Maritime

The Great Strike of 1889

During an industrial conflict that lasted five weeks and brought the Port of London to a standstill, writes R.B. Oram, the “close fraternity of the docks” struck for better working conditions and more generous rates of pay.

The Blockade of Venezuela

In 1902, writes Norman Wilkinson, a revolutionary dictator named Castro provoked an Anglo-German naval demonstration off the coast of Venezuela.

Victory on Lake Nyasa

The opening naval battle of the First World War took place not in the North Sea but in Central Africa in August 1914. It would change the course of the African conflict in Britain’s favour, says Janie Hampton.

Elsinore and the Danish Sound Dues

For over 400 years, writes Oliver Warner, the Sovereigns of Denmark exacted dues from all ships using the Sounds at the entrance to the Baltic Sea.

Mutiny at Wilhelmshaven, 1918

David Woodward describes how the crews of the destroyer flotilla of the German High Sea Fleet mutinied at the end of the First World War.

Great Britain and the Confederate Navy, 1861—1865

The Civil War coincided with an era in naval technology that was revolutionizing sea warfare.” Could the Confederate government build a fleet of “ironclad blockade breakers” in the shipyards of neutral Great Britain? By Frank J. Merli and Thomas W. Green.