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Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-1859) was a British engineer and a key figure of the British Industrial Revolution (1760-1840). Brunel masterminded the Great Western Railway from London to Bristol, designed and built innovative giant steamships...

Definition
Charles Vane
Captain Charles Vane was an English pirate active in the Caribbean and off the east coast of North America between 1716 and 1720. The pirate, who infamously refused a pardon and instead fired his cannons at the ship of Governor Woodes Rogers...

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Neumagen Wine Ship
Funerary stone monument in the shape of a rowing ship for transport of wine barrels on the Moselle river. The barge is loaded with four large wine-barrels, and manned by six oarsmen and two steersmen, one of whom is marking the time by clapping...

Article
Francis Drake's Circumnavigation of the Globe
The English mariner, privateer, and explorer Francis Drake (c. 1540-1596 CE) made his circumnavigation of the world between 1577 and 1580 CE. Only the second to achieve this feat after the expedition of the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan...

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Gokstad Viking Ship
Frontal view of the Viking ship known as the Gokstad, housed at the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo, Norway. The ship dates from c. 900 CE and was preserved in a ship burial found in Oslo fjord. The lapstrake technique in which the hull planks...

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Oseberg Viking Ship
Full view of the Oseberg Viking ship dating from c. 820 CE discovered in a lavish ship burial setting in Oslo fjord, Norway. The ship is housed in the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo, Norway.

Definition
Carthaginian Naval Warfare
The Carthaginians were famed in antiquity for their seafaring skills and innovation in ship design. The empire their navy protected stretched from Sicily to the Atlantic coast of Africa. Able to match the tyrants of Sicily and the Hellenistic...

Definition
Golden Age of Piracy
The Golden Age of Piracy (1690-1730) refers to a period when robbery on the high seas and at colonial ports reached an unprecedented level. Although not all historians agree on the precise time frame, it is generally applied to those pirates...

Definition
Spanish Treasure Fleets
From the 16th to 18th centuries, two treasure fleets sailed each year, one to Mexico and the other to Central America, then part of the Spanish Empire. There they collected precious eastern goods and the riches of the Americas, including...

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Sinking of the White Ship
A depiction of the Sinking the White Ship in the English Channel. The White Ship sank off the coast of Barfleur, Normandy on November 25, 1120 CE. The ship departed from Barfleur on a course for England, but struck a rock on its portside...