GloireFrench battleship La Gloire
The French Navy's La Gloire was the first ocean-going ironclad battleship in history.She was developed following the Crimean War, in response to new developments in naval gun technology, especially the Paixhans guns and rifled guns, which used explosive shells with increased destructive power...
. She was the first iron-hulled ironclad
Ironclad warship
An ironclad was a steam-propelled warship in the early part of the second half of the 19th century, protected by iron or steel armor plates. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or incendiary shells. The first ironclad battleship, La Gloire,...
, with three skins of iron, teak
Teak
Teak is the common name for the tropical hardwood tree species Tectona grandis and its wood products. Tectona grandis is native to south and southeast Asia, mainly India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Burma, but is naturalized and cultivated in many countries, including those in Africa and the...
and iron. Warrior was broadside firing with 9 ton muzzle loading guns. She was described by Napoleon III
Napoleon III of France
Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte was the President of the French Second Republic and as Napoleon III, the ruler of the Second French Empire. He was the nephew and heir of Napoleon I, christened as Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte...
as a "black snake amongst the rabbits". Her construction started a revolution in shipbuilding which meant that she was soon outclassed. She ended her days as an oil jetty at Pembroke Dock
Pembroke Dock
Pembroke Dock is a town in Pembrokeshire, south-west Wales, lying north of Pembroke on the River Cleddau. Originally a small fishing village known as Paterchurch, the town was greatly expanded from 1814 onwards following the construction of a Royal Naval Dockyard...
but was restored and has been on display since the 1980s at HMNB Portsmouth.
Belfast
is a Town-class cruiserTown class cruiser (1936)
The Town-class was a 10-ship class of light cruisers of the Royal Navy. The Towns were designed to the constraints imposed by the London Naval Treaty of 1930....
launched in 1938. At the start of the Second World War she was part of the force mounting a blockade on Germany. After sustaining mine damage she was reconstructed and became the heaviest cruiser of the class at 11553 tons. Belfast fought in the Battle of North Cape
Battle of North Cape
The Battle of the North Cape was a Second World War naval battle which occurred on 26 December 1943, as part of the Arctic Campaign. The German battlecruiser , on an operation to attack Arctic Convoys of war materiel from the Western Allies to the USSR, was brought to battle and sunk by superior...
against the Scharnhorst and took part in operations against . She was part of the bombardment force during the D-Day landings and later served in the Far East
Far East
The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...
. Belfast also took part in the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
. Belfast was then modernised and went to the Far East again. She was paid off from the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
in 1963 and is now a museum ship on the River Thames
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
at London.
Instruments and guides
Between 1735 and 1760 John HarrisonJohn Harrison
John Harrison was a self-educated English clockmaker. He invented the marine chronometer, a long-sought device in solving the problem of establishing the East-West position or longitude of a ship at sea, thus revolutionising and extending the possibility of safe long distance sea travel in the Age...
developed four types of marine chronometer
Marine chronometer
A marine chronometer is a clock that is precise and accurate enough to be used as a portable time standard; it can therefore be used to determine longitude by means of celestial navigation...
s for use at sea to allow accurate determination of longitude
Longitude
Longitude is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east-west position of a point on the Earth's surface. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees, minutes and seconds, and denoted by the Greek letter lambda ....
.
The gyrocompass
Gyrocompass
A gyrocompass is a type of non-magnetic compass which bases on a fast-spinning disc and rotation of our planet to automatically find geographical direction...
was introduced in 1908 while ship's radar
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
came in after the 1930s. Radar is also used on land for monitoring the position of shipping, for example in the Strait of Dover
Strait of Dover
The Strait of Dover or Dover Strait is the strait at the narrowest part of the English Channel. The shortest distance across the strait is from the South Foreland, 6 kilometres northeast of Dover in the county of Kent, England, to Cap Gris Nez, a cape near to Calais in the French of...
which is the busiest area of sea in the world. The Decca Navigator System
Decca Navigator System
The Decca Navigator System was a low frequency hyperbolic navigation system that was first deployed during World War II when the Allied forces needed a system which could be used to achieve accurate landings...
was a hyperbolic
Hyperbola
In mathematics a hyperbola is a curve, specifically a smooth curve that lies in a plane, which can be defined either by its geometric properties or by the kinds of equations for which it is the solution set. A hyperbola has two pieces, called connected components or branches, which are mirror...
radio navigation system that was installed around the coasts of Britain in the 1940s. It was phased out after the introduction of satellite-based navigation from the 1960s. The echo sounding
Echo sounding
Echo sounding is the technique of using sound pulses directed from the surface or from a submarine vertically down to measure the distance to the bottom by means of sound waves. This information is then typically used for navigation purposes or in order to obtain depths for charting purposes...
was introduced in the 1930s to determine water depth.
Lighthouses
The first offshore lighthouse was that built on the Eddystone Rocks in 1699. This was washed away in a great storm but a replacement was built. As its foundations were unsatisfactory it was taken down and rebuilt on Plymouth HoePlymouth Hoe
Plymouth Hoe, referred to locally as the Hoe, is a large south facing open public space in the English coastal city of Plymouth. The Hoe is adjacent to and above the low limestone cliffs that form the seafront and it commands views of Plymouth Sound, Drake's Island, and across the Hamoaze to Mount...
. The third lighthouse on the reef still stands. The first lightship
Lightvessel
A lightvessel, or lightship, is a ship which acts as a lighthouse. They are used in waters that are too deep or otherwise unsuitable for lighthouse construction...
was positioned at the Nore
Nore
The Nore is a sandbank at the mouth of the Thames Estuary, England. It marks the point where the River Thames meets the North Sea, roughly halfway between Havengore Creek in Essex and Warden Point in Kent....
in 1732. Foghorn
Foghorn
A foghorn or fog signal or fog bell is a device that uses sound to warn vehicles of hazards or boats of the presence of other vehicles in foggy conditions. The term is most often used in relation to marine transport...
s were incorporated in the 19th century to provide warning in low visibility. In the late 19th and early 20th century underwater bells were used as warning devices.
Navigation marks
Trinity HouseTrinity House
The Corporation of Trinity House of Deptford Strond is the official General Lighthouse Authority for England, Wales and other British territorial waters...
of Deptford was founded in 1514 to look after navigation marks in the Thames Estuary
Thames Estuary
The Thames Mouth is the estuary in which the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea.It is not easy to define the limits of the estuary, although physically the head of Sea Reach, near Canvey Island on the Essex shore is probably the western boundary...
. Similar organisations were founded at other places later. These were subsequently amalgamated and its authority was increased in 1836. Trinity House now looks after most of the marks in England and Wales, with the Northern Lighthouse Board
Northern Lighthouse Board
The Northern Lighthouse Board is the General Lighthouse Authority for Scotland and the Isle of Man. It is a non-departmental public body responsible for marine navigation aids around coastal areas.-History:...
in Scotland and the Commissioners of Irish Lights
Commissioners of Irish Lights
The Commissioners of Irish Lights is the body that serves as the lighthouse authority for Ireland plus its adjacent seas and islands...
for the whole of Ireland.
