Images

Roman marble relief showing a small two-masted coastal sailing vessel called corbita, as well as its sailour. Found at Carthage and possibly made in Africa Proconsularis (modern-day Tunisia) circa 200 CE. Corbita boats had two sails...

Assyrian stela of Shamshi-Adad V (823-811 BCE) from the temple of Nabu in Nimrud, c. 814 BCE, showing the kind worshipping symbols of the gods. The cross on the king's chest is a symbol of the sun god. Through his dress the Shamshi-Adad V...

This wind vane (Old Norse veðrviti) glittered at the prow of a longship in the 11th century. Such vanes are very decorative - here a motif of the great beast - and mark of high status in the Viking Age and Early Middle Ages, not only simple...

Nikolaus Knüpfer, 17th Century oil painting depicting Hercules taking the girdle of Hippolyta as part of his ninth labor. From the Hermitage Museum.

Portrait by Lemuel Francis Abbott (1760–1802) of Thomas Pasley (1734-1808), Royal British Navy officer of the 18th century, who served in the American and French revolutionary wars.

Mutineers turning Captain William Bligh (1754-1817) and loyal officers and crew adrift from His Majesty's Ship the Bounty, April 29, 1789. The mutiny was led by master’s mate Fletcher Christian (1764-1793).

English naturalist and botanist, Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820). He sailed on Captain James Cook's first great voyage (1768–1771), visiting Brazil, Tahiti, New Zealand, and Australia, returning to immediate fame in Britain. Banks was a strong...

Charles Mathieu Isidore Decaen (1769-1832) - French general and governor of Ile-de-France (Mauritius). Commander of the Army of Catalonia during the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815).

An etching by Australian maritime historian Geoffrey Ingleton (1908-1998) from 1937 and showing the HMS Investigator. The Investigator was commanded by Matthew Flinders (1774-1814) and circumnavigated New Holland (Australia) in 1801-1803.

Bungaree (1775-1830), the Australian Aboriginal who accompanied the British navigator and cartographer, Mathew Flinders (1774-1814) aboard the Norfolk and was the the first Australian-born person to circumnavigate the continent. Painting...