The ocean

Inside the megaship: on board one of the world's biggest container ships

James Gill — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 08:55:59 +0000

Inside the megaship: on board one of the world's biggest container ships James Gill Tue, 08/04/2026 - 08:55

At first sight, I couldn’t even recognise HMM Southampton, an Ultra Large Container Vessel (ULCV), as a ship.

Docked in the Port of Hamburg and hemmed in by gantry cranes, its full outline was impossible to grasp. At almost 400 metres long, longer than The Shard skyscraper is tall and nearly the length of four football pitches, it seemed less like a single vessel than part of the port’s architecture.

I already knew its form in miniature. A scale model of its sister ship, HMM Algeciras, is on display at the National Maritime Museum. In Hamburg, however, the relationship was reversed: standing beneath the cranes beside the hull, peering up at the stacks of containers above me, I was the one who seemed reduced to model scale.

Crew members are just visible at the top of the accommodation ladder as Zoe prepares to board HMM Southampton (© Zoe Childerley)

Boarding meant climbing an accommodation ladder of around 60 steps, rising steeply from the quayside towards the deck high above. We were then led through a hatch and up two more flights of stairs into Level A of the towering white superstructure known as the accommodation block.

After completing some paperwork in the deck office, the chief officer handed me an orange coverall and directed me to my cabin. I think this gesture was more about protecting my own clothes rather than an expectation to ‘muck in’, but it did elicit a sense of belonging, however tenuous. For the next two weeks I would be part of something that few outside the maritime world get to experience.

Remote working: how different is life on board ship?

My plan was to depart Hamburg with the ship and stay aboard for two more European port calls before disembarking in Algeciras, Spain in about two weeks. The ship would then continue along its regular route to Asia.

Like all commercial ships, HMM Southampton never rests. It criss-crosses the ocean in 15-week rotations, part of a global fleet of around 62,000 cargo vessels carrying containers, raw materials, fuel, food and manufactured goods between the world’s ports.

My cabin was on Deck D, one of 11 floors of the accommodation block. The building-like structure houses cabins, offices, mess and recreation rooms, a galley, a gym, store rooms, and at the very top, the bridge (or wheelhouse), where the ship’s navigation and command take place.

In comparison to the industrial metallic sublime of the exterior, inside the accommodation block resembles the bureaucratic interiors of workplaces found the world over: fluorescent-lit offices, corridors, control rooms and communal spaces housing desks, computers and plastic furniture. It can be easy to forget that all this happens to be crossing a vast and potentially perilous ocean – a swift transition from the mundane to the monumental.

There are windows in every room, but curtains are usually kept shut even during the day. Pulling back one curtain, I was greeted by a view of a large metal container. Closed curtains were preferable. There was a tiny elevator for the regular traversing between floors. The doors were heavy and swung tightly shut: a sign reminded people to close them quietly, as other crew members would be sleeping.

Setting sail from Hamburg

We left Hamburg as the sun went down, but the beginning of the voyage still felt embedded in the land. HMM Southampton had to travel approximately 130 kilometres down the River Elbe before reaching open sea. Towns, terminals and industrial sites remained visible for hours, while other vast ships passed closed by in the restricted channel. Pilots arrived and departed at successive stages, each responsible for a different section of this congested route to the North Sea.

There was also a deep sea pilot on board. Unlike the harbour pilots who guided us in and out of individual ports, the deep sea pilot accompanied the bridge team throughout the passage across the English Channel and North Sea. These waters are crowded with commercial shipping, ferries, fishing vessels and offshore infrastructure such as wind farms and oil platforms. Currents, variable depths and rapidly changing weather add further complexity. The pilot, licensed through Trinity House, brought detailed regional knowledge, advising on routes, traffic systems, reporting procedures, weather and the timing of our arrival at the next port.

The captain (left) monitors the radar with the deep sea pilot (right) on the bridge of HMM Southampton.

Traffic jams at sea

The distance from Hamburg to Felixstowe was relatively short, approximately 400 nautical miles, yet it took us several days to complete. With no berth available, HMM Southampton waited offshore, drifting and periodically repositioning.

The delay exposed a tension within ‘just-in-time’ logistics: a system organised around precise schedules and rapid circulation remains dependent upon weather, tides and port capacity. Thousands of containers were travelling through a system designed to keep goods in almost continuous motion, yet for a few days our ship went nowhere in particular.

However, drifting with fine weather provided the opportunity to observe repairs and maintenance on deck. The images captured during repairs to the anchor winch reminded me of photographer Robert Howlett’s iconic image of Isambard Kingdom Brunel standing before the massive chains that launched the SS Great Eastern in 1858, his most ambitious ocean-going steamship and the largest ship of its time.

During one watch, the third officer noticed on the electronic chart that the cumulative pressure of wind and current was carrying us towards shallower water. Nothing outside appeared to have changed, the sea remained open and almost featureless, but on the screen our slow lateral movement had become unmistakable. The engine was started and the ship repositioned before the drift began again.

Drifting gave me the opportunity to take some drone footage (above), the heightened perspective of which finally provided an awesome sense of scale. Yet even ships as large as these require very little human labour. The crew of HMM Southampton numbered 26 in total, including three cadets. Across the world’s oceans, 1.5 million seafarers work, mostly out of sight, on contracts anywhere between three and nine months, making worldwide trade possible.

Maritime pilots: the world's trickiest commute?

We were finally given the go-ahead to come into port, and were met by the pilot launch boat.

I watched the boat approach the hull from the pilot door. The launch accelerated until it was parallel with us, then pressed close enough for the pilot to step from the moving deck onto the ship's ladder. He climbed through the opening and disappeared into the ship, on his way to join the captain and officers on the bridge.

