The Mariners Mirror Archive
Dorothea Duff: Female seafaring pioneer or serial fantasist?
This short note explores the life and alleged sea faring adventures of Dorothea Duff in the early 20th century. The author suggests that contrary to Duff’s claims of having served before the mast on two square riggers sailing from Australia to the UK, the evidence suggests she actually travelled as a passenger. The author also […] Read More
Filed under: Interwar
Subjects include: Biography | Science & Exploration
David Elder: The father of marine engineering
Robert Napier is often regarded as a great engineer and the ‘father of Clyde shipbuilding’. However, most commentators do not fairly represent the contribution of his chief engineer David Elder to the establishment of the reputation and success of Clyde shipbuilding and marine engineering in the mid-nineteenth century. Elder served as Napier’s works manager for […] Read More
Filed under: Nineteenth Century
Subjects include: Biography | Shipbuilding & Design
The Archaeology of Second World War U-boat Losses in the English Channel and its Impact on the Historical Record
This article examines how the archaeological record of 33 U-boats sunk in the English Channel during the Inshore Campaign, June 1944 to May 1945, compares with the assessment of U-boat destructions made by the Admiralty’s Anti U-boat Division (AUBD) in 1946. Comparison of the two shows an accuracy rate of 57 per cent across the […] Read More
Filed under: English Channel | WW2
Subjects include: Archaeology | Navies | Submarines
William Schaw Lindsay and the Oceangoing Auxiliary Steamer
The adoption of steam engines for oceangoing vessels in the mid nineteenth century revolutionized shipping. On the face of it shipbuilders were presented with two choices. They could either strive to improve the sailing ship, or they could design a vessel that employed steam as the primary source of power. In fact, the choice was […] Read More
Filed under: Nineteenth Century
Subjects include: Merchant Marines | Shipbuilding & Design
Pitch, Paint, Varnish and the Changing Colour Schemes of Royal Navy Warships, 1775–1815: A summary of existing knowledge
It is a long-standing assumption that the colour scheme of British warships between 1775 and 1815 changed from yellow hulls, through the yellow and black Nelson chequer to the ubiquitous black and white; while the interiors and bulwarks were first painted red, then yellow ochre, then a range of light colours including green. In the […] Read More
Filed under: Napoleonic War | French Revolution
Subjects include: Historic Vessels, Museums & Restoration | Navies
Sustaining British Naval Power Through New England Masts During the Seven Years War
This study focuses on the Royal Navy’s use of American naval stores, especially New England masts, during the Seven Years War. It highlights the significance of the eastward naval logistics of American naval stores across the Atlantic, based on records revealing the navy’s constant effort to sustain these logistics in the British Atlantic world. Drawing […] Read More
Filed under: Atlantic | Seven Years’ War
Subjects include: Harbours & Dockyards | Logistics | Navies
A Re-appraisal of the King’s Ships in the Reigns of Richard I and John, 1189–1216
Claims have been made for the establishment of an English royal navy in the twelfth century. This article offers a reappraisal of the documentary evidence to assess whether Richard the Lionheart or his younger brother John can be credited with creating this instrument of royal power. Their use of ships in warfare and the possession […] Read More
Filed under: English Channel | Early Modern
Subjects include: Administration | Harbours & Dockyards | Logistics | Navies
Delayed Adjustment: Economic crisis, political change and state intervention in the Spanish shipbuilding industry, about 1975–1990
This article seeks to explain the impact of the international shipping crisis of the 1970s on the Spanish shipbuilding industry (then the third biggest in Europe after Sweden and Germany) and the responses to the crisis given by the state and by shipyards. It contributes to the literature on the decline of merchant shipbuilding in […] Read More
Filed under: Atlantic | Other (Twentieth C)
Subjects include: Shipbuilding & Design
An Ethnography of Shetland’s Oldest Boat, the Sixareen Mary LK 981
The Mary LK 981 is the oldest surviving Shetland-built boat. Detailed recording of surviving examples of Shetland’s boats has been rare, and where undertaken, has focused on analysing overall boat form rather than their biographies. However, previous work has been critiqued as too narrowly focused on hull form and the direct connection between Shetland’s small boats and […] Read More
Filed under: North Sea | Other (Nineteenth C)
Subjects include: Historic Vessels, Museums & Restoration | Shipbuilding & Design
The Battle of Jutland, Through a Looking-glass
The German High Seas Fleet’s sorties in strength after the battle of Jutland were few and inconclusive, but as a ‘fleet in being’ it remained a powerful threat. Britain’s Admiralty, alive to the tactical issues thrown up by Jutland’s titanic clash, was anxious to learn what had gone wrong. Luckily for the British, German veterans […] Read More
Filed under: WW1 | North Sea | Jutland
Subjects include: Battles & Tactics