Plimsoll line
In the 19th century it was sometimes the practice to send heavily insured "coffin shipCoffin ship
Coffin ship is the name given to any boat that has been overinsured and is therefore worth more to its owners sunk than afloat. These were hazardous places to work in the days before effective maritime safety regulation. They were generally eliminated in the 1870s with the success of reforms...
s" to sea that were old, poorly maintained and overloaded. In 1868 Samuel Plimsoll
Samuel Plimsoll
Samuel Plimsoll was a British politician and social reformer, now best remembered for having devised the Plimsoll line .-Early life:Plimsoll was born in Bristol and soon moved to Whiteley Wood...
became concerned by the scandal and published Our Seamen which revealed the situation. A load line
Waterline
The term "waterline" generally refers to the line where the hull of a ship meets the water surface. It is also the name of a special marking, also known as the national Load Line or Plimsoll Line, to be positioned amidships, that indicates the draft of the ship and the legal limit to which a ship...
(which became known as the Plimsoll Line) was required by the Merchant Shipping Act of 1876 but it was not until 1890 that the Board of Trade
Board of Trade
The Board of Trade is a committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, originating as a committee of inquiry in the 17th century and evolving gradually into a government department with a diverse range of functions...
became responsible for determining where it should be.
Lifeboats
There were some locally organised lifeboatLifeboat (rescue)
A rescue lifeboat is a boat rescue craft which is used to attend a vessel in distress, or its survivors, to rescue crewmen and passengers. It can be hand pulled, sail powered or powered by an engine...
s in the 18th century, the first being in 1789 as a result of a tragic accident at the entrance to the River Tyne
River Tyne
The River Tyne is a river in North East England in Great Britain. It is formed by the confluence of two rivers: the North Tyne and the South Tyne. These two rivers converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Waters'.The North Tyne rises on the...
. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution
Royal National Lifeboat Institution
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution is a charity that saves lives at sea around the coasts of Great Britain, Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, as well as on selected inland waterways....
was founded by Sir William Hillary
William Hillary
Sir William Hillary, 1st Baronet was an English soldier, author and philanthropist, best known as the founder of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution in 1824....
in 1824 and is financed voluntarily. It maintains many lifeboats and lifeboat stations around the coast of Britain, the stations being run by paid engineers but mostly manned by local volunteers. An exception is the station at Spurn Head
Spurn
Spurn Point is a narrow sand spit on the tip of the coast of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England that reaches into the North Sea and forms the north bank of the mouth of the Humber estuary. It is over long, almost half the width of the estuary at that point, and as little as wide in places...
which is isolated so it is manned fully by paid crew. The boats were rowed with oars until the 1890s when steam-driven boats began to be introduced. Nowadays there are large diesel-driven offshore boats and small fast inshore boats. In some places hovercraft
Hovercraft
A hovercraft is a craft capable of traveling over surfaces while supported by a cushion of slow moving, high-pressure air which is ejected against the surface below and contained within a "skirt." Although supported by air, a hovercraft is not considered an aircraft.Hovercraft are used throughout...
are used for rescues. The RNLI boats cooperate with the other rescue services, particularly the rescue helicopters.
Maritime and Coastguard Agency
The Maritime and Coastguard AgencyMaritime and Coastguard Agency
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency is a UK executive agency working to prevent the loss of lives at sea and is responsible for implementing British and International maritime law and safety policy.This involves coordinating search and rescue at sea through Her Majesty's Coastguard , ensuring that...
was formed in 1998 to look after safety in British waters. It coordinates the search rescue services and determines safety standards. It incorporated the Coastguard Agency, that had been formed from Her Majesty's Coastguard
Her Majesty's Coastguard
Her Majesty's Coastguard is the service of the government of the United Kingdom concerned with co-ordinating air-sea rescue.HM Coastguard is a section of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency responsible for the initiation and co-ordination of all civilian maritime Search and Rescue within the UK...
, and the Marine Safety Agency.
Ports and harbours
Around the coast of Britain there are hundreds of ports and harbours, varying from the tiny (such as Porlock WeirPorlock Weir
Porlock Weir lies about 1.5 miles west of Porlock, Somerset, England and is a small settlement which has grown up around the harbour. It is a popular visitor attraction....
) to the large (such as the Port of Felixstowe
Port of Felixstowe
The Port of Felixstowe, in Felixstowe, Suffolk is the UK's busiest container port, dealing with 35% of the country's container cargo. It was developed following the abandonment of a project for a deep-water harbour at Maplin Sands. In 2005, it was ranked as the 28th busiest container port in the...
). Ships were also simply drawn up on beaches. Over the centuries the relative importance of each port and harbour has changed due to such factors as silting and trade alterations. In later periods deep water access has been a major factor in determining a port's success.
In the 18th century there were major harbour improvements with dredging of channels and construction of pier
Pier
A pier is a raised structure, including bridge and building supports and walkways, over water, typically supported by widely spread piles or pillars...
s. Wet dock
Wet dock
A wet dock is a dock where the level of water in the dock is maintained despite the raising and lowering of the tide. This makes transfer of cargo easier. It works like a lock which controls the water level and allows passage of ships.-External links:...
s were built at London, Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, Hull and Bristol.
London was still the largest port in the 19th century when new docks were built. Cardiff became a major coal exporting port after a railway
Rail transport
Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on...
link was built, as did other South Wales
South Wales
South Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city of...
ports. The railways were responsible for developing new ports such as Newhaven
Newhaven, East Sussex
Newhaven is a town in the Lewes District of East Sussex in England. It lies at the mouth of the River Ouse, on the English Channel coast, and is a ferry port for services to France.-Origins:...
as ferry terminals
Ferry slip
A ferry slip is a specialized docking facility that receives a ferryboat or train ferry. A similar structure called a barge slip receives a barge or car float that is used to carry wheeled vehicles across a body of water....
and the Manchester Ship Canal
Manchester Ship Canal
The Manchester Ship Canal is a river navigation 36 miles long in the North West of England. Starting at the Mersey Estuary near Liverpool, it generally follows the original routes of the rivers Mersey and Irwell through the historic counties of Cheshire and Lancashire. Several sets of locks lift...
enabled Manchester to become a significant port though far inland.
When oil replaced coal after the First World War, coal ports like Cardiff declined. London, Southampton, Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, Liverpool, and Glasgow increased in trade during the inter-war years, and ferry ports such as Harwich
Harwich
Harwich is a town in Essex, England and one of the Haven ports, located on the coast with the North Sea to the east. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the northeast, Ipswich to the northwest, Colchester to the southwest and Clacton-on-Sea to the south...
and Dover grew. Oil terminals were built from the 1920s and the larger ships required new docks at existing ports. After the Second World War new cargo handling methods were introduced, such as pallet
Pallet
A pallet , sometimes called a skid, is a flat transport structure that supports goods in a stable fashion while being lifted by a forklift, pallet jack, front loader or other jacking device. A pallet is the structural foundation of a unit load which allows handling and storage efficiencies...
s (1950), containerisation
Containerization
Containerization is a system of freight transport based on a range of steel intermodal containers...
(1960s) and roll-on/roll-off ships. Dockers at some ports resisted this change so leading to the development of new facilities at ports such as Felixstowe
Port of Felixstowe
The Port of Felixstowe, in Felixstowe, Suffolk is the UK's busiest container port, dealing with 35% of the country's container cargo. It was developed following the abandonment of a project for a deep-water harbour at Maplin Sands. In 2005, it was ranked as the 28th busiest container port in the...
and Tilbury
Port of Tilbury
The Port of Tilbury is located on the River Thames at Tilbury in Essex, England. It is the principal port for London; as well as being the main United Kingdom port for handling the importation of paper. There are extensive facilities for containers, grain, and other bulk cargoes. There are also...
.
