Useful Historic Naval Fiction Links:


General

Art Marine - Geoff Hunt : A Site for marine art. Link is to the Gallery of Geoff Hunt, (Past-President of the Royal Society of Marine Artists and painter of the cover art of the Patrick O'Brian novels). Navigating the site will find limited edition prints of Julian Stockwin and CS Forester book covers etc.

Michael Phillips' Ships of the Old Navy : Detail of the Royal Navy Ships in the Age of Sail

National Historic Ships : Register of the UK’s historic ships

Sailingwarship.com : History of the Sailing Warship in the Marine Art


Clubs and Societies

1805 club : Dedicated to preserving memorials to Georgian naval heroes

Navy Records Society : Publishes original documents on the Royal Navy

Ships Company H.M.S.Richmond : Royal Navy and Marines Living History - 1775 to 1783

The Captain Cook Society : A society dedicated to the famous explorer

The Historical Novel Society : A society for all historic fiction

The National Maritime Historical Society : The national voice for America's maritime heritage

The Nelson Society : A society dedicated to the famous admiral

The Society for Nautical Research : Promotes research in nautical matters and publishes the results


Nautical Blogs

Dawlish Chronicles : Duty and Daring in the Heyday of Empire

The Old Salt Blog : The latest news on all things nautical


Online Data Sources

Navy Records Society : Publishes original documents on the Royal Navy

The National Archives : UK's online archive. Holds many historic documents such as log books available online.

Library of Congress digitized Royal Navy books : Source of digitized free to read books about the Royal Navy held by The Library of Congress


Places to Visit

UK

Buckler's Hard : 18th Century village where some of the ships of Nelson's navy were built.

Historic Dockyard Chatham : Former Royal Navy Dockyard

H.M.S. Trincomalee : British Frigate from 1817 moored in Hartlepool

H.M.S. Unicorn : British Frigate from 1824 moored in Dundee

National Maritime Museum : UK's main nautical museum including the Greenwich Observatory

National Maritime Museum Cornwall : Falmouth (UK) based nautical museum

Portsmouth Historic Dockyard : Home of the Royal Navy, HMS Victory, HMS Warrior, The Mary Rose and National Museum of the Royal Navy

S.S. Great Britain : Discover the ship that changed the world.

Scottish Maritime Museum : has two unique sites located in the West of Scotland at Dumbarton and Irvine

The Royal Yacht Britannia : Explore each of the five decks of The Royal Yacht Britannia and discover what life was like during Royal service on board Queen Elizabeth II's former floating palace. Moored in Edinburgh

USA

Hampton Roads Naval Museum : An accredited museum operated by the USN that celebrates the 234 years history of the fleet in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia.

Maritime Museum of San Diego : established in 1948, preserves one of the largest collections of historic sea vessels in the United States.

Mystic Seaport : The Museum of America and the sea

Salem Maritime National Historic Site : Historic buildings, wharves, and reconstructed tall ships.

San Francisco Maritime National Park Association : A fleet of historic vessels at Hyde Street Pier

South Street Seaport Museum, NY : Historic ships and artefacts in New York

The Mariners Museum : One of the largest international maritime history museums, includes USS Monitor artifacts

US Naval Academy Museum : The Museum has objects, documents, and works of art which relate the history and traditions of the United States Navy.

USS Constellation : Sloop-of-War built in 1854, moored in Baltimore

USS Constitution
"Old Ironsides" owned and operated by the US Navy since 1797 moored in Charlestown, MA

Antigua

Nelson’s Dockyard : The largest of Antigua’s National Parks and is fully restored to its original splendour

Australia

Australian National Maritime Museum : Exhibits include HMB Endeavour replica

Norfolk Island Museum : HMS Sirius, flagship of first fleet to Australia, artefacts

Canada

Naval Marine Archive : Canadian archive and collection of marine books, ship models and much more

Vancouver Maritime Museum : Discover the rich maritime history and traditions of the Pacific Coast.

Sweden

Kalmar Läns Museum : Home of artifacts from The Royal Ship Kronan

Vasa Museet : The Vasa Museum at Djurgården, Stockholm is the home of the salvaged Swedish warship Vasa which sank on it's maiden voyage in 1658

New Zealand

Edwin Fox Maritime Museum : The worlds 9th oldest ship on display at Picton, New Zealand

Other Countries

Denmark: Maritime Museum of Denmark : Specialist museum of Danish shipping.

France: National Museum of the Marine, Brest : Marine Museum of France

France: National Museum of the Marine, Port Louis : Marine Museum of France

France: National Museum of the Marine, Rochefort : Includes the Arsenal where the replical frigate L'Hermione was constructed

France: National Museum of the Marine, Toulon : Marine Museum of France


Specialist Publishers

McBooks Press

Naval Institute Press

Old Salt Press

Pen and Sword Books

Penmore Press

Seaforth Publishing


© 2008-2025 David Hayes