Back in April, we had our sixth instalment of our long-running series on the evolution of the navy – looking at how the Royal Navy evolved and came to be the establishment it is today. We left off as James II fled to France and William of Orange took the British throne for himself, so let’s take a look at how the following years impacted the Royal Navy. As Louis XIV of France had signed
A little while ago, we started to look at how some nautical words and phrases have found their way into our everyday vocabulary. Many people use these colloquialisms today without ever knowing the true meaning behind them. Today, we’ll carry on our series as we look at more nautical terminology that has found its way into our language and the original meanings. The Bitter End Meaning: to do something until it is completely finished. This
Recently, we have been running a series that has been looking at the most influential sailors in history. We have already looked at Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, Captain James Cook, and more recently Jessica Watson. In this post, we will be looking at a sailor that almost everyone has heard of – Christopher Columbus. He is best known as an Italian explorer who was responsible for initiating the Spanish colonisation of the ‘New World’. Early Life
It’s been a while since we last took a look at how the Royal Navy evolved into the great force it is today, but fear not! Today we shall pick up again where we last left off. In part five, we talked about how the Commonwealth had a huge effect on the development of the navy. So let’s take a look at what happened next, as Charles II reclaimed the throne and took control of
In our last instalment of the most famous ships in history, we looked at the British ship HMS Warspite, a ship that was used in two world wars. Today, we’ll be looking at the HMS Bounty, a Royal Navy ship that’s famous for the mutiny that took place in 1789. Beginnings and Initial Mission The Bounty was built in 1784, in a shipyard in East Yorkshire. Three years after the vessel had been constructed, the Royal
Previously, we started to look at some of the world’s most influential sailors, from past and present. In our past two blog posts, we have already looked at Sir Robin Knox-Johnston and Captain James Cook. This time, we decided to change our focus entirely and not only give attention to someone who sailed within the last 6 years, but also look at a female sailor. We’re looking at Jessica Watson; the youngest sailor to sail
Tuesday 10th March saw the traditional naming ceremony of the largest cruise ship for P&O Cruises and the 11th largest in the world. The ship was christened with the name Britannia, the same name as the Queen’s former Royal Yacht which was decommissioned in 1997. Queen Elizabeth II travelled to Southampton to carry out the ceremony, where she declared the name of the ship and pressed a button which brought a bottle of sparkling wine
In our last post, we looked at the naming of the brand new cruise liner, Britannia. But do we ever think about the old ships that are being replaced? What becomes of these grand old vessels that once carried thousands across the water? Today, we shall delve into the fate of these old ladies that shall never again rule the seas. S.S. United States This cruise ship was once the jewel in the crown of
We recently started an interesting series talking about some of the most influential sailors of all time, kicking off with Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first man to single-handedly sail non-stop around the globe. Today, we shall carry on our series by jumping back in time to the 18th century and looking at Captain James Cook. Born in 1728, James Cook grew up in Yorkshire as the son of a farm worker. At the age of
Throughout history, the world of sailing has been a great inspiration for culture and language. You may not know it, but there are plenty of commonly used phrases whose origins are nautical, and you probably use them every day. Today, we’ll take a look at some of the phrases that began at sea and have now become part of our everyday vocabulary. By and Large Meaning: generally speaking; on the whole. The words ‘by’ and