Older port facilities became redundant and were redeveloped, such as Canary Wharf
Canary Wharf
Canary Wharf is a major business district located in London, United Kingdom. It is one of London's two main financial centres, alongside the traditional City of London, and contains many of the UK's tallest buildings, including the second-tallest , One Canada Square...
in London. In 1977 the major ports of Britain were London, Tees and Hartlepool
Hartlepool
Hartlepool is a town and port in North East England.It was founded in the 7th century AD, around the Northumbrian monastery of Hartlepool Abbey. The village grew during the Middle Ages and developed a harbour which served as the official port of the County Palatine of Durham. A railway link from...
, Grimsby and Immingham
Immingham
Immingham is a town in North East Lincolnshire, located on the south bank of the Humber Estuary...
, Forth, and Milford Haven
Milford Haven
Milford Haven is a town and community in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is situated on the north side of the Milford Haven Waterway, a natural harbour used as a port since the Middle Ages. The town was founded in 1790 on the north side of the Waterway, from which it takes its name...
. Many of the small ports were redeveloped as marina
Marina
A marina is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats.A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships or cargo from freighters....
s, such as Watchet
Watchet
Watchet is a harbour town and civil parish in the English county of Somerset, with an approximate population of 4,400. It is situated west of Bridgwater, north-west of Taunton, and east of Minehead. The parish includes the hamlet of Beggearn Huish...
.
Goods
The Navigation Ordinance of 1651 cut out Dutch shippers from English trade which led to war. In the 17th century trade expanded with imports of fish and sugar. Exports were of corn and manufactured goods. The Royal African CompanyRoyal African Company
The Royal African Company was a slaving company set up by the Stuart family and London merchants once the former retook the English throne in the English Restoration of 1660...
had a monopoly of the African trade until 1712 but there was much privateering. Later a major part of this trade was in the "Triangular trade
Triangular trade
Triangular trade, or triangle trade, is a historical term indicating among three ports or regions. Triangular trade usually evolves when a region has export commodities that are not required in the region from which its major imports come...
" which involved taking goods from Britain to West Africa, slaves
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
from Africa to the West Indies and America, then sugar to Britain. The main ports involved were London, Bristol and Liverpool but there were many others, with a total of 11,615 sailings with 3.4 million slaves between 1662 and 1807. William Wilberforce
William Wilberforce
William Wilberforce was a British politician, a philanthropist and a leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780, eventually becoming the independent Member of Parliament for Yorkshire...
and his supporters got the slave trade
History of slavery
The history of slavery covers slave systems in historical perspective in which one human being is legally the property of another, can be bought or sold, is not allowed to escape and must work for the owner without any choice involved...
abolished in 1808 and subsequently the Royal Navy tried to suppress it.
In 1600 Queen Elizabeth had given the Honourable East India Company the right to trade east of the Cape of Good Hope
Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...
. By 1804 the company's fleet from India was said to be worth £6M. The Virginia Company
Virginia Company
The Virginia Company refers collectively to a pair of English joint stock companies chartered by James I on 10 April1606 with the purposes of establishing settlements on the coast of North America...
failed in 1624. The South Sea Company had been set up to trade in the Pacific but became involved in domestic politics. The Levant Company
Levant Company
The Levant Company, or Turkey Company, was an English chartered company formed in 1581, to regulate English trade with Turkey and the Levant...
was set up to trade with Turkey.
The Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
caused a large increase in shipping movements. Raw materials were imported and manufactured goods were exported. In addition there was a need for coal. In the 19th century Britain built up the largest merchant fleet in the world. Around half the ocean-going tonnage was under the Red Ensign
Red Ensign
The Red Ensign or "Red Duster" is a flag that originated in the early 17th century as a British ensign flown by the Royal Navy and later specifically by British merchantmen. The precise date of its first appearance is not known, but surviving receipts indicate that the Navy was paying to have such...
.
Examinations for masters and mates of large merchant ships were introduced in 1845 for foreign-going ships and in 1854 for coastal ones. Engineers tickets were required after 1862. Logs were required to be kept after 1850.
In the First World War a fifth of Britain's pre-war merchant shipping had been sunk by 1917, including 1349 ships in August of that year. Most deep water ships were sunk by torpedoes while most coastal ones hit mines. The fleets of neutral countries had expanded and in the 1920s there was a slump in shipping. Development of refrigerated ships allowed the importation of lamb and other meats from places such as New Zealand. A large number of merchant ships were sunk in the Second World War, but Britain's fleet had expanded by the end due to new construction. In the 1950s "flags of Convenience
Flag of convenience
The term flag of convenience describes the business practice of registering a merchant ship in a sovereign state different from that of the ship's owners, and flying that state's civil ensign on the ship. Ships are registered under flags of convenience to reduce operating costs or avoid the...
" were taking an increasing share of world trade and the Eastern Bloc
Eastern bloc
The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...
's shipping was expanding to earn foreign currency.
Excluding tankers and the US War Reserve
War Reserve Stock
A War Reserve Stock is a collection of warfighting material held in reserve in pre-positioned storage to be used if needed in wartime. They may be located strategically depending on where it is believed they will be needed. In addition to military equipment, a war reserve stock may include raw...
, Britain still had the world's largest merchant fleet in 1957. However since then there has been a sharp decline, partly because of "re-flagging" to cut costs. Britain now the world's fifth largest trading nation, exports 26% of its gross domestic product
Gross domestic product
Gross domestic product refers to the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period. GDP per capita is often considered an indicator of a country's standard of living....
with 95% of this trade going by sea.
Passenger liners
The first paddle steamer was used in 1793 and by 1821 there were services between Leith and London. The first British steamer to cross the Atlantic was the Sirius in 1838, closely followed by the Great Western. The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation CompanyPeninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company
The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, which is usually known as P&O, is a British shipping and logistics company which dated from the early 19th century. Following its sale in March 2006 to Dubai Ports World for £3.9 billion, it became a subsidiary of DP World; however, the P&O...
was originally set up to take passengers to Gibraltar and this was extended to India, the company eventually becoming "P&O". The "White Star Line
White Star Line
The Oceanic Steam Navigation Company or White Star Line of Boston Packets, more commonly known as the White Star Line, was a prominent British shipping company, today most famous for its ill-fated vessel, the RMS Titanic, and the World War I loss of Titanics sister ship Britannic...
" originally concentrated on the emigrant trade but had fast liners after 1871. During war time the liners were used as troop ships. Southampton became the main passenger port because of its deep harbour with four tides.
Emigration/deportation
Some 20,000 people emigrated from Britain to North America in the 20 years after the Mayflower's voyage. After the loss of the American ColoniesThirteen Colonies
The Thirteen Colonies were English and later British colonies established on the Atlantic coast of North America between 1607 and 1733. They declared their independence in the American Revolution and formed the United States of America...
, Britain used Australia as a penal colony
Penal colony
A penal colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general populace by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory...
. The First Fleet in 1787 consisted of 1,200 people including 780 convicts. After the Second World War emigrants travelled by sea to the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Ferries and cruise boats
FerriesFerry
A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...
operate across the English Channel, the Irish Sea, to the Isle of Man
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
, to the Isle of Wight
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...
, the Isles of Scilly and to many Scottish islands. Ships have probably sailed these routes since prehistoric times. However, regular ferry services only started in the 18th century. On the Isle of Man route, sailing ships were used until 1830 but steamships proved faster and more reliable. The ferry trade expanded with the advent of roll-on/roll-off ship designs. The ferries across the English Channel were badly affected by the opening of the Channel Tunnel
Channel Tunnel
The Channel Tunnel is a undersea rail tunnel linking Folkestone, Kent in the United Kingdom with Coquelles, Pas-de-Calais near Calais in northern France beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. At its lowest point, it is deep...
in 1994.
