Global Maritime History (@globalmarhist) Bsky

@matildasidel.bsky.social hello, thanks for following us. Would you be interested in writing a blog post for us about your work? We very much enjoy helping promote grad students

8 hours ago 1 0 0 0

My "Writing the History of the Royal Navy, 1945-2020" is out with IJMH (link in next text), surveying interesting new work by Ed Hampshire and Peter Hore, and covering mistakes in existing work such as the Official History of the Falklands Campaign, and where gaps remain. 1/2

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Please check out this *fascinating* programme for next week. I'm really looking forward to attending online as much as I can. There are some really neat talks that are going to be there, and lots of friends of @globalmarhist.bsky.social like Meaghan Walker and Seth LeJacq

22 hours ago 7 5 0 0

SWAAN Workshop Programme & Registration - Global Maritime History Please have a look at this fascinating programme for the SWAAN Workshop for April 29-May 1, 2026 SWAAN Workshop Programme Maritime History Archive, MUN Wednesday, April 29 Newfoundland Women & Stories Eastern NL UK CEST 7:00 AM 8:30 AM 12:00 PM 13:00 Arrival at Maritime History Archive 7:15 AM 8:45 AM 12:15 PM 13:15 Welcome to MUN and the MHA from SWAAN Leader Dr. Julia Stryker 7:30 AM 9:00 AM 12:30 PM 13:30 Session 1.1 – Dr. Vicki Hallett, Memorial University of Newfoundland Trouble with Women, Cod, and Archives: Multispecies Entanglement in NL’s Colonial History 8:30 AM 10:00 AM 1:30 PM 14:30 Break 8:45 AM 10:15 AM 1:45 PM 14:45 Session 1.2 – Zara Money, University of Exeter: Global Fishwives: Finding Evidence of Women in the Early Modern Maritime Economy 9:45 AM 11:15 AM 2:45 PM 15:45 Break 10:00 AM 11:30 AM 3:00 PM 16:00 Keynote Address – Dr. Julia Laite, Birkbeck Univesity of London: Shanawdithit’s Canoe and Other Stories: Beothuk Women and Newfoundland’s Maritime History 11:00 AM 12:30 PM 4:00 PM 17:00 Lunch 12:15 PM 1:45 PM 5:15 PM 18:15 Session 1.3 – Dr. Valerie Burton, Memorial University of Newfoundland Emeritus And Dr. Meaghan Walker, Independent Scholar A Turn in the Tide of Gender: The Newfoundland Shipmaster, the New Era Feminist and a Maritime History Archive Collection 1:15 PM 2:45 PM 6:15 PM 19:15 Break 1:30 PM 3:00 PM 6:30 PM 19:30 Tour and History at the Maritime History Archive 3:30 PM 5:00 PM 8:30 PM 21:30 End of the Day Thursday, April 30 Women’s Labour & Danger at Sea Eastern NL UK CEST 7:00 AM 8:30 AM 12:00 PM 13:00 Arrival at Maritime History Archive 7:30 AM 9:00 AM 12:30 PM 13:30 Session 2.1 – Alexandre Yingst, University of Iceland Characteristics of a Society at Sea: An In-depth Look at Labor, Gender, and Mobility iceland 8:15 AM 9:45 AM 1:15 PM 14:15 Break 8:30 AM 10:00 AM 1:30 PM 14:30 Session 2.2 – Dr. Eliška Bujoková, Universities of Glasgow and New Brunswick The Female Captive in the Anglo-French Wars of the Eighteenth Century 9:15 AM 10:45 AM 2:15 PM 15:15 Break 9:30 AM 11:00 AM 2:30 PM 15:30 Session 2.3 – Dr. Seth Stein LeJacq, City University of New York, Hunter College Hidden Crimes: Sexual Violence and Britain’s Navy in the Age of Sail 10:15 AM 11:45 AM 3:15 PM 16:15 Lunch 12:15 PM 1:45 PM 5:15 PM 18:15 Session 2.4 – Dr. Darlene Abreu-Ferreira, University of Winnipeg Enslaved Women’s Work in a Maritime Community 1:00 PM 2:30 PM 6:00 PM 19:00 Break 1:30 PM 3:00 PM 6:30 PM 19:30 Visit to the QEII Library Archive & Special Collections w. Michaela Doucette 3:30 PM 5:00 PM 8:30 PM 21:30 End of the Day Friday, May 1 Maritime Economic and Emotional Labour Eastern NL UK CEST 7:00 AM 8:30 AM 12:00 PM 13:00 Arrival at Maritime History Archive 7:30 AM 9:00 AM 12:30 PM 13:30 Session 3.1 – Hannah Gibbons, University of Exeter The Lure of Capital: Women and Enterprise in Eighteenth-century Thames-side London 8:15 AM 9:45 AM 1:15 PM 14:15 Break 8:30 AM 10:00 AM 1:30 PM 14:30 Session 3.2 – Margot J. Dixon, Independent Scholar Winnifred May Robbins Goudey (1878-1958) and her Nova Scotian Seafaring Family 9:15 AM 10:45 AM 2:15 PM 15:15 Break 9:30 AM 11:00 AM 2:30 PM 15:30 Session 3.3 – Lisa Wojahn, University of Exeter Martial Femininity: Women’s Labor in Advancing the Professional Success of the Royal Navy Officer Husbands in the Long-nineteenth Century 10:15 AM 11:45 AM 3:15 PM 16:15 Lunch 12:15 PM 1:45 PM 5:15 PM 18:15 Session 3.4: Dr. Kristof Loockx, University of Antwerp Coping with Absense in the Age of Steam: What Maritime Households Add to Gender, Labor and Family History 1:00 PM 2:30 PM 6:00 PM 19:00 Transportation to the Rooms 1:30 PM 3:00 PM 6:30 PM 19:30 Visit to the Provincial Archives at the Rooms w. Ellen Power 3:30 PM 5:00 PM 8:30 PM 21:30 End of the Day The link to register is here, and you can register for in-person or online attendance