Then the tugboats appeared, almost toy-like alongside our huge hull, but their small size belied their extraordinary strength: each was capable of exerting around 70 to 80 tonnes of pulling force. Lines stretched taut as one tug checked our forward movement and another helped to draw the ship through the turn. From the deck the manoeuvre felt improbably slow: a 400-metre-long structure being rotated, straightened and brought sideways towards a narrow section of quay.

Once the vessel was alongside, I walked to the bridge to observe the cargo being unloaded and loaded. Though I've seen this several times now, I'm still captivated. The huge gantry cranes stack each container box in less than a minute. An operator manoeuvres a carriage that glides back and forth, a container is lifted from a waiting truck, then is carried forward before being carefully placed into in its designated spot. The colourful containers create a sprawling, modular playground around me.

Yet the homogeneity of the stacked boxes obscures an unbalanced story. Containers travelling from Asia carry almost every consumer good you can imagine, and 90 per cent of everything we buy comes via sea. However, on the journey back to Asia, many boxes contain little more than scrap metal or recovered paper, while others are left completely empty. Crew and port officials joke about ‘the world’s most expensive air’, pointing towards a structural imbalance: Europe consumes more containerised goods from Asia than it sends back, leaving shipping lines to carry both the recyclable waste and the empty boxes required for the next cycle of consumption.

Felixstowe to Le Havre

Port of Felixstowe is one of only three UK container ports, along with London Gateway and Southampton, capable of receiving vessels of this scale. Commercial Managers from the Port offered us a tour, and so we drove between rows and rows of multi-coloured containers stacked six high, creating passageways along which trucks and cranes collect their loads. We passed forklifts, spreaders and trucks alongside the Autonomous Truck Fleet, which swept past in much-practised synchronicity.

We departed the UK at sunset. Next stop, Le Havre.

The French port presented quite a spectacle. The pilot arrived via helicopter, which flew alongside and kept pace with the ship. Hovering above the bridge wing, the pilots were lowered one at a time by winch, each suspended in a harness. Several of the crew had never seen this, so for once I wasn’t the only one taking photographs. The aircraft’s noise and downdraught briefly drowned out the ship’s steady mechanical hum. Although dramatic to witness, this is an established part of pilotage at Le Havre, where helicopters undertake approximately 1,800 pilot transfers each year, mostly for expediency.

Le Havre is an exposed port at the mouth of the River Seine. We could see the container terminals extend out into the Channel, and behind the cranes a wide industrial landscape of storage tanks, refineries, warehouses and transport infrastructure, connecting the sea to the Seine and, eventually, Paris.

With the assistance of tugs, HMM Southampton began to swing slowly through 180 degrees within a 700-metre turning circle. Once the ship was aligned parallel with the quay, the tugs helped ease it sideways towards the berth, checking the movement of its bow and stern until the hull was close enough for the mooring lines to be passed ashore. From the deck, the manoeuvre seemed both improbable and meticulously controlled: the ship was rotated, straightened and brought alongside with remarkable precision.

On board, it was the proverbial all hands on deck to moor the ship. Thin lines were thrown down to the waiting mooring team and used to draw the ship’s much heavier ropes ashore. Paid out from enormous winch drums at the bow and stern, each rope was hauled along the quay and its looped end placed over a bollard. The crew reeled in the slack until the lines rose taut between ship and shore, gradually securing the vast hull in position. As the line tightened, the deck was cleared. The rope groaned under increasing strain, rising towards a screech as it came under tension. Nobody remained within its possible path: if the line snapped, it could whip violently across the deck.

The ship's bosun at the mooring line controls during HMM Southampton's arrival in Le Havre.

A global workforce

The final and longest leg of the journey involved crossing the Bay of Biscay, rounding the tip of Portugal and passing into the Mediterranean before disembarking at Algeciras in the Strait of Gibraltar. It was an opportunity to spend more time with the crew, as everyone wasn’t quite so busy as when in and out of ports.

HMM is South Korea’s largest shipping company and all the ship’s officers were Korean. The bosun, one able seaman (AB) and the chief cook were also Korean. The remaining ratings were from Myanmar, including the other able seamen, the ordinary seamen (OSs), and the messman who assisted the cook. The only Filipino crew member was an engineering cadet, who also served as the ship’s barber. The hierarchy was therefore strongly patterned by nationality, but did not strictly divide between Korean officers and Myanmar ratings.

Myanmar has a long-established seafaring workforce, but I heard several stories about an increasing number of young men seeking work at sea in order to escape the country's ongoing civil war. Overseas maritime employment has become one way of escaping economic insecurity and, since the activation of compulsory military service for all men in Myanmar under 36, the threat of conscription. The composition of the crew was shaped not only by the economics of global shipping, but also by war taking place thousands of miles away.

As an inquisitive guest, constantly asking questions and taking photos, I decided to give something back. These are a few of the sketches I made as gifts for the crew, which were thankfully well received.

Travelling across the Bay of Biscay meant not glimpsing land for a few days. For me it still evoked feelings of adventure and human fragility, engulfed by the seemingly infinite sky and seas. I was struck by awe and trepidation, and also by a sense of boundless possibilities.

For most seafarers however, the everyday reality is not so different to labour on shore. The crew, whether on deck or in the engine room, are subsumed by a succession of maintenance jobs. Deck officers watch screens and complete paperwork, tasks synonymous with office-based work. At the same time, they are constantly monitoring and adjusting dozens of controls, keeping a piece of machinery approaching a quarter of a million tonnes upright and on course.

As we approached the Strait of Gibraltar, land slowly came into focus on both sides. The hills of southern Spain first appeared as tonal variants on the horizon. To the south, the Rif mountains of northern Morocco gradually separated into ridges and slopes. The distance between the two continents appeared to contract, and marine traffic increased. The cranes and container stacks of the Port of Tanger Med became clearly visible on the Moroccan shore.