Cruise boats became popular in the 19th century. They operated from beaches in Dorset and Devon, and from Liverpool to North Wales. They also operated in the River Clyde
River Clyde
The River Clyde is a major river in Scotland. It is the ninth longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third longest in Scotland. Flowing through the major city of Glasgow, it was an important river for shipbuilding and trade in the British Empire....
, Thames and Bristol Channel
Bristol Channel
The Bristol Channel is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales from Devon and Somerset in South West England. It extends from the lower estuary of the River Severn to the North Atlantic Ocean...
. A paddle steamer, the Waverley
PS Waverley
PS Waverley is the last seagoing passenger carrying paddle steamer in the world. Built in 1946, she sailed from Craigendoran on the Firth of Clyde to Arrochar on Loch Long until 1973...
built in 1946, is still running, making trips for example to Lundy
Lundy
Lundy is the largest island in the Bristol Channel, lying off the coast of Devon, England, approximately one third of the distance across the channel between England and Wales. It measures about at its widest. Lundy gives its name to a British sea area and is one of the islands of England.As of...
.
Customs men and smugglers
CustomsCustoms
Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting and safeguarding customs duties and for controlling the flow of goods including animals, transports, personal effects and hazardous items in and out of a country...
duties
Duty (economics)
In economics, a duty is a kind of tax, often associated with customs, a payment due to the revenue of a state, levied by force of law. It is a tax on certain items purchased abroad...
are payable on specified goods imported or exported. The range of goods on which there are charges has varied over time. Customs men were put into the various ports and they tried to keep watch over the adjoining coasts. These boards were combined as the Board of Customs and Excise
Her Majesty's Customs and Excise
HM Customs and Excise was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government in the UK. It was responsible for the collection of Value added tax , Customs Duties, Excise Duties, and other indirect taxes such as Air Passenger Duty, Climate Change Levy, Insurance Premium Tax, Landfill Tax and...
(later Her Majesty's Customs and Excise, which was formed in 1909, and became part of Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs
Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs
Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs is a non-ministerial department of the UK Government responsible for the collection of taxes and the payment of some forms of state support....
in 2005.
In the 18th and 19th centuries there was extensive smuggling
Smuggling
Smuggling is the clandestine transportation of goods or persons, such as out of a building, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.There are various motivations to smuggle...
by sea from the continent to Britain because of the high duty on luxury goods. The later was to finance the wars with France and the United States. Silks, spirits and tobacco came from France while gin came from Holland. Revenue cutters were used to try and intercept the smugglers but with little success. After the Napoleonic Wars there was surplus manpower that was used to try and suppress smuggling. In certain areas (such as in Kent and Cornwall) smuggling was for many communities more economically significant than legal activities such as farming or fishing.
Fishing and whaling
In the 19th and early 20th centuries herringHerring
Herring is an oily fish of the genus Clupea, found in the shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans, including the Baltic Sea. Three species of Clupea are recognized. The main taxa, the Atlantic herring and the Pacific herring may each be divided into subspecies...
fishing was a major activity in Britain. Herring fishing stopped in England and Wales during the 1960s but continued in Scotland until 1977/8. In 1937 the herring catch at Yarmouth dropped dramatically, then that at Lowestoft
Lowestoft
Lowestoft is a town in the English county of Suffolk. The town is on the North Sea coast and is the most easterly point of the United Kingdom. It is north-east of London, north-east of Ipswich and south-east of Norwich...
declined.
Trawling
Trawling
Trawling is a method of fishing that involves pulling a fishing net through the water behind one or more boats. The net that is used for trawling is called a trawl....
has also been a major activity, with the use of radio navigation aids and echo sounders making life easier now. Fishing in waters off Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
became important, which led to three "Cod War
Cod War
The Cod Wars, also called the Icelandic Cod Wars , were a series of confrontations in the 1950s and 1970s between the United Kingdom and Iceland regarding fishing rights in the North Atlantic....
s" from the 1950s to the 1970s. British boats were excluded from Icelandic waters in 1976. In 1977 a 200 miles (321.9 km) fishing limit was set up by the European Economic Community, and British waters were opened to other Community members. This led to overfishing. Landings decreased 28% between 1967 and 1997, with fishing now mainly off Scotland.
Other sorts of fishing also take place on a commercial basis such as for crab
Crab
True crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" , or where the reduced abdomen is entirely hidden under the thorax...
, lobster
Lobster
Clawed lobsters comprise a family of large marine crustaceans. Highly prized as seafood, lobsters are economically important, and are often one of the most profitable commodities in coastal areas they populate.Though several groups of crustaceans are known as lobsters, the clawed lobsters are most...
, shellfish
Shellfish
Shellfish is a culinary and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater environments, some kinds are found only in freshwater...
and mackerel
Mackerel
Mackerel is a common name applied to a number of different species of fish, mostly, but not exclusively, from the family Scombridae. They may be found in all tropical and temperate seas. Most live offshore in the oceanic environment but a few, like the Spanish mackerel , enter bays and can be...
. Sport fishing is popular from coasts and boats, including for shark
Shark
Sharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago....
off south west England.
In the past local conditions led to the development of a wide range of types of fishing boats. The bawley and the smack
Smack (ship)
A smack was a traditional fishing boat used off the coast of England and the Atlantic coast of America for most of the 19th century, and even in small numbers up to the Second World War. It was originally a cutter rigged sailing boat until about 1865, when the smacks became so large that cutter...
were used in the Thames Estuary and off East Anglia
East Anglia
East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...
, while trawlers and drifters
Drifter (fishing boat)
A drifter is a type of fishing boat. They were designed to catch herrings in a long drift net. Herring fishing using drifters has a long history in the Netherlands and in many British fishing ports, particularly in East Scottish ports....
were use on the east coast. In 1870 paddle tugs were being used to tow luggers and smacks to sea. Steam trawlers were introduced in 1881, mainly at Grimsby and Hull. The steam drifter was not used in the herring fishery until 1897. In 1890 it was estimated that there were 20,000 men on the North Sea. The first trawlers fished over the side but in 1961 the first stern trawler was used at Lowestoft for fishing in Arctic waters
Arctic Ocean
The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions...
. By 1981 only 27 of 130 deep sea trawlers were still going to sea. Many were converted to oil rig
Oil platform
An oil platform, also referred to as an offshore platform or, somewhat incorrectly, oil rig, is a lаrge structure with facilities to drill wells, to extract and process oil and natural gas, and to temporarily store product until it can be brought to shore for refining and marketing...
safety vessels. However the "inshore" boats landed a greater weight of fish even in 1973.
Herring fishing started in the Moray Firth
Moray Firth
The Moray Firth is a roughly triangular inlet of the North Sea, north and east of Inverness, which is in the Highland council area of north of Scotland...
in 1819. The peak of the fishing at Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
was in 1937 with 277 steam trawlers, though the first diesel drifter was introduced in 1926.
Gas and oil
The first British tanker was launched in 1886 and could carry 1,950 tons of oil. By 1961 the typical tanker was around 80,000 tons which grew to over 100,000 tons by 1967 and to over 250,000 tons by 1973. By 1965 BPBP
BP p.l.c. is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest energy company and fourth-largest company in the world measured by revenues and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors"...
had 170 tankers.