22 hours ago 6 3 0 1

ticketpass.org/event/EBVOMP...

Check out this very cool event. May 1st, at Lloyds Fenchurch St

1 week ago 4 6 0 0

When Canada came to Christchurch - Global Maritime History One of the most important events in Christchurch’s history was the 1906 New Zealand International Exhibition. Not surprisingly this event featured contributions from Canada, a fellow British colony, also looking to promote itself to the world. Brainchild of Premier Richard Seddon, the New Zealand International Exhibition of Arts and Industries opened in Hagley Park on 1 November 1906. It was part of a trend of expos, Worlds Fairs and exhibitions that continues to this day, and which began with the 1851 Great Exhibition in London. New Zealand and Canada exhibited at many of the subsequent exhibitions, and held their own. Canada built their own Crystal Palace for the Montreal Industrial Exhibition of 1860, and New Zealand held its first exhibition in Dunedin in 1865. The 1906 event was designed not simply to show off New Zealand but to also allow other parts of the empire (Australia, Britain, Fiji, and Canada – so maybe international lite?) to promote their wares too. The exhibition was divided into courts for countries as well as national organisations. The exhibition was written up in great detail by journalist and historian James Cowan in the Official Record of the International Exhibition of Arts and Industries held at Christchurch, 1906-7. (All quotes from pages 242 – 249) Cowan gives the Canadian Court, located near the Armagh Street entrance to Hagley Park with its own pavilion front, a glowing write up: Incomparably the finest commercial and industrial display from outside the boundaries of New Zealand was that furnished by the Dominion of Canada [… ] New Zealanders were not unfamiliar with the enormous range of natural resources and wealth that the great Dominion possesses, but the extraordinarily varied character of her products and the excellence of quality of the article manufactured from the raw material was an eye opener equally to the businessman and the manufacturer and to the ordinary sight-seeing visitor. Cowan also reveals that the Canadian authorities are committed to promoting themselves via such exhibitions: The Domain spends about £50,000 annually this way, and considers the money expended a good investment. One local paper, the Lyttelton Times, provided an extensive report on the opening events of the exhibition and previews of all the courts. This article records the speeches of the great and the good at opening. The then Premier, Sir Joseph Ward, who was also president of the exhibition, revealed in his address that this event was the most advanced on the opening day of any exhibition: I thank particularly Canada and Australia for that they have done. The Canadians set a good example. They were the first in the field, and to their credit be it said that the flag was hoisted over the Canadian Court, finally finished, at six o’clock this morning. It was the first flag to fly in token that the Exhibition was completed. (Loud applause). Hurrah! There were also many messages from the great and the good, including Canada’s Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier: “Canada sends greetings to the sister colony on the opening of the Exhibition tomorrow, and best wishes for success. Much gratified to participate, and trust that Canada’s exhibits will add interest.” Ward’s reply was suitably gushing: New Zealand heartily reciprocated and appreciates Canada’s good wishes. Exhibition magnificent success. Canada’s display a credit to your country and hope the forerunner of increased commercial relations. And that was really the crux of the whole endeavour – commerce. So what products did Canada show off at its court? What did it look like? Describing a route around the main building the Lyttelton Times reveals that having reached the end of the southern part of the main building the visitor, Is close to the Canadian Court, which cannot be missed. The word “Canada” fills the eye, and Canadian products, manufacturers and arts and crafts engage the attention. Canada, of course, has a complete exhibition of her own, and any time can be spent in that court. As a matter of fact, it can be visited again and again, and will always be found to offer fresh attractions. Well this all sounds lovely! Apparently the mineral section was the most notable of the court. However, its contents haven’t aged well…. Canada supplies 90% of the world’s asbestos. Canadian asbestos has the has the longest fibre, and for that reason is the most popular for working up into manufactured articles. The exhibit shows asbestos as it is found in the rock, and there are also examples of finished products. I hope they cleaned up well when the exhibition was over! As well as less toxic minerals, there were examples of wood and wood crafts, papermaking, fibreware, indigenous cedar canoes, maple sugar and honey, galoshes, pianos and a “beautifully arranged” display of bottled fruits. The official record also notes: whisky, bicycles, musical instruments, toys, typewriters and “ladders of all kinds of the latest and most useful patterns”. Phew! There were 1400 cases containing these exhibits, stretching over 14,000 feet. The walls were decorated: In red art muslin with panels of straw arranged in exceedingly pretty fashion, while over every arch – and there are many – is the inscription “Canada” worked in corn cobs surrounded with a border of sheaves, an appropriate design for the go-ahead colony which is “the granary of the world”. I really wish I could have seen this spectacle, and this was just one court! (Were the bottled fruits available to taste?) Canada also sent over two commissioners, Mr T H Race and Mr W A Burns, and three experts. They were Mr R L Broadbent, mineralogist (hope the asbestos didn’t get him!), Mr A W Despard in charge of decorations, and Mr H C Knowlton, who was in charge of the fruit and other food (did they have to replace some of the food? Was it all preserved?). The 1906 exhibition was a huge event for Christchurch and for the whole country, and it has also been very well documented, which has helped me pull all these details […]

