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Royal Navy cruiser HMS Nigeria in dry dock after she struck a mine in 1941 while operating off Norway against a German coastal convoy. #RoyalNavy #WW2 #Waratsea

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

A useful guide to nautical knots for Millennials #Navy #tallships #Ageofsail

submitted 8 days ago • 1 comment

Really looking forward to this - if you are in the south west of England the first weekend in June come along.

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

USS Iowa firing her 16” main armament. Battleships - who doesn’t secretly regret their passing? #USNavy #WW2 #Dreadnoughts

submitted 12 days ago • 1 comment

Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Indefatigable passing through the Suez Canal during WW2 #RoyalNavy #WW2 #Eygpt

submitted 16 days ago • 1 comment

Neapolitan Bomb ketch in action against an Ottoman fortification from a sketch by R C Anderson done in 1780 Bob Ketches had no foremast to obstruct the huge mortars mounted in their bow. They bombarded targets on land with fused shells, two of which are shown in flight #Navy #ageofsail #Hornblower

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

Crossing the Line - A century old Royal Navy tradition that still goes on today when a ship crosses the equator. #Seafaring #RoyalNavy #ageofsail

submitted 24 days ago • 2 comments

The latest edition of Quarterdeck is out. #amreading #ageofsail #navy

submitted 26 days ago • 0 comments

Published Worldwide today! Book 3 in my Wolves WW2 series #WW2 #Uboats #BattleoftheAtlantic #RoyalNavy

submitted 37 days ago • 1 comment

As the size of merchant ships continues to grow, spare a thought for the harbour pilots who have to board them. #Pilots #Bulkcarriers #Containerships

submitted 37 days ago • 4 comments

HMS Victory anchored off the Isle of Wight by 19th century British artist John Wilson Carmichael #Nelson #RoyalNavy #Ageofsail

submitted 44 days ago • 2 comments

US Navy Motor Torpedo boat practice firing both its torpedoes in 1942 #WW2 #USNavy #MTB

submitted 50 days ago • 0 comments

Coming Soon! Book 3 in my Wolves WW2 series #WW2 #RoyalNavy #Uboats

submitted 51 days ago • 1 comment

Battle of Cheshme by Ivan Aivazovsky Russia’s greatest naval victory in 1770. It was a night action against an Ottoman fleet at anchor. A combination of poor Turkish ammunition handling and Russian fireships resulted in most of their ships fleet being destroyed. #Ageofsail #RussianNavy #Ottomans

submitted 54 days ago • 1 comment

The Fighting Temeraire by Geoff Hunt HMS Temeraire was made famous by Turner’s painting of her being towed to the breaker’s yard. She was a 98-gun 2nd rate that gained her nickname at Trafalgar when she came to the rescue of Nelson’s HMS Victory #Ageofsail #RoyalNavy #Nelson

submitted 58 days ago • 0 comments

Colin M Baxter has produced another wonderful piece of cover art for my new book Lone Wolf. I give him a passage from the manuscript, and he does the rest. Lone Wolf is the third book in my Sea of Wolves WW2 series, and will be published next month #WW2 #UBoats #RoyalNavy #USNavy

submitted 61 days ago • 1 comment

The Cantino planisphere, showing how the world looked in 1502 to the Portuguese during the first decades of the Age of Discoveries #Columbus #Portugal #Exploration

submitted 64 days ago • 1 comment

HMS Vanguard in heavy weather by Geoff Hunt She is the flagship of Rear Admiral Nelson and is off Sardinia in 1798 at the start of the Battle of the Nile Campaign. That night she will be dismasted in a storm, and rescued by HMS Alexander which will tow her to safety. #Nelson #RoyalNavy

submitted 68 days ago • 1 comment

Coming soon – Lone Wolf, Book 3 in my Sea of Wolves WW2 series “…the star shell burst , a brilliant second moon, painting a disc of sea icy white. Off to one side was the sleek shape of a U-boat, arrowing through the swell towards the convoy.” #AmReading #WW2 #RoyalNavy