The gas fields in the North Sea have been in production since the 1960s while oil was discovered off Scotland in 1975. This led to the development of several support bases in Scotland. Platform construction has declined since 1985. The imminent decline of North Sea gas
North Sea oil
North Sea oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons, comprising liquid oil and natural gas, produced from oil reservoirs beneath the North Sea.In the oil industry, the term "North Sea" often includes areas such as the Norwegian Sea and the area known as "West of Shetland", "the Atlantic Frontier" or "the...
has led to the construction of liquid gas tankers and import facilities at Milford Haven.
Oil spills
There have been a number of major oil spillOil spill
An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially marine areas, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is mostly used to describe marine oil spills, where oil is released into the ocean or coastal waters...
s around the coast of Britain. The wreck of the Torrey Canyon
Torrey Canyon
The Torrey Canyon was a supertanker capable of carrying a cargo of 120,000 tons of crude oil, which was shipwrecked off the western coast of Cornwall, England in March 1967 causing an environmental disaster...
in March 1967 resulted in the first major oil
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
spill. The ship grounded on the Seven Stones reef
Seven Stones reef
Seven Stones reef is a rocky reef at 50° 03' North, 6° 04' West to the west of Land's End and the north east of the Isles of Scilly, Cornwall, UK.The reef is a navigational hazard for shipping which has caused many shipwrecks including the Torrey Canyon...
between Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. The ship was bombed to break it up and detergent
Detergent
A detergent is a surfactant or a mixture of surfactants with "cleaning properties in dilute solutions." In common usage, "detergent" refers to alkylbenzenesulfonates, a family of compounds that are similar to soap but are less affected by hard water...
used to disperse the 700 km² oil slick. It is estimated that 15,000 birds were killed and there was also a large effect on marine life
Marine biology
Marine biology is the scientific study of organisms in the ocean or other marine or brackish bodies of water. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies species based on the environment rather...
. As a result of this incident many lessons were learned on how to handle such problems and it led to changes in regulations. The grounding of MV Braer in January 1993 in the Shetlands led to the loss of 84,700 tons of light crude oil
Light crude oil
Light crude oil is liquid petroleum that has a low density and flows freely at room temperature. It has a low viscosity, low specific gravity and high API gravity due to the presence of a high proportion of light hydrocarbon fractions. It generally has a low wax content...
. There was again a large effect on wildlife, both birds and mammals. Because of the stormy conditions, the oil slick became broken up and had dispersed by October 1994. The Sea Empress
Sea Empress
The MV Sea Empress was a single-hull oil tanker that ran aground near the southwest coast of Wales in February 1996. The ensuing oil spill affected a considerable area of nearby coastline.Pembrokeshire was suffering for over a year after the incident...
hit a rock off Milford Haven in February 1996. Some 730,00 tons of oil were spilt, resulting in an estimated 5,000 birds being killed with much oil being washed up on beaches. It is estimated that the cost of the spill was £60 million.
Offshore wind farms
Britain started installing wind farmWind farm
A wind farm is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electric power. A large wind farm may consist of several hundred individual wind turbines, and cover an extended area of hundreds of square miles, but the land between the turbines may be used for agricultural or other...
s off shore in the year 2000. By February 2007 this had reached 2 GW
Watt
The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:...
capacity though its average output was much less. It could provide up to 1.5% of the United Kingdom's electricity. The capacity of offshore wind farms exceeds that of the onshore ones and is expected to rise over the coming years with many proposals being made.
Coast
The coastline of the United Kingdom is constantly changing by erosion and deposition of materials. One area suffering from major erosionErosion
Erosion is when materials are removed from the surface and changed into something else. It only works by hydraulic actions and transport of solids in the natural environment, and leads to the deposition of these materials elsewhere...
is the east coast of England, where in particular the town of Dunwich
Dunwich
Dunwich is a small town in Suffolk, England, within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB.Dunwich was the capital of East Anglia 1500 years ago but the harbour and most of the town have since disappeared due to coastal erosion. Its decline began in 1286 when a sea surge hit the East Anglian coast, and...
has been swallowed by the sea. At one time it was one of the largest ports in England but is completely gone. Another place that was largely destroyed is Hallsands, which was hit by storms in 1917, its defences having been removed by offshore dredging. Many beaches have had groyne
Groyne
A groyne is a rigid hydraulic structure built from an ocean shore or from a bank that interrupts water flow and limits the movement of sediment. In the ocean, groynes create beaches, or avoid having them washed away by longshore drift. In a river, groynes prevent erosion and ice-jamming, which...
s constructed on them to control the movement of material.
Some areas of the UK are now under threat from rising sea levels while in the past the North Sea, Bristol Channel and English Channel have been flooded. The land is also still recovering from the deposition of ice on northern parts in the last ice age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
. Thus southern England
Southern England
Southern England, the South and the South of England are imprecise terms used to refer to the southern counties of England bordering the English Midlands. It has a number of different interpretations of its geographic extents. The South is considered by many to be a cultural region with a distinct...
is sinking while Scotland is rising. In some cases it has been decided to not defend areas against sea encroachments in storms, such as in Porlock
Porlock
Porlock is a coastal village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated in a deep hollow below Exmoor, west of Minehead. The parish, which includes Hawkcombe and Doverhay, has a population of 1,377....
bay, while valuable areas are being protected. The Thames Barrier
Thames Barrier
The Thames Barrier is the world's second-largest movable flood barrier and is located downstream of central London. Its purpose is to prevent London from being flooded by exceptionally high tides and storm surges moving up from the sea...
was completed in 1994 to prevent flooding in the upper Thames estuary.
Resorts
In the 18th century people began visiting places on the coast of Britain for pleasure. Initially this was for medical reasons but became popular when King George IIIGeorge III of the United Kingdom
George III was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of these two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death...
made Weymouth his summer home around 1800 and later King George IV
George IV of the United Kingdom
George IV was the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and also of Hanover from the death of his father, George III, on 29 January 1820 until his own death ten years later...
built a palace at Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
. Many resorts such as Blackpool
Blackpool
Blackpool is a borough, seaside town, and unitary authority area of Lancashire, in North West England. It is situated along England's west coast by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre estuaries, northwest of Preston, north of Liverpool, and northwest of Manchester...
became popular when they were linked by railways to the big conurbations. More recently there has been a decline in popularity of British resorts due to the advent of cheap package holiday
Package holiday
A package holiday or package tour consists of transport and accommodation advertised and sold together by a vendor known as a tour operator. Other services may be provided like a rental car, activities or outings during the holiday. Transport can be via charter airline to a foreign country...
s abroad with their better weather.
Rowing, yachting and power boats
Offshore rowing races are popular in the southwest of England using gigsCornish pilot gig
The Cornish pilot gig is a six-oared rowing boat, built of Cornish narrow leaf elm, long with a beam of four feet ten inches.It is recognised as one of the first shore-based lifeboats that went to vessels in distress, with recorded rescues going back as far as the late 17th century.The original...
based on those originally used in the Isles of Scilly
Isles of Scilly
The Isles of Scilly form an archipelago off the southwestern tip of the Cornish peninsula of Great Britain. The islands have had a unitary authority council since 1890, and are separate from the Cornwall unitary authority, but some services are combined with Cornwall and the islands are still part...
for pilotage
Maritime pilot
A pilot is a mariner who guides ships through dangerous or congested waters, such as harbours or river mouths. With the exception of the Panama Canal, the pilot is only an advisor, as the captain remains in legal, overriding command of the vessel....
and attending wrecks as well as smuggling. These are six oared vessels up to about 10 m long with nearly a 2 m beam.