1 week ago 2 1 0 0

The Stone Witnesses: What Were Portugal's Padrões? - Global Maritime History Andrei Romanov is an independent historian and economist based in the Algarve, Portugal, the coastline from which many of the Portuguese Age of Discovery voyages were launched. He is the author of Mas...

wp.me/p9nqgh-3ni The Stone Witnesses: What Were Portugal's Padrões? Thank you to Andrei Romanov for this first post in his series about Padrões

2 weeks ago 1 1 0 0

“Filth so foul and stench so offensive as not to be imagined” - Global Maritime History Have you ever wondered what ships smelled like in the Age of Sail? As part of our monthly “Health at Sea in the Age of Sail” series, here we reconstruct the pungent, acrid, and sometimes overwhelmingly fetid olfactory world of the wooden sailing ship—from bilge water and tar to unwashed bodies and human cargo. We consider what those smells can tell us about health, hygiene, and survival at sea. Endure… … during the voyage there is on board these ships terrible misery, stench, fumes, horror, vomiting, many kinds of sea-sickness, fever, dysentery, headache, heat, constipation, boils, scurvy, cancer, mouth-rot, and the like, all of which come from old and sharply salted food and meat, also from very bad and foul water, so that many die miserably. Today, references to the Golden Age of Sail often provoke a sense of nostalgia. However, shipboard life on the era’s long-haul oceanic voyages was anything but romantic. Crews’ berths were usually located in their ship’s forecastle, where health and sanitary conditions gradually deteriorated. Even on “first-class” ships, sailors’ chests were often “black from the gas which rises from the cargo, and which smells like sewage …” Worse still, Captain Henry Toynbee (1819–1909) reported having served on a ship that “was carrying two packs of foxhounds and three horses, which received half [their] ventilation by a hatch which opened into the sailors’ forecastle.” Dark, often damp, and always cramped, sickening smells became increasingly dominant: … the ’tween deck was crammed, with casks, and cases, and chests, and bags, and hammocks … the stench of bilge-water, combining with the smoke of tobacco, the effluvia [rancid smells] of gin and beer, the frying of beef-steaks and onions, and red herrings … A single candle served to make darkness visible, and the stench had nearly overpowered me. Below deck, rats, rotting food, foul bilge water, wet canvas, the ship’s decaying wooden structure, and a general lack of ventilation added to the smells of pine tar, pitch, turpentine, and the more unpleasant odors associated with human necessities—and even with the storage of dead bodies—to produce a “stench so offensive as not to be imagined,” even by contemporary standards. Ventilation was a particular problem in the tight crew quarters. On Royal Navy vessels, the lower decks were regularly ventilated, or at least fumigated by burning brimstone (sulfur). Although ratings (non-commissioned sailors) slept on the gun decks, where gun ports could be opened, the atmosphere on the orlop (lowest) deck and in the hold was often heavy with noxious fumes and stagnant air. Moreover, the lower decks were periodically scrubbed with vinegar, thus adding to the nauseatingly unpleasant blend of odors. On French ships, ventilation was a rarity, however. Combined with the French habit of storing the deceased in the ship’s ballast to eventually provide them with a proper Catholic burial upon their return to home shores, noxious, mildewed smells rapidly became overwhelming: It is impossible to remain many minutes among the hammocks without experiencing a sensation of suffocation and nausea; indeed it is only necessary to lean over the main-hatch … to recognize the heavy mawkish [faint sickly] odor that arises and betokens the over-crowding of human beings. Such conditions, worsened by incessant leakage and continuously wet hammocks, exacerbated the onset of scurvy, since higher doses of vitamin C are required in damp and cold environments. After several months without fresh fruit or vegetables, sailors’ gums would become swollen and putrid, soon progressing to a state where many would cut away large chunks of flesh from their own numb mouths. Eventually, as the men’s energy flagged and they became increasingly lethargic, black ulcers developed and their bodies started to decompose. The smell of rotting flesh became a common occurrence. Lacking modern medical insights, many sailors feared that their scurvy-ridden bodies had been infested by the “malodorous” vapors of the oceans. The cure, they thought, could be found in the smell of earth, by their mere presence on dry land, or even by washing their mouths with their own urine—as the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama (1469–1524) had suggested. By the eighteenth century it was widely accepted that “miasmas”—foul odors, allegedly also including salty seaside mists—spread illness and disease. Doctors’ orders to avoid cesspools, animal carcasses, and garbage piles were followed religiously until germ theory had taken center stage by the late nineteenth century. Odors were not to blame for the rampant spread of disease, of course. Poor hygiene was: “… the lice abound so frightfully, especially on sick people, that they can be scraped off the body.” Infestations of fleas, ticks, lice, cockroaches, spiders, worms, and “vermin of all kinds” hiding in cracks and crevices—particularly in the moist bandages of the unfortunate souls recovering in sick bay—were the norm rather than the exception. Cockroaches, in particular, spread viral, bacterial, and fungal diseases. Cockroach infestations were common. As a case in point, the US naval officer and author Daniel Ammen (1820–1898) explained: There was one condition … that was disagreeable in the extreme, … cockroaches; everywhere below decks it was ever present and repulsive. As soon as the hammocks were hung up, these pests would sally forth from their hiding places and fly around, chasing one another in joyful glee. The continuously moist conditions below deck literally bred diseases such as “ship’s fever” (typhus) and typhoid, later followed by the new diseases of exploration, including yellow fever and syphilis. As voyages progressed, many sailors gradually abandoned most norms of common decency, often relieving themselves into the ship’s bilge, next to or under the guns, or even in the general hold. On merchant vessels, sailors often mustered with just the clothes on their backs. If they got around to doing their laundry at all, they used buckets of seawater—after first bleaching their clothing in urine, which was stored in large barrels specifically for that purpose. It is therefore not surprising that reports abound of European merchant vessels that were “mighty foul and stink withal; the most men not troubling themselves to go on deck for their necessities,” often until […]

