The Novara scientific expedition, 1857-59 Title page of the official report on the Novara Expedition The Natural History (Naturhistorisches) museum in Vienna, Austria, is one of the largest – and most impressive – institutions of its type in the world. My wife and I spent two days there in September 2016 and we could [...]

HMS Bellona vs. Courageux Duel: 1761 Devotees of naval history and fiction will know that the “74”, the so-called Third- Rate ships of the line, were the backbone of the fleets of the major European powers in the period 1756-1815. Though the type is primarily thought of as British, the original concept, dating from the 1740s, [...]

First Blood 1914: HMS Amphion and SMS Königin Luise On 4th August 1914 Germany rejected the British ultimatum to withdraw from neutral Belgium, which had been invaded in the preceding days. From 2300 hrs that evening both countries were at war.  Britain’s Royal Navy was already on a war footing and sweeps of the North Sea were already [...]

The Wreck of the Rothsay Castle 1831 A number of articles on this blog site have dealt with 19th Century shipping disasters. There is a horrible fascination about them since they illustrate how the management of civilian shipping was often so lackadaisical and how command, control and management techniques did not keep pace with [...]