Maritime history

Lemuel F Abbott's famous 1797 portrait of Horatio Nelson. In 1805, the British naval hero promised to speak publicly against the abolition of slavery, but was denied the opportunity by his death at Trafalgar later that year. (Picture by Alamy)

Lord Nelson and slavery: Nelson’s dark side

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The pirate John Avery and his crew capture the the Moghul emperor Aurangzeb 's ship in the Indian ocean in the late 17th century. (Photo by Getty Images)

Henry Avery: the legendary 17th-century pirate . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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The US cutter Spencer attacks U-boat U-175

The Battle of the Atlantic: why Britain almost lost to Hitler’s U-boats . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Charles Cundall’s painting ‘The Withdrawal From Dunkirk, June 1940’

Second World War

9 things you (probably) didn’t know about Dunkirk

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Welcome home: the cruiser 'Exeter' arrives back at Plymouth, c15 February 1940, after taking part in the battle of the River Plate. The action resulted in the scuttling of the German pocket battleship 'Admiral Graf Spee', which had sent several British merchant ships to the bottom of the Atlantic. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The Battle of the Atlantic: the “desperate” WW2 campaign featured in Tom Hanks film Greyhound

Painting of Bligh and those loyal to him being cast adrift from the Bounty in a small boat

Mutiny on the Bounty: the incredible tale of how castaway captain William Bligh made it back to England

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Illustration of Elizabeth I in a cage

What if... The Spanish Armada had landed? . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Battle of Lepanto between Holy League soldiers and Ottoman troops

The battle of Lepanto: when Ottoman forces clashed with Christians

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Historian Stephen Tomkins (Photo by Fran Monks)

Puritans and the Mayflower . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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German submarine on mission in the Atlantic ocean, 1942/1943 (Photo by ullstein bild via Getty Images)

World War Two’s secret heroes . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Cunard liner Lusitania

How did Britain react to the sinking of the Lusitania?

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The American aircraft carrier USS Yorktown is being bombed in the Battle of Midway, June 1942. (Photo by Corbis via Getty Images)

Midway: the Pacific War on screen . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

'Yorktown' sustains a hit during the battle of Midway. The US aircraft carrier sank three days later but, by then, the Japanese had accepted that their attempt to land a war-winning blow had failed. (Photo by © CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

How miraculous was the battle of Midway?

Simon the cat

10 top cats in history

Illustration of pirate John Ward

Pirate John Ward: the real Captain Jack Sparrow