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We have several very interesting posts for our Academic Processes and Digital Humanities Series coming up over the next few months but we're always looking for new authors so if you'd like to contribute, please get in touch with us

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Please register now for the Naval Dockyards Society 30th Annual Conference (Hybrid) - Global Maritime History Naval Dockyards Society 30th Annual Conference (Hybrid) National Maritime Museum Greenwich Saturday 28 March 2026 Sponsored by the Society for Nautical Research Aftermath of the 1956 Suez Crisis: Global Ramifications and Reflections for Dockyards and Shipyards Conference registration is now open. Attendance is available In Person or Online. The Booking Deadline for the Conference is March 23rd 2026. To complete your booking form please click HERE Everything you need to know about our conference speakers and presentations along with the conference programme is presented below. We are really looking forward to seeing you at Greenwich on March 23rd so please complete your booking early. Conference Abstracts and Biographies Dr Samantha Middleton, From Convoys to Crisis: How the WWII Maritime Infrastructure shaped Britain’s Strategic Failure in Suez and its Aftermath for Dockyards and Shipyards The 1956 Suez Crisis has often been portrayed as the symbolic end of Britain’s imperial era, yet its roots and repercussions cannot be fully understood without reference to the vast maritime infrastructure constructed during the Second World War. This paper examines how Britain’s wartime shipyards, dockyards, and global base network— originally built to sustain Atlantic convoys and far-flung naval operations—shaped both the ambitions that drove the Suez intervention and the strategic failures that followed. During the Battle of the Atlantic, Britain created an unparalleled logistical system: expanded home dockyards, high-output shipbuilding centres, repair facilities across the empire, and a global chain of fuelling and support bases. This infrastructure underpinned postwar assumptions that Britain could continue to act as a world naval power. By 1956, however, the geopolitical landscape had changed even as Britain attempted to employ an essentially WWII-era maritime model to execute a Cold War operation. The Suez crisis exposed the obsolescence and vulnerability of this system. Britain’s dependence on overseas bases—many located in newly independent or politically unstable regions—was abruptly revealed. The crisis also underscored limits in fleet readiness, supply-line security, and the ability of domestic dockyards to support sustained global operations without American backing. As a result, Suez became a decisive trigger for a far-reaching reassessment of naval infrastructure. In the aftermath, successive defence reviews accelerated the contraction of wartime shipbuilding capacity, the closure or downgrading of imperial dockyards, and the restructuring of labour forces in historic maritime communities. This paper argues that Suez marked not merely a diplomatic defeat but the moment when Britain’s WWII maritime system definitively ceased to be viable. By linking wartime mobilisation to post-imperial retrenchment, the study offers new insight into how the legacies of the Battle of the Atlantic cast a long shadow over Britain’s naval policy, industrial landscape, and global identity. Biography Dr Middleton is an early career naval historian whose doctoral research examined the professionalisation of the Royal Navy between 1660 and 1688. Her thesis adopted a multidisciplinary approach, integrating naval history with accounting history, and demonstrated that principles of management control were consciously developed and implemented by James, Duke of York, Samuel Pepys and William Coventry. She is currently finalising a co-authored article on this research and has presented her findings at a range of international conferences in both accounting and naval history. Dr Middleton’s recent publications focus on the Battle of the Atlantic and the role of intelligence during the Second World War. David F. Winkler, Filling the Void: The Reluctant Superpower East of Suez During the first decades of the Cold War, the Middle East/Indian Ocean region remained a backwater for the U.S. Navy as a commitment to build NATO in Europe as a counterweight to the Soviet Union and Pacific theater proxy wars – first in Korea and then in Vietnam – took priority. This paper will overview the U.S. Navy’s Middle East Force which was based out of HMS Juffair in the British protectorate of Bahrain through a transitional period that includes the Suez Crisis, the signing of the Baghdad Pact and the formation of CENTO, the decision of the UK in 1968 to withdraw “East of Suez” in the early 1970s, and the reaction of the Nixon administration. The paper will detail the American decision to only occupy a portion of the former British naval base as the U.S. – instead of replacing the British as guardians of the Gulf – will resort to a “Twin Pillars” strategy that assigns Saudi Arabia and Iran the role of regional policemen. The strategy will falter in 1979 with the fall of the Shah of Iran and the United States will be forced to increase its regional footprint, establishing a maritime prepositioned force at British-controlled Diego Garcia. Also covered will be the decision by a newly independent Bahrain to “Evict” the Americans in the wake of the October 1973 Middle East War. – but were the Americans shown the door? Of note the paper will highlight the symbiotic relationship between the ruling Khalifa family in Bahrain with an out of region power – first Great Britain and then the United States – as the emirate faced regional threats with the first and foremost being Iran. It’s a dynamic that continues today. Biography Dr. David Winkler was the Naval Historical Foundation historian, taught at the US Naval Academy, and is an U.S. Naval War College adjunct professor. A retired U.S. Navy commander, he holds a PhD from American University, an MA from Washington University, and a BA from Penn State. His notable publications include: Incidents at Sea: American Confrontation and Cooperation with Russia and China; Amirs, Admirals, and Desert Sailors: The US Navy, Bahrain, and the Gulf; Witness to Neptune’s Inferno: The Pacific War Diary of Lloyd M. Mustin, and America’s First Aircraft Carrier: USS Langley and the Dawn of US Naval Aviation. Richard Holme, Sheerness Dockyards 1956–2026: Bad and good news. Sheerness naval dockyard closed in March 1960, just four years after Suez. The announcement of this, made in February 1958, also saw news of other closures and reductions. The Nore command, responsible inter alia for the Thames and Medway estuaries as well as the Humber and Harwich, was to be abolished in 1961. The […]

1 month ago 6 6 0 0

Lyttlelton Tales - Global Maritime History At the end of last year, I paid a visit with some friends to Lyttelton Anglican Cemetery to look for some specific people and also to find some new (to us) stories. Lyttelton is the port for Christchu...

globalmaritimehistory.com/lyttlelton-t...

Check out our newest post from our Christchurch Correspondent @katbhave.bsky.social

1 month ago 7 4 0 0

Print in Practice

A nice surprise for my birthday week: my first ‘proper’ academic publication, for UCL Press / Paper Trails. I hope you enjoy it!

ucldigitalpress.co.uk/BOOC/Article...

1 month ago 65 21 14 5

Print in Practice: read (it’s one access), learn and enjoy.

1 month ago 4 1 0 0

Lyttlelton Tales - Global Maritime History At the end of last year, I paid a visit with some friends to Lyttelton Anglican Cemetery to look for some specific people and also to find some new (to us) stories. Lyttelton is the port for Christchu...

globalmaritimehistory.com/lyttlelton-t...

Check out our newest post from our Christchurch Correspondent @katbhave.bsky.social