The Strait of Gibraltar seen from the bridge of HMM Southampton (© Zoe Childerley)

The sea itself also seemed to change. Looking down from the bridge wing, the water appeared crossed by bands of differing colour and texture. I wondered whether I was seeing the currents themselves as we passed from the Atlantic into the Mediterranean. I knew there couldn’t be a fixed boundary, so I checked with the captain, and, yes, I wasn’t imagining it: surface water flows eastwards into the Mediterranean while denser, saltier water passes beneath it in the opposite direction. Compressed by the narrowing Strait and disturbed by tides and underwater ridges, these flows can appear on the surface as two bodies of water merging. At around the same time, I saw some flying fish leaping right in front of the ship. I was delighted to be finishing my trip – all too soon - with a small glimpse into the natural phenomena that are part of the shipping environment.

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Zoe Childerley is a REACH Collaborative Doctoral Partnership PhD, supported by the National Maritime Museum and the University of Brighton. She is utilising photography, film and sound, collaborating with seafarers in creating a body of work inspired by maritime archives and fieldwork on board ships and in ports. Find more of Zoe's work on her website, or follow her progress on Instagram.

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From sailing ships to steam power: how the Industrial Revolution changed life at sea forever

rmg_admin — Wed, 08 Jul 2026 07:55:47 +0000

From sailing ships to steam power: how the Industrial Revolution changed life at sea forever rmg_admin Wed, 07/08/2026 - 07:55

The 19th century was one of almost unprecedented change. The Industrial Revolution, a population explosion, mass migration and colonial expansion altered the world forever.

A huge shipping boom was part and parcel of this. Without ships, goods and people could not be transported and territories could not be explored and exploited.

In 1814, British shipyards had built more than three million net tons of vessels. Less than a century later this had jumped to almost 19 million net tons.

View taken on board the Columba paddle steamer (1878), taken in 1902 (P20532)

Sailing ships were gradually replaced by newer vessels and ever more sophisticated ways of moving across water. But the transition from wind power to fossil fuels was far from smooth.

Today shipping is on the cusp of another transformation, with competing fuels and technologies promising to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and clean up global trade. But how did the maritime world become reliant on fossil fuels in the first place?

Contents

Early experiments in steam power
The first ocean liners
Isambard Kingdom Brunel and the Great Western
The rise of the steamship
Sail power makes a comeback
Cutty Sark and the end of the Age of Sail
New technologies, new fuels
Triumph and tragedy: ocean liners in the 20th century

Early experiments in steam power

The Charlotte Dundas is generally thought to be the world’s first operational steamboat. It was designed by William Symington, who used James Watt’s steam engine of the previous century for inspiration. The Charlotte Dundas was powered by a one-cylinder engine which drove a paddle wheel in the stern.

In 1803, it successfully towed barges on the Forth–Clyde canal in Scotland at a quicker pace than ever previously managed. However, new technologies are rarely overnight success stories, and the adoption of steam power on water was no different.

The Charlotte Dundas

PAD6630 • Prints & Drawings

Lithograph drawing of the Charlotte Dundas and its crew at work, published in 1848.

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Local owners of horses and stables – possibly driven by the threat to their businesses – emphasised the risk of damage to the canal banks and steam’s high running costs. The Charlotte Dundas failed to gain a commission and was eventually broken up in 1861.

Tentative experiments with marine steam power continued. In 1812, improvements in boiler and cylinder design enabled Clyde-based paddle steamer the Comet to provide the first passenger steamer service in Europe. Travelling between Glasgow, Helensburgh and Greenock, the Comet did its job so well that, within a year, a number of local road coach firms were out of business.

Over the next few years steamboats appeared on most of Britain's major rivers. The novelty of these new inventions was an attractive prospect, but the more fundamental advantage for both passengers and owners was steam’s independence of wind – and thus the capacity to set a regular and reliable schedule.

The disadvantages of steam-powered ships in the early years were numerous. The engines were expensive to construct and hugely inefficient to run. Large amounts of space that would otherwise be given over to passengers or goods had to be sacrificed to store the coal and water which powered them. Consequently, steam power was initially most effective in coastal and river services where coal was readily available. By 1825, for instance, there were already 45 steamship companies registered in London alone.

The first ocean liners

In the first half of the 19th century, much of the initiative in ship design lay in the United States of America. With vast supplies of homegrown timber available, American ships were relatively cheap to make. It was in America that the ocean liner was invented.

Jeremiah Thompson, an English-born merchant based in New York, imagined a ‘line’ of transatlantic ships which would always sail on specified dates between established ports. Prior to this a shipowner might advertise a possible departure date, but the captain of the vessel would be obliged to wait for enough cargo, passengers and favourable weather conditions before setting sail.

In January 1818, the first two of Thompson’s liners departed New York for Liverpool. Before long the ‘Black Ball Line’ (for identification, a large black ball was painted on their fore topsail) was operating two sailings a month, on advertised dates in each direction. By the late 1830s, 20 of these ships were running from New York to Liverpool, 12 to London and 16 to Le Havre in France.

These ships were not driven by steam power; they were sailing ships known as ‘packets’. However, the liner system introduced new standards in comfort levels and, crucially, time management, which only steamships could propel forward.

While the new liners had developed a reliable schedule for departure, they remained utterly dependent upon wind conditions for their arrival. Steam power offered the possibility of a scheduled departure and arrival.

In 1815, paddle steamer the Duke of Argyle (later renamed the Thames) travelled from Glasgow to London, demonstrating in the UK that an ocean voyage powered by steam was possible – even if somewhat hair-raising. After difficult weather in the Irish Sea forced an unscheduled stop in Dublin, the Thames left again for London with just two hardy passengers. Thousands of spectators watched from the coast as it made its progress. The following year, the Elise became the first steam packet to cross the English Channel.