Many yacht club
Yacht club
A yacht club is a sports club specifically related to sailing and yachting.-Description:Yacht Clubs are mostly located by the sea, although there are some that have been established at a lake or riverside locations...
"one designs" were popular between 1920 and 1960, such as the Salcombe yawl
Yawl
A yawl is a two-masted sailing craft similar to a sloop or cutter but with an additional mast located well aft of the main mast, often right on the transom, specifically aft of the rudder post. A yawl (from Dutch Jol) is a two-masted sailing craft similar to a sloop or cutter but with an...
which was later built in plastic as the Devon yawl. Later more wide spread dinghy
Dinghy
A dinghy is a type of small boat, often carried or towed for use as a ship's boat by a larger vessel. It is a loanword from either Bengali or Urdu. The term can also refer to small racing yachts or recreational open sailing boats. Utility dinghies are usually rowboats or have an outboard motor,...
designs became more popular such as the "Enterprise" introduced in 1960. In the late 19th and early part of the 20th century great yachts such as the J-Class were built, including "Shamrock V" constructed to attempt to win the America's Cup
America's Cup
The America’s Cup is a trophy awarded to the winner of the America's Cup match races between two yachts. One yacht, known as the defender, represents the yacht club that currently holds the America's Cup and the second yacht, known as the challenger, represents the yacht club that is challenging...
which originated in 1851. Cowes Week
Cowes Week
Cowes Week is one of the longest-running regular regattas in the world. With 40 daily races, up to 1,000 boats, and 8,500 competitors ranging from Olympic and world class professionals to weekend sailors, it is the largest sailing regatta of its kind in the world...
has been held since 1826 and includes a race around the Isle of Wight
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...
. The Fastnet race
Fastnet race
The Fastnet Race is a famous offshore yachting race. It is considered one of the classic offshore races. It takes place every two years over a course of . The race starts off Cowes on the Isle of Wight in England, rounds the Fastnet Rock off the southwest coast of Ireland and then finishes at...
was first sailed in 1925. The first single-handed
Single-handed sailing
The sport of single-handed sailing or solo sailing is sailing with only one crewmember . The term is usually used with reference to ocean and long-distance sailing, and particularly competitive sailing....
circumnavigation by a Briton was by John Gusswell between 1955 and 1959, while the first Single-Handed Trans-Atlantic Race
Single-Handed Trans-Atlantic Race
The Single-handed Trans-Atlantic Race, or STAR, is an east-to-west yacht race across the North Atlantic. When inaugurated in 1960, it was the first single-handed ocean yacht race; it is run from Plymouth to the USA, and is held every four years....
was held in 1960 and won by Francis Chichester
Francis Chichester
Sir Francis Charles Chichester KBE , aviator and sailor, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for becoming the first person to sail single-handed around the world by the clipper route, and the fastest circumnavigator, in nine months and one day overall.-Early life:Chichester was born in Barnstaple,...
. The first non stop circumnavigation race in 1968 was won by Robin Knox-Johnston
Robin Knox-Johnston
Sir William Robert Patrick "Robin" Knox-Johnston, CBE, RD and bar is an English sailor. He was the first man to perform a single-handed non-stop circumnavigation of the globe and was the second winner of the Jules Verne Trophy . For this he was awarded with Blake the ISAF Yachtsman of the Year award...
while the first "wrong way" circumnavigation was by Chay Blyth
Chay Blyth
Sir Charles Blyth, CBE, BEM , known as Chay Blyth, is a Scottish yachtsman and rower. He was the first person to sail non-stop westwards around the world , on a 59-foot boat called British Steel.- Early life:...
in 1970. A Round Britain Single Handed Race was instituted in 1966. A sailing speed world record of 36 knots (70.6 km/h) was set at Portland
Isle of Portland
The Isle of Portland is a limestone tied island, long by wide, in the English Channel. Portland is south of the resort of Weymouth, forming the southernmost point of the county of Dorset, England. A tombolo over which runs the A354 road connects it to Chesil Beach and the mainland. Portland and...
by a catamaran in 1980.
Frederick W. Lanchester built the first power boat
Motorboat
A motorboat is a boat which is powered by an engine. Some motorboats are fitted with inboard engines, others have an outboard motor installed on the rear, containing the internal combustion engine, the gearbox and the propeller in one portable unit.An inboard/outboard contains a hybrid of a...
in 1898 using a 8 hp, water-cooled engine. Since then power boats have been used as run-abouts and for racing, as well as for water-skiing. Both inboard and outboard engines are used. The British Power Boat Company
British Power Boat Company
The British Power Boat Company was a British manufacturer of motor boats, particularly racing boats and later military patrol boats.It was formed on 30 September 1927 when Hubert Scott-Paine bought and renamed the Hythe Shipyard with the intention of transforming it into one of the most modern mass...
built many power boats between 1927 and 1946 including Miss Britain III
Miss Britain III
Miss Britain III is a racing power boat designed and built by Hubert Scott-Paine, a British aircraft and boat designer.During 1932 Hubert Scott-Paine, owner of the British Power Boat Company and already a noted power boat racer, asked Rolls-Royce for a Rolls-Royce 'R' engine which had powered the...
and PT9 that became the basis of Motor Torpedo Boat
Motor Torpedo Boat
Motor Torpedo Boat was the name given to fast torpedo boats by the Royal Navy, and the Royal Canadian Navy.The capitalised term is generally used for the Royal Navy boats and abbreviated to "MTB"...
s and the US PT boat
PT boat
PT Boats were a variety of motor torpedo boat , a small, fast vessel used by the United States Navy in World War II to attack larger surface ships. The PT boat squadrons were nicknamed "the mosquito fleet". The Japanese called them "Devil Boats".The original pre–World War I torpedo boats were...
s during the Second World War. The power speed record rose from 95 knots (186.2 km/h) in 1930 to 123 knots (241.1 km/h) in 1939. After the war the record speed rose again with runs by Donald Campbell
Donald Campbell
Donald Malcolm Campbell, CBE was a British speed record breaker who broke eight world speed records in the 1950s and 1960s...
, who was killed during an attempt on the record in 1967.
Marinas
The increasing popularity of yachting and power boating has led to the creation of many purpose-built marinaMarina
A marina is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats.A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships or cargo from freighters....
s and the conversion of existing harbours. See List of marinas#United Kingdom for those in the United Kingdom.
Hydrographics
The United Kingdom Hydrographic OfficeUnited Kingdom Hydrographic Office
The United Kingdom Hydrographic Office is an organisation within the UK government responsible for providing navigational and other hydrographic information for national, civil and defence requirements...
(first the Admiralty then the Ministry of Defence) is responsible for publishing navigational nautical chart
Nautical chart
A nautical chart is a graphic representation of a maritime area and adjacent coastal regions. Depending on the scale of the chart, it may show depths of water and heights of land , natural features of the seabed, details of the coastline, navigational hazards, locations of natural and man-made aids...
s in Britain, now with worldwide cover. It also produces related publications. Originally based in London, it moved to Taunton
Taunton
Taunton is the county town of Somerset, England. The town, including its suburbs, had an estimated population of 61,400 in 2001. It is the largest town in the shire county of Somerset....
in the Second World War. The Hydrographic Department of the Admiralty was set up in 1795 and had seven vessels by 1820. One of its chief interests was in finding a Northwest Passage
Northwest Passage
The Northwest Passage is a sea route through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways amidst the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans...
around Canada. The first catalogue of charts was produced in 1825. The hydrographic squadron still forms part of the Royal Navy.