submitted 72 days ago • 1 comment

The Hermione She is a replica of the 1779 32-gun French Navy frigate built at Rochefort that brought General La Fayette to America. #FrenchNavy #Ageofsail #sea

submitted 74 days ago • 1 comment

A Ship Hove Down and Burning off by Gabriel Bray Before copper sheaving, this would have been a common sight in the age of sail. Ships had to be careened to have their hulls cleaned of weed and wood-boring shipworm killed off. Fire was one of the quicker methods. #RoyalNavy #Ageofsail #sea

submitted 79 days ago • 4 comments

Just completed - the manuscript for my latest book, Lone Wolf. It’s the third novel in my WW2 Sea of Wolves series, and takes the action into 1942. I’ll send it off to my editor later this week for a March/April publication #RoyalNavy #GermanNavy #Uboats

submitted 82 days ago • 3 comments

The Trafalgar Storm - HMS 'Mars' standing by 'Royal Sovereign' by Geoff Hunt. Many more ships and men were lost in the storm that followed Trafalgar than in the battle itself, as badly damaged friends and foes alike were driven onto the Spanish coast. #RoyalNavy #Nelson #Ageofsail

submitted 86 days ago • 1 comment

Three Master In The Strait Of Messina by the German artist Michael Zeno Diemer #Navy #Ageofsail #Mediterranean

submitted 87 days ago • 2 comments

Figurehead of HMS Raleigh, looking suitably fierce. #RoyalNavy #Victorians #Steampunk

submitted 96 days ago • 0 comments

This month will see the 230th anniversary of the Battle of the Texel, one of the Age of Sail’s strangest actions. During an exceptionally hard winter, the Dutch fleet surrendered to French troops who attacked them across the ice. #DutchNavy #FrenchRevolution #napoleonicwars

submitted 100 days ago • 1 comment

British brig is captured by Danish gunboats 1808 by Christian Mølsted Following the loss of their fleet after the 2nd Battle of Copenhagen (1807), the Danish kept up a campaign against becalmed merchantmen with gunboats, when escorting warships were powerless to help. #DanishNavy #Baltic #RoyalNavy

submitted 103 days ago • 1 comment

Cutting Out of HMS Hermione by N Pocock In 1799 the crew of the Hermione mutinied against the brutal Captain Pigot and turned the ship over to the Spanish. She was recaptured by the crew of HMS Surprise in a daring attack at night from a heavily fortified Spanish port #Ageofsail #mutiny #RoyalNavy

submitted 107 days ago • 0 comments

Hulks at rest by Richard Henry Nibbs Most 19th century ports had plenty of hulks – the hulls of old warships used for storage, as barracks or as floating prisons. It is as well that this happened, since that is how ships like HMS Victory and USS Constitution survived #Ageofsail #USNavy #RoyalNavy

submitted 110 days ago • 0 comments

The latest Quarterdeck magazine is out, available via the link below. It's free and full of book reviews and articles on ships and the sea, including one from me. Enjoy! #AmReading #AlexanderClay #RoyalNavy

submitted 113 days ago • 0 comments

Happy 2025! #newyear #2025

submitted 114 days ago • 1 comment

Japanese ‘Betty’ bombers attacking US shipping off Guadalcanal in 1942. They are flying astonishingly low to avoid flak from American warships. #Pacific #JapaneseNavy #USNavy

submitted 116 days ago • 0 comments

Thank you to all my readers and followers for their support this year. I hope you all have a great Christmas with those who mean most to you, and a prosperous New Year. #NavalHistory #AlexanderClay #Christmas

submitted 128 days ago • 1 comment

Battle of the Nile by TFR Thompson Shows the French flagship L’Orient ablaze. She will soon explode, killing most of the 1010 men on board, including the French commander Admiral Brueys A nice painting, but too bright for a night action #Nelson #RoyalNavy #FrenchNavy

