Pieter van der Merwe is an English writer on aspects of British maritime history, mainly from 1500 to 1914, but which have also included maritime archaeology and medieval shipbuilding. He also writes on the history of 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...

, marine painting, stage scene-painting and maritime life in art, portraiture, literature and drama. He is a graduate of the University of Manchester

University of Manchester

The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...

 and University of Bristol

University of Bristol

The University of Bristol is a public research university located in Bristol, United Kingdom. One of the so-called "red brick" universities, it received its Royal Charter in 1909, although its predecessor institution, University College, Bristol, had been in existence since 1876.The University is...

. He joined the staff of the National Maritime Museum

National 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,...

 in 1974 and is now its General Editor.

Works

• The Spectacular Career of Clarkson Stanfield (exh.cat. with R. Took: 1979)
• Historic Maritime Greenwich (1993)
• A Refuge for All: Greenwich Hospital, 1694-1994 (1994)
• Nelson, an Illustrated History (contr. and ed., 1995)
• E. Dekker, Globes at Greenwich… (ed., with K. Lippincott and M. Blyzinsky, 1999)
• South: the Race to the Pole (and ed., with contributions from D. Preston, R.E. Feeney, L. McKernan, 2000)
• Captain Cook in the Pacific (with N. Rigby and G. Williams, 2002)
• Science and the French and British Navies, 1700-1850 (ed., 2003)
• Pioneers of the Pacific: Voyages of Exploration, 1787-1810 (with N. Rigby and G. Williams, 2005)