Arrivee de Londres a Paris le 29 Mars 1816 du Bateau a Vapeur l' Elise

PAH0155 • Prints & Drawings

Print of a lithograph drawing of the Elise with its crew.

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For many, the natural next step seemed to be a steam-driven transatlantic voyage. Here, again, the United States led the way.

In 1819 SS Savannah became the first sailing vessel to use auxiliary steam power to cross the Atlantic. For some the record is disputed as it was only under steam for 85 hours out of a total journey time of 29 days. It would be almost another two decades before a large enough vessel with adequate engine efficiency could make the crossing powered entirely by steam.

In 1833 the Royal William became the first steam-powered vessel to cross the Atlantic from Canada to England, almost entirely by steam. The ship had originally been built to run on Canada’s east coast from Halifax to Quebec. However, excessive charges, a cholera epidemic and arguments between investors led to it being sold off at a loss. Its new owners, in financial desperation, decided to send it to England to be sold once more.

Just seven brave passengers were on board for the voyage. A gale disabled one of the engine’s cylinders and knocked off the top of the foremast. Seawater deposits from the leaky boilers had to be laboriously blasted or chipped away, meaning that for a short time the engine was stopped and the ship continued under sail. Once in London, it was eventually sold to the Portuguese government.

Brunel and the 'Great Western'

The Great Western Steam Ship Company was formed in 1836. It is said that Isambard Kingdom Brunel (pictured above), Chief Engineer of the Great Western Railway, had joked about extending the railway line from London to Bristol and then by steamboat across the Atlantic to New York on the same ticket. Joke or not the Company was formed, and work began on a vessel bigger than anything built before.

Launched on 19 July 1837, the SS Great Western was – for a short period – the largest and most modern steamship in the world. It was 236 feet long, weighed 1,320 tons, carried four masts for auxiliary sail and was adorned with opulent decoration. Its first trial in the Atlantic took place the following year in 1838.

Paddle steamer Great Western in a gale

ZBA0735 • Oil Paintings

A painting showing the paddle steamer ‘Great Western’ in a gale. Waves are shown breaking over the paddles and on to the deck. The ship's sails are down as it rides out the storm. Figures are shown on deck struggling against the weather to keep control of the ropes and masts, as lowering black clouds hover overhead.

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The voyage did not get off to the best of starts: a serious fire broke out before the ship had even reached Bristol from London. Brunel was on board, and suffered a dislocated shoulder and broken leg in the ensuing chaos. The ship was temporarily beached before proceeding to Bristol, but by the time it was ready to depart for New York many of the passengers had lost their nerve: just seven embarked.

Nevertheless, the Great Western succeeded in making the Atlantic crossing, at steam, in just 15 and a half days. It would go on to complete 64 transatlantic crossings.

The rise of the steamship

In 1833 the East India Company’s monopoly finally came to an end. The Company had been established in 1600 to challenge the dominance of trade in the east held by the Dutch, Portuguese and Spanish. It was awarded a monopoly on all trade east of the Cape of Good Hope, and was the means by which ‘exotic’ goods such as silks, spices and tea reached Britain.

For almost 250 years the East India Company thrived – but, for many, the monopoly stymied innovation. The company’s ‘East Indiamen’ ships were large and slow, and their ‘bluff-bowed’ design remained largely unchanged for two centuries.

The demise of the East India Company marked a turning point in British shipbuilding. Lobbyists had convinced the government to abandon its sailing mail packet service – which had largely been outperformed by American companies anyway – and replace it with contracts with private steamship companies.

The policy remained unique to Britain for ten years. It stimulated British investment in ocean steam shipping and cemented the country’s position as the world’s greatest maritime power. Cunard (who were awarded the mail contract between Britain and the US in 1840), Royal Mail Line and the Pacific Steam Navigation Company (P&O) all owed their establishment and survival to mail contracts.

The steamship 'Persia' in a breeze

BHC3547 • Oil Paintings

Portrait of paddle-steamer Persia, a Cunard Royal Mail Ship which made regular sailings between Liverpool and New York.

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Britain’s supplies of iron ore and coal were two other key elements that helped place it ahead of the rest of the world. In 1790 Britain produced 7.6 million tons of coal; by 1854 this had jumped to 54.7 million tons. Iron weighed less and was not as bulky as wood, so more space could be given over to cargo, passengers or fuel. It also enabled the building of ever larger ships.

In 1843 Brunel and the Great Western Company launched their next ship: SS Great Britain. Dubbed ‘the greatest experiment since creation’, it was the largest passenger ship in the world, carried six masts and was fitted with screw propellers, which had first been seen on the steamship SS Archimedes five years before. Apart from the upper decks and passenger furniture, the Great Britain was made entirely of iron.

Waterline model of SS Great Britain, made in 1979

SLR0147 • Ship Models

Scale: 1:38.4. Waterline model of the 'Great Britain' (1843), a single-screw passenger liner. The model is decked, fully equipped, rigged with sails furled, and complete with scale figures.

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The Great Britain's first two seasons on the Atlantic were underwhelming, and ended with it running aground on the coast of Ireland. Before long it had entered the Australian passenger service, sailing mostly under sail. Nonetheless, the Great Britain presaged the use of iron and screw propellers, technologies which eventually became universally adopted.

Sail power makes a comeback

Progress, if that is what it can be called, is rarely linear. The discovery of gold in California in 1849 and in Australia in 1851 led to a sailing ship boom.

Ninety thousand people sailed from Atlantic ports to San Francisco in search of their fortune in 1849. The distance around the American continent and Cape Horn was, as yet, too far for steamers, and there were not enough coaling stations to enable refuelling. Instead, the gold rush initiated a golden age for clipper ships.

