The History Archive

A Brief History of Navigation in the 18th Century

Two major developments in the 18th century vastly improved navigation: the solution to the problem of finding longitude and the improved availability of printed guides and charts. But navigation tools for dead reckoning and piloting were not to improve until the 1900s. Guides for the Navigator The eighteenth century saw major improvements in publications for [...]
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Patrick O’Brian Cruise

I came across this information recently and thought I would share it, just on the off-chance any of you happen to be obscenely wealthy (in which case I congratulate you). The Annemarie Victory Organization specializes in luxury cruises and tours, often organized around a specific theme. One of their upcoming cruises takes place on a [...]
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The Continental Navy

Americans first took up arms in the spring of 1775 not to sever their relationship with the king, but to defend their rights within the British Empire. By the autumn of 1775, the British North American colonies from Maine to Georgia were in open rebellion. Royal governments had been thrust out of many colonial capitals [...]
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American Warships of the Age of Sail

Navies are born out of a spirit of independence and under the threat of war, nurtured into maturity by the urgent demands of defense and sharpened by conflict. So it was with the first American Navy. The story of American ships and sailors is an epic of blue water which seems singularly remote, almost unreal, [...]
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The Strategic Failure of French Privateering

Clearly French privateering during the Revolutionary period failed in its perceived strategy: to cripple British marine trade.
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Impressment and the British Merchant Service

An explanation to the discussion of the potential effects of the Impress on the skilled labor force of the British merchant marine.
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British Naval Supremacy: Some Factors Newly Considered

“As for a man-of-war, it is either an autocracy or it is nothing, nothing at all – mere nonsense. You saw what happened to the poor French navy at the beginning of the Revolutionary War…” – Jack Aubrey to Stephen Maturin, The Yellow Admiral British Naval Supremacy: Some Factors Newly Considered By Mitch Williamson Strategic [...]
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A Brief History of Royal Navy Uniforms

Officers’ Uniforms The British Royal Navy adopted a dark blue officers’ uniforms in 1748. This uniform would be the basis for of most of the world’ naval dress. The British were the main maritime power their uniforms influenced those adopted in other countries. [Broderick] The enlisted unform would also prove very influential, but it would [...]
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The 1778 Act for the Relief of Sick and Disabled Seamen and its Present-Day Implications

This article is somewhat different from what is usually posted here. It’s a political piece discussing current events, but it definitely relates back to our era and our areas of focus. Full disclosure: I’m of a liberal bent, and I think the following article makes a lot of sense. But I’m not posting it to [...]
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Three Insanely Advanced (Naval) Weapons History Somehow Forgot About

As I’ve mentioned a few times (here and here), I’m a huge fan of Cracked.com. I love them because they’re hilarious, but also because they seem to have three or four people on staff dedicated solely to writing historically themed articles, and those three or four people always manage to inform me about things I [...]
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