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Photograph albums of Lieutenant Commander Charles Douglas Simmons RNR DSO (1881-1918)

This Item of the Month is some photograph albums showing life at sea in the merchant service in the eve of the First World War

Dreadnought Seaman's Hospital Registers for 1915

Stories from the Admissions Registers of the Dreadnought Seamans Hospital

A Philosophical Dissertation on the diving vessel projected by Mr Day, and sunk in Plymouth Sound

The first recorded death of a submariner, an incident which took place in June 1774.

HOL/17, Signal Book, 1760

Signals extracted from the General Printed Sailing & Fighting Instructions of Admiral Saunders dated 13 May 1760, with insertion giving Lord Anson's additional signals.

12 days of Royal Museums Greenwich

There's many fantastic objects within our collection. Using the 12 days of Christmas as a guide we're sharing a few.

Stuart Christmas Decorations

A Stuart Christmas could last for months, how did they decorate their houses?

Papers of first Earl Beatty on the Battle of Heligoland Bight, 28 August 1914

August's Item of the Month has been chosen to mark the centennial anniversary of the first major naval engagement of the First World War, the Battle of Heligoland Bight on 28 August 1914. It is a folder of papers from the Beatty collection numbered BTY/3/1 in the Archive Catalogue.

Fine copy of a diary kept by G.W. Smith, steward onboard RMS vessel AVON renamed HMS AVOCA requisitioned during World War One (1916-19)

Ever wondered what life was like for merchant seamen during World War One? September's Item of the Month is the diary of G.W. Smith.

Propaganda In World War I: Pirate Hunting, the Lowestoft Armed Smack Telesia in the North Sea - Act 2

October's item of the month is dynamic and dramatic, resembling a cartoon from the pages of a Boy's Own magazine publication. The gun crew on the deck of a British ship engage and destroy a German U-boat. The result of the action is devastating, as the submarine disintegrates, scattering the bodies of several sailors into the water.

Diaries of Harry T. Bennett on HMS 'Canopus': the Battle of Coronel, 1 November 1914

November's Item of the Month is a volume of the Diaries of Harry T. Bennett, navigating lieutenant in HMS Canopus (JOD/106/1), focusing on the Battle of Coronel which took place on 1 November 1914 off the Chilean coast. Left behind by Admiral Cradock, because she could not keep up with his battlecruisers, the Canopus and Bennett were not present at the actual battle, but they were amongst the first to receive news of the British defeat.