The first of these, the ‘Baltimore clippers’, were small, agile and fast sailing ships similar to those that had successfully eluded the Royal Navy during the 1812 war with Britain. The name ‘clipper’ is thought to come from the phrase ‘to go at a clip’, and they were best suited to trades which were reliant upon speed rather than cargo space.

Spurred on by the need for even a slight advantage, American designers began to apply bold innovations to larger ships. John Willis Griffiths for example turned the traditional sailing ship shape – the ‘cod’s head and mackerel tail’ – on its head. His ship the Rainbow was designed with a long, gracefully tapered hull and narrow bow which, he claimed, ‘exceedingly diminishes the resistance’ of its movement.

Donald Mackay was another pioneer: his Flying Cloud was an outstanding vessel which twice made the voyage from New York to San Francisco in just 89 days, a record which endured for more than 130 years.

Medal commemorating the centenary of the voyage of the 'Flying Cloud', 1951

MEC2302 • Coins & Commemorative Medals

Legend: '1851 - CENTENARY OF RECORD VOYAGE NEW YORK TO SAN FRANCISCO- 1951'. Below, on a ribbon: 'CLIPPER SHIP "FLYING CLOUD"'.

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Unfortunately for those who arrived in San Francisco seeking their fortune, there was little more than gold dust left. As for the ships that took them, it became the custom for these clippers to continue sailing across the Pacific to pick up tea from China for Boston, New York or London.

The number of sailing ships produced in Britain continued to outstrip steamships: by 1870, steamships represented just over 40 per cent of the total tonnage. In the eyes of many shipowners, steamships were still no match for the fabled clippers on long distance bulk cargo runs. The fuel bills remained high, and they required more crew and often expensive machinery repairs.

There were also not enough refuelling stations around the world. It was partly this point which inspired Brunel’s next ship, the Great Eastern, which was a mammoth.

Photograph of the Great Eastern prior to launch. Its builder John Scott Russell is seen in the right (H1698)

Launched in 1858 with a gross tonnage of 18,914 tons and capable of carrying 4,000 passengers, the Great Eastern could travel to Australia and back without needing to stop to take on more coal.

However, the ship proved to be well ahead of its time, requiring far too many crew to enable it to compete in a growing transatlantic market. Eventually the Great Eastern found employ in laying telegraphic cables across the Atlantic and Arabian seas, but it was not the success Brunel hoped it would be.

Cutty Sark and the end of the Age of Sail

Ship owner and engineer Alfred Holt ushered in a new era for steamers with his new ‘compound engine’ design. The engine, which had been used in Lancashire textile mills for the previous ten years, allowed steam to be expanded in two or more stages. Steam was driven by two pistons, producing more power at less cost, claiming a fuel saving of up to 40 per cent compared to single-expansion engines.

Holt’s first three ships, Agamemnon, Ajax and Achilles, were ordered in 1865, destined for the busy China tea trade. While a clipper ship could manage the voyage from China in around 90 days, Holt’s ships could do the same in just 65 days – and could also carry three quarters more cargo.

But what really sealed the demise of clippers was the Suez Canal, which opened in 1869.

Photograph of a station on the Suez Canal, early 1880s (HP1975/4)

The canal cut the voyage to China and back by more than 3,000 miles. Vessels no longer had to navigate around the continent of Africa but could take advantage of the ‘short-cut’ through the Mediterranean into the Indian Ocean.

Conditions in the Mediterranean and on the canal itself meant the route was not a viable option for sailing ships. Instead, steamers came to dominate the China run, and sailing ships were forced into trades which were as yet out of reach or not profitable for steamships.

The transition did not happen overnight, but the direction of travel was clear.

Cutty Sark, considered to be the pinnacle of clipper ship design and one of the fastest sailing ships of all time, was launched in the same year as the opening of the Suez Canal. In 1870, the year of Cutty Sark’s maiden voyage, there were nearly 60 other sailing ships on the China run; by 1877 there were just nine. In an historical twist of fate, Cutty Sark would deliver more coal, often for steamships, than tea in its lengthy career.

The 'Cutty Sark' and a Tug

BHC4131 • Oil Paintings

A painting showing the 'Cutty Sark', from fine off the starboard bow on the right, and a tug in stern view on the left in the foreground. The 'Cutty Sark' is shown in full sail riding on the crest of a wave, silhouetted against a bright orange sky. A figure is shown on the tug's deck deck attending to a rope over the starboard quarter. The artist has exaggerated the effect of the smoke trailing out of the tug's funnel to the right and into the wave on which the 'Cutty Sark' rests.

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New technologies, new fuels

1876 was the first year in which the number of steamships exceeded the number of ships built under sail in Britain. Coal however was not destined to remain the only source of fuel for these new vessels.

The exploitation of natural resources of oil in the Caspian Sea had started in the 1870s. Its higher calorific value enabled vessels to go further compared with the same weight of coal. It also required fewer stokers and less time for bunkering. Work began on replacing coaling stations with oil bunkering facilities, although there would not be sufficient numbers of these until 1911.

In 1886 the English-built German ship Glückauf became the first tank steamer – or ‘tanker’ – specially constructed to transport oil. Prior to the Glückauf oil was carried in large barrels, which meant discharging at depots could take days. With the Glückauf the hull itself was the oil container; discharge could take as little as six hours. Tests conducted by Canadian Pacific in 1913 indicated that oil had become more economical than coal.

The Glückauf at sea, photographed circa 1892 (ALB0655)

Demand for greater efficiency drove experimentation. In 1882, George Thompson & Company of Aberdeen (the same company which had built Thermopylae, the famous clipper and rival to Cutty Sark) commissioned the SS Aberdeen. Destined for the Australian emigrant trade, it was the first vessel to be fitted with a triple expansion engine, using steam at high, intermediate and low pressures. It was a great success and served as a prototype for thousands of steamers for the following 50 years.