1 month ago 7 4 0 0

Please register now for the Naval Dockyards Society 30th Annual Conference (Hybrid) - Global Maritime History Naval Dockyards Society 30th Annual Conference (Hybrid) National Maritime Museum Greenwich Saturday 28 March 2026 Sponsored by the Society for Nautical Research Aftermath of the 1956 Suez Crisis: Global Ramifications and Reflections for Dockyards and Shipyards Conference registration is now open. Attendance is available In Person or Online. The Booking Deadline for the Conference is March 23rd 2026. To complete your booking form please click HERE Everything you need to know about our conference speakers and presentations along with the conference programme is presented below. We are really looking forward to seeing you at Greenwich on March 23rd so please complete your booking early. Conference Abstracts and Biographies Dr Samantha Middleton, From Convoys to Crisis: How the WWII Maritime Infrastructure shaped Britain’s Strategic Failure in Suez and its Aftermath for Dockyards and Shipyards The 1956 Suez Crisis has often been portrayed as the symbolic end of Britain’s imperial era, yet its roots and repercussions cannot be fully understood without reference to the vast maritime infrastructure constructed during the Second World War. This paper examines how Britain’s wartime shipyards, dockyards, and global base network— originally built to sustain Atlantic convoys and far-flung naval operations—shaped both the ambitions that drove the Suez intervention and the strategic failures that followed. During the Battle of the Atlantic, Britain created an unparalleled logistical system: expanded home dockyards, high-output shipbuilding centres, repair facilities across the empire, and a global chain of fuelling and support bases. This infrastructure underpinned postwar assumptions that Britain could continue to act as a world naval power. By 1956, however, the geopolitical landscape had changed even as Britain attempted to employ an essentially WWII-era maritime model to execute a Cold War operation. The Suez crisis exposed the obsolescence and vulnerability of this system. Britain’s dependence on overseas bases—many located in newly independent or politically unstable regions—was abruptly revealed. The crisis also underscored limits in fleet readiness, supply-line security, and the ability of domestic dockyards to support sustained global operations without American backing. As a result, Suez became a decisive trigger for a far-reaching reassessment of naval infrastructure. In the aftermath, successive defence reviews accelerated the contraction of wartime shipbuilding capacity, the closure or downgrading of imperial dockyards, and the restructuring of labour forces in historic maritime communities. This paper argues that Suez marked not merely a diplomatic defeat but the moment when Britain’s WWII maritime system definitively ceased to be viable. By linking wartime mobilisation to post-imperial retrenchment, the study offers new insight into how the legacies of the Battle of the Atlantic cast a long shadow over Britain’s naval policy, industrial landscape, and global identity. Biography Dr Middleton is an early career naval historian whose doctoral research examined the professionalisation of the Royal Navy between 1660 and 1688. Her thesis adopted a multidisciplinary approach, integrating naval history with accounting history, and demonstrated that principles of management control were consciously developed and implemented by James, Duke of York, Samuel Pepys and William Coventry. She is currently finalising a co-authored article on this research and has presented her findings at a range of international conferences in both accounting and naval history. Dr Middleton’s recent publications focus on the Battle of the Atlantic and the role of intelligence during the Second World War. David F. Winkler, Filling the Void: The Reluctant Superpower East of Suez During the first decades of the Cold War, the Middle East/Indian Ocean region remained a backwater for the U.S. Navy as a commitment to build NATO in Europe as a counterweight to the Soviet Union and Pacific theater proxy wars – first in Korea and then in Vietnam – took priority. This paper will overview the U.S. Navy’s Middle East Force which was based out of HMS Juffair in the British protectorate of Bahrain through a transitional period that includes the Suez Crisis, the signing of the Baghdad Pact and the formation of CENTO, the decision of the UK in 1968 to withdraw “East of Suez” in the early 1970s, and the reaction of the Nixon administration. The paper will detail the American decision to only occupy a portion of the former British naval base as the U.S. – instead of replacing the British as guardians of the Gulf – will resort to a “Twin Pillars” strategy that assigns Saudi Arabia and Iran the role of regional policemen. The strategy will falter in 1979 with the fall of the Shah of Iran and the United States will be forced to increase its regional footprint, establishing a maritime prepositioned force at British-controlled Diego Garcia. Also covered will be the decision by a newly independent Bahrain to “Evict” the Americans in the wake of the October 1973 Middle East War. – but were the Americans shown the door? Of note the paper will highlight the symbiotic relationship between the ruling Khalifa family in Bahrain with an out of region power – first Great Britain and then the United States – as the emirate faced regional threats with the first and foremost being Iran. It’s a dynamic that continues today. Biography Dr. David Winkler was the Naval Historical Foundation historian, taught at the US Naval Academy, and is an U.S. Naval War College adjunct professor. A retired U.S. Navy commander, he holds a PhD from American University, an MA from Washington University, and a BA from Penn State. His notable publications include: Incidents at Sea: American Confrontation and Cooperation with Russia and China; Amirs, Admirals, and Desert Sailors: The US Navy, Bahrain, and the Gulf; Witness to Neptune’s Inferno: The Pacific War Diary of Lloyd M. Mustin, and America’s First Aircraft Carrier: USS Langley and the Dawn of US Naval Aviation. Richard Holme, Sheerness Dockyards 1956–2026: Bad and good news. Sheerness naval dockyard closed in March 1960, just four years after Suez. The announcement of this, made in February 1958, also saw news of other closures and reductions. The Nore command, responsible inter alia for the Thames and Medway estuaries as well as the Humber and Harwich, was to be abolished in 1961. The […]

1 month ago 6 6 0 0

The first Asian people to be recorded in the early republic USA were Chinese and Indian sailors who were pretty cruelly stranded in Baltimore

1 month ago 7 1 0 0

Found it online as well 😊

Enjoy the details :-)

open.smk.dk/artwork/iiif...