Oceanography
One of the first scientific articles on oceanographyOceanography
Oceanography , also called oceanology or marine science, is the branch of Earth science that studies the ocean...
was by James Cook
James Cook
Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...
who included information on the oceans in his report on his voyages between 1768 and 1779. James Rennell
James Rennell
Major James Rennell, FRS was an English geographer, historian and a pioneer of oceanography.-Early life:Rennell was born near Chudleigh in Devon...
wrote the first textbooks about currents in the Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
around 1800. Sir James Clark Ross
James Clark Ross
Sir James Clark Ross , was a British naval officer and explorer. He explored the Arctic with his uncle Sir John Ross and Sir William Parry, and later led his own expedition to Antarctica.-Arctic explorer:...
took the first sounding in the deep sea in 1840 and Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
published a paper on reef
Reef
In nautical terminology, a reef is a rock, sandbar, or other feature lying beneath the surface of the water ....
s and atoll
Atoll
An atoll is a coral island that encircles a lagoon partially or completely.- Usage :The word atoll comes from the Dhivehi word atholhu OED...
s as a result of the second voyage of in 1831-6. The Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
sponsored the expedition (1872–76) that resulted in a 50 volume report, covering biological, physical and geological aspects. The 1910 North Atlantic expedition headed by Sir John Murray
John Murray (oceanographer)
Sir John Murray KCB FRS FRSE FRSGS was a pioneering Scottish oceanographer, marine biologist and limnologist.-Early life:...
and Johan Hjort
Johan Hjort
Johan Hjort FRS was a Norwegian fisheries scientist, marine zoologist, and oceanographer. He was among the most prominent and influential marine zoologists of his time.- The early years :...
resulted in the classic book The Depths of the Oceans.
The National Oceanographic Laboratory (later the Institute of Oceanographic Sciences) was set up at Godalming
Godalming
Godalming is a town and civil parish in the Waverley district of the county of Surrey, England, south of Guildford. It is built on the banks of the River Wey and is a prosperous part of the London commuter belt. Godalming shares a three-way twinning arrangement with the towns of Joigny in France...
but was transferred to the Southampton Oceanographic Centre in 1994. The latter was renamed the National Oceanographic Centre
National Oceanography Centre, Southampton
The National Oceanography Centre, Southampton describes the integrated collaboration between the Southampton-based part of the Natural Environment Research Council’s National Oceanography Centre, and University of Southampton Ocean and Earth Science...
. It operates a number of vessels that undertake exploratory cruises as well as various unmanned vehicles and buoys.
Colleges
A number of places in the UK provide facilities for the study of the various aspects of seamanship, such as Orkney CollegeOrkney College
Orkney College is a further and higher education college in Orkney, an archipelago in northern Scotland. It is an academic partner in the University of the Highlands and Islands....
. These courses lead to Certificates of Competency for particular jobs. Other places, such as Liverpool John Moores University
Liverpool John Moores University
Liverpool John Moores University is a British 'modern' university located in the city of Liverpool, England. The university is named after John Moores and was previously called Liverpool Mechanics' School of Arts and later Liverpool Polytechnic before gaining university status in 1992, thus...
, provide more academic courses on mercantile practice, ship design and operation. The University of Exeter
University of Exeter
The University of Exeter is a public university in South West England. It belongs to the 1994 Group, an association of 19 of the United Kingdom's smaller research-intensive universities....
is one of those places that has specialised in maritime history.
Admiralty law
Admiralty lawAdmiralty law
Admiralty law is a distinct body of law which governs maritime questions and offenses. It is a body of both domestic law governing maritime activities, and private international law governing the relationships between private entities which operate vessels on the oceans...
governing relations between entities that operate vessels on the oceans is dealt with by special courts. There was a High Court of Admiralty
Admiralty court
Admiralty courts, also known as maritime courts, are courts exercising jurisdiction over all maritime contracts, torts, injuries and offences.- Admiralty Courts in England and Wales :...
in London and Vice Admiral's Courts in other ports. Originally they dealt with administrative and naval matters but then included piracy cases (from 1700). By the 16th century they had wide powers but these were later reduced until restored in the 19th century. Trade disputes generally are dealt with by the commercial court
Commercial court
The Commercial Court is a sub-division of the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court of Justice, the major civil court in England. It is based in the Royal Courts of Justice....
. The admiralty laws were a prominent feature in causing the American Revolution.
Law of the sea
This is a body of law governing international relations at sea. There have been three United Nations Conventions on the Law of the SeaUnited Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea , also called the Law of the Sea Convention or the Law of the Sea treaty, is the international agreement that resulted from the third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea , which took place from 1973 through 1982...
- in 1956, 1960 and 1967 - which have been ratified by Britain. The last one came into force in 1994.
Ship design
Originally ship designShipbuilding
Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to before recorded history.Shipbuilding and ship repairs, both...
, or naval architecture
Naval architecture
Naval architecture is an engineering discipline dealing with the design, construction, maintenance and operation of marine vessels and structures. Naval architecture involves basic and applied research, design, development, design evaluation and calculations during all stages of the life of a...
, was by the skill of the shipwright only. In the 16th century shipwrights were authorised by the crown and under Henry VII a list of master shipwrights was produced. A treatise on ship design was written in the 16th century. A school of naval architecture was set up at Portsmouth in 1811. Nowadays ship design can be studied at a number of colleges in Britain. The professional body for ship designers in Britain is the Royal Institution of Naval Architects
Royal Institution of Naval Architects
The Royal Institution of Naval Architects is an international organisation representing naval architects. It is an international professional institution whose members are involved world-wide at all levels in the design, construction, repair and operation of ships, boats and marine...
Maritime museums
The main maritime museum in Britain is the National Maritime MuseumNational Maritime Museum
The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England is the leading maritime museum of the United Kingdom and may be the largest museum of its kind in the world. The historic buildings forming part of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site, it also incorporates the Royal Observatory, Greenwich,...
at Greenwich
Greenwich
Greenwich is a district of south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich.Greenwich is best known for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time...
. However there are nearly 300 smaller ones (including ships) at various ports around Britain. These include museums at Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...
, Hartlepool
Hartlepool
Hartlepool is a town and port in North East England.It was founded in the 7th century AD, around the Northumbrian monastery of Hartlepool Abbey. The village grew during the Middle Ages and developed a harbour which served as the official port of the County Palatine of Durham. A railway link from...
and Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
as well as HMNB Portsmouth
HMNB Portsmouth
Her Majesty's Naval Base Portsmouth is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the British Royal Navy...
. These provide much information on the maritime history of Britain.
Maritime archaeology
Maritime archaeologyMaritime archaeology
Maritime archaeology is a discipline within archaeology as a whole that specifically studies human interaction with the sea, lakes and rivers through the study of associated physical remains, be they vessels, shore side facilities, port-related structures, cargoes, human remains and submerged...
is important in Britain because of the large number of shipwrecks around the coast and because of the large areas off the coast that have been submerged by rising sea levels. The archaeology of shipwrecks
Archaeology of shipwrecks
The archaeology of shipwrecks is the field of archaeology specialised in the study and exploration of shipwrecks. Its techniques combine those of archaeology with those of diving....
covers sites from the Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
onward. Many artifacts have been obtained from the southern North Sea, for example. A recent find on the coast was Seahenge
Seahenge
Seahenge, which is also known as Holme I, was a prehistoric monument located in the village of Holme-next-the-Sea, near Old Hunstanton in the English county of Norfolk...