In 1894, Turbinia, designed by inventor Charles Parsons, became the world’s first steam turbine-driven vessel. A steam turbine is a motor in which rotary motion is produced by steam power, which moves a series of blades fitted to a revolving drum. During sea trials in 1897, Turbinia achieved astonishing speeds of 34.5 knots per hour – almost double Cutty Sark’s fastest records.

Photograph showing experimental steam turbine-powered ship Turbinia (N47745)

In 1903 Russian river tanker the Vandal became both the first diesel engine ship and the first ship to be driven by a diesel-electric propulsion system. Dr Rudolf Diesel had invented an internal combustion engine in which air is compressed to a high enough temperature to ignite diesel fuel. Three engines were midship-mounted and each was connected to a generator wired to a motor and connected to a propeller. The motor ship, with its revolutionary ability to reverse, had arrived.

However, it would take some time for motor ships to become standard. Lloyd's Register estimated that in 1930 just 10 per cent of merchant ships were motor ships. By 1974, this had jumped to 88.5 per cent.

Triumph and tragedy – ocean liners in the twentieth century

Competition between transatlantic ocean liners took on a fresh intensity around the turn of the century, and the success or failure of a vessel became a question of national pride. There were also still plenty of Europeans who were keen to make America their new home: in 1907 alone, more than one million emigrants were counted entering the US.

Germany had quickly become an industrial nation following unification in 1871, capable of competing on the international stage. The aggregate tonnage of the German merchant fleet overtook that of the United States in 1884 and France in 1889. Only Britain was left.

When the German built and designed ship Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was launched in 1897 and set on the transatlantic run, it ended 52 years of British speed supremacy. The Deutschland, with its six-cylinder quadruple-expansion engine, was even bigger and faster.

A panicked Admiralty awarded a huge subsidy to the Cunard Line to build two liners capable of beating the new German vessels. RMS Lusitania and RMS Mauretania, both powered by steam turbine engines, were launched in 1906 and 1907 respectively. The Lusitania broke all speed records on the Atlantic run and the Mauretania would go on to hold the Blue Riband, the award for the fastest run on the Atlantic, for 22 years.

RMS Lusitania docked in a harbour in the early twentieth century (D4726-11)

The White Star Line responded with the construction of RMS Olympic and RMS Titanic. Despite the tragic loss of life when the Titanic sunk in April 1912, competition showed no signs of slowing down. The German ship Imperator was launched just six weeks after the loss of the Titanic and became the largest ship in the world.

The outbreak of the First World War changed everything. The Lusitania, once feted as the largest and fastest ship afloat, was sunk by a German U-boat on 7 May 1915 with the loss of 1,198 lives. The Imperator meanwhile was eventually claimed by Britain as part of war reparations. It was renamed the Berengaria, joined the Cunard Line and was converted to oil-fired boilers. It continued to serve on the transatlantic run until 1938.

Fifteen million tons of world shipping was lost during the First World War. Then in the 1920s, the United States introduced a series of immigration quotas to stem the flow of those entering the country, and the transatlantic passenger trade slumped.

During the 19th century, shipping helped to make horizons seem boundless. One hundred years later, the world needed a chance to rebuild.

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‘I've seen how Windrush identity has evolved’ – Anita McKenzie on mixed heritage and belonging

James Gill — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 13:16:48 +0000

‘I've seen how Windrush identity has evolved’ – Anita McKenzie on mixed heritage and belonging James Gill Mon, 06/29/2026 - 13:16

Anita McKenzie grew up navigating two different cultures.

‘I’m African and Indian,’ the photographer and archivist says. ‘Both my parents were from Jamaica. My mother was Indian, and my father was African Caribbean.’

Anita herself was born in Camberwell, south-east London in 1958, after her parents migrated to the UK in the 1950s. As a photographer, Anita has worked to highlight the experiences of Indo-Caribbean people in the UK. This is her story, shared and recorded as part of the Indo-Caribbean Windrush Oral History Project.

Arriving in Britain

Anita’s mother’s grandfather arrived in Jamaica from India in the mid-nineteenth century as an indentured labourer, while her father’s ancestors arrived as enslaved Africans from West Africa.

Anita’s mother, Pearline Brown, met her future husband through friends in Jamaica. There was disapproval from Anita’s Indian family members about the match, including from her grandfather, who according to Anita was so ‘anti-Black’.

Anita McKenzie's parents on their wedding day in London (personal family archive of Anita J McKenzie)

Due to the stigma among Indo-Jamaicans of marrying a Black man, Pearline and her future husband both decided in the 1950s to migrate to the UK. Pearline arrived on the Irpinia, one of the ships that brought immigrants from Jamaica to UK ports including Tilbury and Southampton. After arriving in England, both her parents worked as nurses – a common occupation among Windrush immigrants, many of whom worked for the National Health Service.

The passenger liner Irpinia, photographed in Southampton in 1973 (N35002)

After taking a DNA test, Anita learned that she was 49 per cent African and 51 per cent Indian, ‘which was a shock, because with a family name like McKenzie on my father's side I felt absolutely convinced that there must be some European part of my identity as well.’ She assumes that her Scottish last name is likely part of the legacy of enslavement in her family: many enslavers in the Caribbean were of Scottish heritage, and enslaved African people often had to take their enslavers’ surnames.

Navigating childhood

Anita was born in 1958 and raised in south-east London by her Indo-Caribbean mother.