submitted 131 days ago • 1 comment

How a sextant works from “The Marvels and Mysteries of Science” from 1941 For simplicity, it omits the smoked glass filters that protect the navigator from performing laser surgery on his eye when looking directly at the sun #Navigation #sextant #Ageofsail

submitted 135 days ago • 4 comments

Dawn Suspect by Montague Dawson Showing the Revenue Cutter Kite chased down and captured the notorious smuggler David “Smoker” Browning in July 1788 #Smuggling #RoyalNavy #Ageofsail

submitted 138 days ago • 1 comment

The barque Penang in Britannia Dry Dock, taken from a house in West Ferry Road Millwall, London. She was built in 1905. The foreground is worth a closer look #London #MerchanNavy #Ageofsail

submitted 141 days ago • 4 comments

Moonlit Action by TFR Thompson This is a depiction of the Second Battle of Algeciras in 1802, with HMS Superb fighting the French 74 Saint Antoine, and the Spanish 3-deckers San Hermenegildo and Real Carlos on fire in the background. #SpanishNavy #RoyalNavy #Ageofsail

submitted 142 days ago • 0 comments

USS New York (BB-34) in heavy weather in the North Atlantic in 1942. #WW2 #USNavy #BattleoftheAtlantic

submitted 143 days ago • 3 comments

The SS Great Britain was the largest ship in the world when she was launched. But was she Brunel's greatest triumph or a financial disaster? Click below to learn more about the career of this iconic ship in my latest blog. #Liners #Bristol #Brunel

submitted 145 days ago • 1 comment

Decks awash aboard the Cutty Sark by John Stobart The other ship is her great rival Thermopylae. The two ships only raced each other back from China for a few years, before the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 brought the age of the Tea Clipper to an end. #Victorians #Clippers #Ageofsail

submitted 145 days ago • 2 comments

The New Flagship by F M Bennett Models were made by naval architects so decision makers could envisage the proposed design. This painting shows a replacement for the first Ark Royal being presented to King James I (in green) by Phineas Pett (with his back to us) #RoyalNavy #Ships #Ageofsail

submitted 148 days ago • 3 comments

Damage sustained by the German dreadnought SMS Ostfriesland when she struck a British mine returning from the Battle of Jutland in 1916. #GermanNavy #WW1 #RoyalNavy

submitted 150 days ago • 2 comments

Just Out as an Audio Book – Clay and the River of Silver, Book 11 in the Alexander Clay series, brought to life by Symon J. Sweet. “…an exciting tale of true-to-life naval adventures…and another tale that will delight…” Valerie Adolph, Historical Novel Society #AmReading #AlexanderClay #RoyalNavy

submitted 150 days ago • 0 comments

Return of The Hero - The yacht ‘Chatham’ receives Lord Nelson’s coffin from ‘HMS Victory’ in the River Medway, 23rd December 1805 by Dutch marine artist Maarten Platje #Nelson #RoyalNavy #Ageofsail

submitted 151 days ago • 1 comment

Clash off Gibraltar by the Spanish contemporary artist Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau #RoyalNavy #SpanishNavy #AgeofSail

submitted 151 days ago • 1 comment

Captain: I'm really nervous about giving this speech. Sun, rubbing his shoulders: Don't worry, big guy. You got this.

submitted 156 days ago • 96 comments

Finally published! Nick Rodger is the one of the best naval historians alive today, and the first two volumes of his Naval History of Britain were excellent. This has just gone to the top of my Christmas list. #royalnavy #navalhistory #maritimehistory

submitted 155 days ago • 7 comments

The SS Eduard Bohlen, wrecked on Namibia’s notorious Skeleton Coast in 1909. Thanks to the shifting sands of that treacherous shore, she now lies 400 metres from the sea. #Navy #Africa #shipwrecks

submitted 156 days ago • 2 comments