1 month ago 8 3 1 0

Arzu Dutta - 16/02/2026 - BBC Sounds Conversation and music for South Asian communities with Arzu Dutta.

I come in at around the 1:16:00 mark and there are music breaks in between.

I was evidently really intense when discussing the lack of Global Majority representation in the media/broadcasting world (one of my biggest career goals ever is to become a presenter).

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

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New GMH Staffer Noor was on the Beeb

1 month ago 3 1 0 0

Completely forgot to mention on here that, last Monday, I was invited to be BBC Asian Network's 'Chai and Chat' guest at their BBC Radio Leeds studio - I'm still pinching myself!

I'll include the link below for anyone who is interested in giving it a listen. I was *very* nervous!

1 month ago 4 1 1 1

My first proper blog post for @globalmarhist.bsky.social 🙌🏻 This is the source I repeatedly return to when I teach others about Caribbean slavery.

There is so much that can be gleaned from this source alone. My post discusses some of the features!

4 months ago 41 13 1 1

2026 MWHN Conference - call for papers!

Join us in Romania this June to discuss all things military welfare and civil society. Deadline: 14 March 2026.

CfP attached and full details at militarywelfarehistory.com/2026-confere... #milwelfhist #civilsociety #charity #philanthropy

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Bound Bowels at Sea: Obstipation and the Limits of Maritime Medicine - Global Maritime History Last month, we talked about shipboard lavatories as part of our regular “Health at Sea in the Age of Sail” features. This month, we continue that theme by considering a very common affliction that cau...

wp.me/p9nqgh-3ly

Thank you to Richard DeGrijs for his latest Health and Sea/Maritime Medicine article.

1 month ago 4 5 0 0

and a sailor getting his stuff done while sitting on an anchor

Detail from ~1606 drawing of #Trekroner or #Victor (built ~1601)

chr4.dk/wp-content/u...