Anita recalls facing internalised racism from some Indo-Caribbeans in her community, who would use racial slurs to describe her Black father. Growing up, she explains, ‘because of colourism, I was more accepted by Black people than I was by other Asians, although there weren't a lot of [South] Asians in my secondary school in London anyway, and I certainly wouldn't have gravitated to that.’

But the prejudice wasn’t one-sided: she also remembers her African Caribbean classmates using offensive slurs to describe her because of her family’s connection to Indian indenture. ‘So I was being identified [by some African Caribbean people] as Indian, even though I didn't feel that I was Indian,’ she recalls. ‘I didn't feel I had the right to claim my Indian identity, because I look more African than Indian.’

This tension between both of her identities was a central element of her upbringing. ‘I went home to an Indo-Caribbean household, and outside I was African Caribbean,’ she recalls, noting that it is still easier for her to enter African Caribbean spaces because she is outwardly perceived as Black, but more difficult to enter Indo-Caribbean spaces because ‘there are not many people that look like me, and I’m very, very aware of that.’

Exploring identity

Later in life, Anita began going to Hindu temples and taking Hindi classes to reconnect with her Indian heritage.

‘I went to India for the first time on my own,’ she says, ‘and when people asked me who I was, I said I was Indian. I was really terrified to say it, but to my surprise people were very embracing and accepting of that. I was shocked, I have to tell you, I was really shocked.’ It felt like validation after decades of being denied the right to claim her Indian identity.

Despite her parents’ arrival in England in the 1950s and their nursing jobs, Anita recalls being relatively unaware of her parents’ association with what is sometimes referred to as the ‘Windrush’ generation until ‘people started talking about Windrush’ following the 2018 Windrush scandal. Even today, when discussing Windrush experiences, Anita believes that people primarily ‘picture African Caribbean people, most definitely. It's only in the last few years, the last 10 years, that it might be changing in some places.’

The reason, Anita suggests, is that the history is still primarily ‘told through the Jamaican frame’. Many of the migrants who arrived on the vessel Empire Windrush were African Caribbean people from Jamaica, but there were in fact multiple ships travelling between the Caribbean and the UK during the 1950s, carrying passengers of many different backgrounds. The discourse around the Windrush generation therefore ‘needs to become more accurate and inclusive’ Anita says, and reflect a growing awareness of Indo-Caribbean experiences within the broader story of British migration.

Anita’s story is part of the legacy of Windrush, and she is optimistic that public knowledge around the diversity of Windrush migrants can grow over time: ‘I think there needs to be a broader understanding on multiple levels of post-war history, the contributions of African and Asian people to [Britain],’ she says. I think that is happening, but it's happening too slowly, because I just get fed up with having to explain things to people [...] because a lot of people don't go off and study these things unless it becomes important to them in some way. And then there are people [who are] just not interested.’

Self portrait of Anita McKenzie, photographed wearing a garment superimposed with photographs of her father and mother. Part of the African Masala series.

Archives and photographs

Anita has been a professional photographer since the 1980s, when she became involved with Black arts movements in London that included people of both African and Asian heritage. Through powerful visuals, she found she could challenge assumptions around race and identity.

‘People have stereotypes in their mind about how to identify people, or what people should look like and shouldn't look like, and that's certainly been one of the things that I've always interrogated in a lot of my photographic work,’ she says.

To spread awareness and understanding of Afro-Asian stories, in 1996 Anita founded the McKenzie Heritage Picture Archive, a photo licensing agency that offered publishers and broadcasters images of ‘African, Asian, and Caribbean people, cultures and communities’. The photos are currently housed at the Black Cultural Archives.

Anita has spearheaded a variety of other projects, including the African Masala exhibition that showcases African Caribbean and Indo-Caribbean mixed heritage identity. She is currently researching people of both African and Asian heritage, interviewing them about their experiences of growing up mixed heritage.

Ultimately, Anita hopes to bridge the gap between African and Asian identities, and spotlight the beauty and vibrancy of mixed heritage. As the daughter of Windrush immigrants of African and Indian heritage, this mission is especially important as the Windrush era continues to be memorialised in public events, discussions and academic research.

‘I've lived long enough to see how Windrush identity has evolved and is now changing,’ she says. ‘I'm thinking about the lived experience of the people that came here, especially in the ’50s, because so many of them are dying now and I feel really grateful that I had them as my Elders.

‘It just feels so precious, it really does, seeing the things that they brought with them: the can-do attitude, the making something out of nothing.’

This article is part of a series highlighting oral histories recorded as part of the Indo-Caribbean Windrush Oral History Project. The project aims to document and preserve the life stories of Indo-Caribbeans who migrated to the UK during and after the Windrush era (1948-1971). Project director Meena Venkataramanan co-founded the project with research director Jeevan Kaur Sanghera. Venkataramanan interviewed Anita McKenzie in 2024.

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Making Waves: Captain Philippa Bowden

Elizabeth Oliver — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 08:11:24 +0000

Making Waves: Captain Philippa Bowden Elizabeth Oliver Mon, 06/15/2026 - 08:11

Not many people are qualified to drive a ship in the extreme environments of the polar regions. Captain Philippa Bowden is one of them.

An ice navigation specialist, Captain Bowden has more than a decade’s experience of traversing the Arctic and Antarctic on scientific, passenger and expedition ships. She also holds an Unlimited Master’s license, enabling her to operate any size of vessel anywhere in the world.

Protecting – and raising awareness of – the vulnerable polar environment is central to her work. From reporting wildlife sightings to leading polar courses, her dedication has seen her receive accolades including the Merchant Navy Medal and an award from the UK Meteorological Office.

In between her busy schedule at sea, she’s passionate about encouraging others into the maritime industry, as well as mentoring seafarers. In 2026, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Portsmouth in recognition of her contributions to maritime education.

