Maritime

The Fighting Galley

Bryan Waites describes how, both in the Mediterranean and in the Atlantic, the medieval powers of Europe found that the oared galley was a very effective weapon of war.

The Vergulde Draeck

C.R. Boxer describes how one of the Dutch Indiamen carrying pieces of eight to the East Indies was fatally wrecked off the western coast of Australia in 1656.

Waddell’s War on the Whalers

Tom H. Inkster describes how, nearly four months after the collapse of the Confederacy, a gallant Confederate naval officer was still bent on the destruction of Union shipping.

Malacca: the Key to the East

George Woodcock describes how Malacca was once a city so rich that “its merchants valued garlic more highly than gold,” and how it has slowly dwindled in wealth and importance since the middle of the seventeenth century.