milhist.dk/tre-kroner/

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Bound Bowels at Sea: Obstipation and the Limits of Maritime Medicine - Global Maritime History Last month, we talked about shipboard lavatories as part of our regular “Health at Sea in the Age of Sail” features. This month, we continue that theme by considering a very common affliction that caused much embarrassment. A common embarrassment While the maritime history of disease has long been dominated by dramatic and outwardly visible afflictions—scurvy, dysentery, yellow fever—other conditions, less conspicuous but no less troubling, shaped the daily medical realities of life at sea. Among these was obstipation: the severe or persistent obstruction of the bowels, commonly termed ‘costiveness’ by early modern medical practitioners. Although rarely fatal, obstipation was nevertheless regarded as dangerous and uncomfortable—and potentially deadly if neglected. In the confined, regimented, and nutritionally impoverished environment of sailing ships, obstipation was a frequent complaint and a persistent source of anxiety for both patients and surgeons. Far from being a trivial inconvenience, the condition was believed capable of provoking fever, colic (sudden bouts of pain), delirium, and even death. Early modern medicine regarded regular evacuation of the bowels as essential to health, and the failure of this fundamental bodily function signalled dangerous internal disorder. At sea, where diet, water supply, mobility, privacy, and medication all conspired against normal digestion, obstipation emerged as a distinctively maritime problem. Early modern medical writers employed a flexible vocabulary to describe disordered bowel function. Costiveness, obstruction of the bowels, torpor (inactivity) of the intestines, and suppression of stool all appeared in surgical manuals and domestic medical guides. Obstipation referred not merely to infrequent defecation but to a stubborn resistance to purgation, often accompanied by abdominal pain or distension (swelling caused by pressure from the inside). Within humoral medicine, regular evacuation was essential to maintain balance. Retained excrement was thought to putrefy within the body, corrupting the humors and generating internal heat. The bowels were not passive conduits but active organs whose failure could poison the entire system. William Buchan (1729–1805) warned that costiveness “… lays the foundation of innumerable diseases …,” while naval surgeons feared that obstruction could rapidly progress to inflammation of the bowels or ileus, that is, disruption of normal intestinal function. Importantly, obstipation was not considered a local digestive inconvenience but a constitutional disturbance. Surgeons described it as both cause and consequence of fever, debility, and nervous disorder. This systemic framing made the condition a matter of urgent medical attention, particularly in environments where corrective measures were limited. Diet, water, and the shipboard gut The maritime diet of the Age of Sail was inherently constipating. Sailors subsisted largely on salted meat, hard biscuit, dried peas, and rice—foods low in fiber and difficult to digest. Fresh vegetables and fruit were often scarce or absent on long voyages, depriving the body of what surgeons recognised as natural ‘opening’ foods. Water scarcity compounded the problem. Drinking water was rationed, often foul-tasting, and frequently avoided by sailors who preferred beer or spirits. Chronic dehydration hardened stools and slowed intestinal transit, which was well understood by contemporary practitioners. James Lind (1716–1794) observed that costiveness was particularly common during long passages, when both diet and hydration were most restricted. Digestive irregularity was therefore not just an incidental inconvenience but an expected consequence of maritime provisioning. Surgeons anticipated bowel complaints on long voyages and stocked purgatives accordingly, regarding obstipation as an almost inevitable feature of shipboard life. Beyond diet, the physical and social conditions of life at sea interfered with normal bowel habits. Sailors lived in cramped quarters, slept in hammocks, and worked long watches that limited opportunities for privacy or regular defecation. Access to the ship’s head was constrained by weather, discipline, and the rhythms of naval routine. Motion further disrupted digestion. Surgeons noted that the constant pitching and rolling of a ship could either loosen or bind the bowels, depending on the individual. Prolonged inactivity during calm weather or illness was thought to encourage intestinal torpor, while fear and anxiety were also believed to inhibit natural evacuations. Regulation of bodies aboard ship was inseparable from discipline. Sailors were expected to conform to schedules that often conflicted