. The subject can be studied at universities in Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, Bournemouth
Bournemouth
Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...
and Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
while English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
is also interested.
Art
Many works of Marine artMarine art
Marine art or maritime art is any form of figurative art that portrays or draws its main inspiration from the sea. Maritime painting is a genre that depicts ships and the sea—a genre particularly strong from the 17th to 19th centuries...
have been produced by British artists and on British maritime topics. One of the best known paintings in Britain is "The Fighting Temeraire
The Fighting Temeraire
The Fighting Temeraire tugged to her last Berth to be broken up, 1838 is an oil painting executed in 1839 by the English artist J. M. W. Turner...
" by J. M. W. Turner
J. M. W. Turner
Joseph Mallord William Turner RA was an English Romantic landscape painter, watercolourist and printmaker. Turner was considered a controversial figure in his day, but is now regarded as the artist who elevated landscape painting to an eminence rivalling history painting...
that hangs in London's National Gallery
National Gallery, London
The National Gallery is an art museum on Trafalgar Square, London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The gallery is an exempt charity, and a non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media...
. A lot of seaside resorts have art galleries selling marine subjects.
In addition there is art produced by the sailors themselves, such as scrimshaw
Scrimshaw
Scrimshaw is the name given to handiwork created by whalers made from the byproducts of harvesting marine mammals. It is most commonly made out of the bones and teeth of sperm whales, the baleen of other whales, and the tusks of walruses...
.
Literature
Britain has had many authors who wrote on marine topics, the sailing era being a popular period. Joseph ConradJoseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad was a Polish-born English novelist.Conrad is regarded as one of the great novelists in English, although he did not speak the language fluently until he was in his twenties...
, who was born in Poland in 1857, came to Britain in 1878 and was naturalised in 1886. He undertook a voyage in a collier and then a wool clipper, obtaining a master's ticket in 1887. His last voyage in 1916 was in a Q-ship
Q-ship
Q-ships, also known as Q-boats, Decoy Vessels, Special Service Ships, or Mystery Ships, were heavily armed merchant ships with concealed weaponry, designed to lure submarines into making surface attacks. This gave Q-ships the chance to open fire and sink them...
during the war. Conrad wrote many stories based on his experiences, such as "Lord Jim
Lord Jim
Lord Jim is a novel by Joseph Conrad originally published as a serial in Blackwood's Magazine from October 1899 to November 1900.An early and primary event is Jim's abandonment of a ship in distress on which he is serving as a mate...
". Basil Lubbock went out to the Klondike
Klondike, Yukon
The Klondike is a region of the Yukon in northwest Canada, east of the Alaska border. It lies around the Klondike River, a small river that enters the Yukon from the east at Dawson....
and then sailed back from San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
on a grain ship. From this he wrote "Round the Horn before the Mast" describing the life of an ordinary seaman. After settling down in England he collected facts on sailing ships and wrote books about them. Alan Villiers
Alan Villiers
Captain Alan John Villiers was an author, adventurer, photographer and Master Mariner.Born in Melbourne, Australia, he first went to sea at age 15 and sailed all the world's oceans on board traditionally rigged vessels, including the full rigged ship Joseph Conrad...
first sailed in a British square rigger and then in Danish ones. He bought a small Danish fully rigged ship and sailed around the world. After his return he wrote books about square riggers. Many works of fiction have also been written, perhaps the most famous being the series on Horatio Hornblower
Horatio Hornblower
Horatio Hornblower is a fictional Royal Navy officer who is the protagonist of a series of novels by C. S. Forester. He was later the subject of films and television programs.The original Hornblower tales began with the 1937 novel The Happy Return Horatio Hornblower is a fictional Royal Navy...
by C. S. Forester
C. S. Forester
Cecil Scott "C.S." Forester was the pen name of Cecil Louis Troughton Smith , an English novelist who rose to fame with tales of naval warfare. His most notable works were the 11-book Horatio Hornblower series, depicting a Royal Navy officer during the Napoleonic era, and The African Queen...
.
Music
There are a large number of sea shantiesSea shanty
A shanty is a type of work song that was once commonly sung to accompany labor on board large merchant sailing vessels. Shanties became ubiquitous in the 19th century era of the wind-driven packet and clipper ships...
that have been collected, many by Cecil Sharp
Cecil Sharp
Cecil James Sharp was the founding father of the folklore revival in England in the early 20th century, and many of England's traditional dances and music owe their continuing existence to his work in recording and publishing them.-Early life:Sharp was born in Camberwell, London, the eldest son of...
at Watchet
Watchet
Watchet is a harbour town and civil parish in the English county of Somerset, with an approximate population of 4,400. It is situated west of Bridgwater, north-west of Taunton, and east of Minehead. The parish includes the hamlet of Beggearn Huish...
.
See also
- Maritime historyMaritime historyMaritime history is the study of human activity at sea. It covers a broad thematic element of history that often uses a global approach, although national and regional histories remain predominant...
- Maritime history of EnglandMaritime history of EnglandThe Maritime history of England involves events including shipping, ports, navigation, and seamen, as well as marine sciences, exploration, trade, and maritime themes in the arts of England...
- Maritime history of ScotlandMaritime history of ScotlandThe Maritime history of Scotland involves events including shipping, ports, navigation, and seamen, as well as marine sciences, exploration, trade, and maritime themes in the arts of Scotland.-Royal Scots Navy:...
- Maritime history of EuropeMaritime history of EuropeMaritime history of Europe is a term used to describe significant past events relating to the northwestern region of Eurasia in areas concerning shipping and shipbuilding, shipwrecks, naval battles, and military installations and lighthouses constructed to protect or aid navigation and the...
- Container shipContainer shipContainer ships are cargo ships that carry all of their load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. They form a common means of commercial intermodal freight transport.-History:...
- History of the United KingdomHistory of the United KingdomThe history of the United Kingdom as a unified sovereign state began with the political union of the kingdoms of England, which included Wales, and Scotland on 1 May 1707 in accordance with the Treaty of Union, as ratified by the Acts of Union 1707...
- Wind power in the United KingdomWind power in the United KingdomBy mid-2011, the installed capacity of wind power in the United Kingdom was over 5.7 gigawatts and the UK is ranked as the world’s eighth largest producer of wind power. Wind power is expected to continue growing in the UK for the foreseeable future, RenewableUK estimates that more than...
- Naval historyNaval historyNaval history is the area of military history concerning war at sea and the subject is also a sub-discipline of the broad field of maritime history....
- Naval historianNaval historianA naval historian is a student of maritime history, who specialises in the sub-discipline of naval history.-References:*Julian Corbett, 'The Teaching of Naval and Military History,' History, New Series, vol. 1 , pp. 12–19....
- Royal Navy officer rank insigniaRoyal Navy officer rank insignia-Officers:Uniforms for naval officers were not authorized until 1748. At first the cut and style of the uniform differed considerably between ranks and specific rank insignia only sporadically used...
External links
- International Commission for Maritime History
- Society for Nautical Research
- The Institute of Maritime History
- The Sextant, an online community for maritime history and nautical archaeology
- Shipwrecks UK, concerned with ship losses in the seas surrounding Britain and Ireland
- The Museum of Underwater Archaeology
- Over The Waves ~ A project to highlight Cardigan's maritime history