with bodily needs, and complaints of constipation carried a degree of embarrassment. Obstipation thus occupied an uncomfortable space between medical necessity and social reservedness. The shipboard gut in crisis Obstipation frequently appeared as a complication of other illnesses. Fevers, inflammatory disorders, and wounds were all thought capable of suppressing bowel function, either through internal heat or the effects of medication. Post-operative obstipation was particularly feared. After amputations or major surgical interventions, failure of the bowels to move was seen as a dangerous sign, sometimes interpreted as a precursor to fatal inflammation. Naval hospital correspondence and surgeons’ returns repeatedly note costiveness and bowel obstruction following fever, injury, and surgical intervention, particularly among men recovering from amputations or prolonged illness. Reports to the British Sick and Hurt Board describe cases in which obstinate constipation provoked severe colic, vomiting, and dangerous abdominal distension, sometimes with fatal outcomes when purgation failed. Such presentations alarmed surgeons, who feared mechanical obstruction or gangrene of the intestines. Without surgical intervention or effective analgesia (pain relief), outcomes could be grim. Medications commonly used at sea exacerbated the problem. Opium, administered widely to relieve pain and dysentery, was well known to ‘bind the bowels’. Mercury and antimonial preparations likewise interfered with digestion. Surgeons thus faced a therapeutic dilemma: the drugs needed to treat one condition might provoke another. A ‘typical’ case of obstipation may have proceeded along the following lines. A seaman in his early thirties, admitted to a hospital ship after prolonged service in warm climates, was recorded as suffering from obstinate costiveness following a sudden onset of fever. Despite his fever’s subsidence, his bowels would not move for several days, and he complained of increasing abdominal pain, fullness, and nausea. Initial treatment with mild purgatives produced little effect. Stronger cathartics were hence administered, followed by repeated clysters (enemas), which eventually yielded scant, hardened stools. The patient’s condition could have fluctuated over several days. Periods of partial relief alternated with renewed distension and colic, raising concern among […]

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Image combining the cover of the new book, 'Teaching Slavery New approaches to Britain’s colonial past', co-authored by Katie Donington, Abdul Mohamud, Robin Whitburn, and Nicholas Draper.Plus logo of the 'Teaching Slavery in Scotland' web resource. Full abstract: "In this post we hear from historians involved in the creation of two new resources, launched in late 2025, to support the teaching of slavery in schools. In the opening section, Katie Donington, Abdul Mohamud and Robin Whitburn introduce their new co-authored book, ‘Teaching Slavery. New Approaches to Britain’s Colonial Past’, which brings together the latest academic research on Britain’s involvement in transatlantic slavery, with innovative thinking on the teaching of such challenging histories in the classroom. In part two, Jesús Sanjurjo-Ramos and Joseph Smith highlight ‘Teaching Slavery in Scotland’, a new online resource, in which teachers, academics, writers and creative professionals explore new ways to learn about the trade in enslaved African people. Central to both projects is close, long-term collaborative working between academic historians and history teachers in schools."

Today on the blog: making connections between new research on histories of slavery and teaching this subject in UK schools bit.ly/4rnVNXu.

Introducing the new web resource, 'Teaching Slavery in Scotland', and the co-authored OA book, 'Teaching Slavery. New Approaches to Britain’s Colonial Past'.

2 months ago 14 9 1 1

I remember making a teaching pack full of resources for teaching the histories of slavery during my undergraduate (as part of our public history module assessment). I love that there are now more resources like this so teachers don’t shy away from teaching it. There really is no excuse!

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🚨 Final week! Call for Papers closes next Friday, 20th Feb.

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Not a magic bullet: DNA and family history - Global Maritime History I’m not a scientist and DNA is pretty scientific, so there is no way I’m an expert in this area, and any errors in this piece are mine. But as a family historian and lay-person I have done a couple of...

globalmaritimehistory.com/not-a-magic-... Check out our newest post from @katbhave.bsky.social where she looks at DNA testing from the perspective of family history

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