She explains what being an ice captain is really like, sailing through unchartered waters – and why we need to stand up for polar ecosystems.

How did you become an ice captain?

I didn’t know what I wanted to do after I left school, but I signed up for a cadetship and began my career working on cargo ships. The vessels carried all sorts of weird and wonderful things – from grain to scrap – they were also dirty and smelly, but it was a great experience.

Before I knew it, I’d blinked and 10 years had gone by. In 2012, I got a temporary job with the British Antarctic Survey and it opened up another world for me. I travelled to the Arctic and Antarctic and gained experience steering and navigating in ice. The work was exciting. I journeyed to locations including the Ross and Weddell Seas and was involved with scientific observations, such as counting whales and tagging seals.

My move into the polar expedition market occurred a few years later in 2016. I’d just received my Unlimited Master’s license – a certification that allows you to drive any size of vessel with any number of passengers. And, as I had ice experience – as well as passenger experience – I found myself in demand. Suddenly, I was an expert in ice!

As an ice captain (or ice pilot, the terms are interchangeable), I have experience of ice movements, as well as navigational knowledge of the polar regions: everything from which bay we can go in for shelter overnight to the best place to see whales and penguins. While I do work in both poles, I’m more in love with Antarctica.

What is Antarctica like?

Going to Antarctica was a life-changing experience. When I first visited in 2012 with the British Antarctic Survey, I felt as though I was in another world: not only in terms of the wildlife and the scenery, but the wilderness of it all.

My work on expedition vessels takes place in the summer season, which typically lasts from October until March. If the weather is nice, you have these gorgeous blue skies and pristine ice, with temperatures of one to two degrees Celsius. Depending on how far south you go, you can get up to 24 hours of daylight. The Sun’s rays are intense, so you need to take lots of suncream.

However, the weather can change rapidly: you have to account for katabatic winds – powerful downhill gusts that can come out of nowhere – and strong wind chill.

There are so many interesting areas of Antarctica – it’s hard to pick a favourite – but I do like Deception Island. It’s located in the South Shetland Islands in the Antarctic Peninsula and is formed from a sunken volcano. To get to it, you have to steer through the volcano’s caldera – a crater formed when a volcano erupts and collapses. Not many people can say they’ve sailed inside a volcano!

What does daily life as an ice captain involve?

There’s no typical day in Antarctica: the whole point of an expedition is we’re always exploring. It’s always an early start – around 5am to 6am – and it takes us a few hours to get to the day’s location (usually a bay). It’s nice for passengers to wake up and watch the approach as they’re eating their breakfast.

From 8am to 9am, the passengers will set off on their adventure, but our work doesn’t stop there! We spend lots of time on the bridge – the command centre of a ship – navigating the vessel, monitoring weather conditions and ice charts, revising daily plans and repositioning the ship if required. We also carry out inspections, maintenance checks and other administrative tasks.

Before I go to sleep, I make sure the officers taking over the watch know the plan and the route they’re following. There’s a lot that happens behind the scenes, and it’s my job to ensure everything runs smoothly.

How do you navigate in Antarctica?

Everything in Antarctica is huge, which can be hard to fathom! The mountains are massive, the icebergs are colossal – even the whales can be three times the size of your vessel.

A lot of expedition ships are equipped with forward looking and side scanning sonars, which map the sea ahead and to the side of the vessel. This gives us information about the depth of the water and any obstacles, such as ice. It’s important to know what’s occurring underneath the vessel too, so echosounders can give us an indication if we’re moving from deep to shallower water.

As Antarctica is located near the Earth’s magnetic south pole, magnetic compasses aren’t a reliable form of navigation. Some of the more advanced vessels will have satellite compasses and fiber optic gyroscopes, which provide highly accurate directional data and precise motion sensing.

I also navigate by following the ice, so it’s crucial to know about the types of ice in the region, from glacial ice to sea ice – and the different stages of ice formation.

Some of the more challenging navigational conditions occur when it’s dark. It’s hard when you’re dodging bits of ice that you can’t pick up on your radar, trying to keep the ship steady, and relying on a search light to navigate – especially when the beam of light doesn’t give the overall perspective of everything surrounding you.

The beautiful thing about Antarctica is the journey is the destination. One of my favourite moments occurred last year, when I steered around a bay that was filled with humpback whales. The whales came up to us, rubbed their bellies against the side of the ship and were talking to each other. It was just incredible.

Scientific reports highlight how climate change and increased tourism are impacting the vulnerable ecosystems of Antarctica. Have you seen the effects of these in the region?

It’s hard to judge day by day, but overall, the summer season is getting longer. The summer season typically lasts from October to the end of February. However, because the ice in the region is not only forming later in the year, but also melting earlier in the year, vessels are able to spend longer in Antarctica. Now, vessels are starting to go around September, with the season ending as late as April.

While I can’t stop the bigger cruise ships going to Antarctica – and sometimes I don’t really agree with the tourism taking place – I try my best to raise awareness of this vulnerable ecosystem. I’m an Antarctic Ambassador with The International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators, and educate others about the issues affecting Antarctica.

When I’m not at sea, I teach polar navigation courses. During these sessions, I cover everything from the different types of ice to the regulations of the Polar Code – a series of environmental and safety measures for ships operating in the region. Ships operating in the polar areas are subject to more stringent regulations, including speed limits and onboard waste management.

Most people don’t realise that what they do at home also affects the polar regions. Antarctica drives the ocean currents that go all the way around the world, which are influenced by its changing temperatures. The ocean currents are like a giant conveyor belt, which in turn impact the global climate.

Even though the polar regions seem so far away, we can all do our bit to protect them, whether reducing our single-use plastic waste or taking part in beach cleanups.

You’re one of a handful of female British ice captains that hold an Unlimited Masters’ license. Over the course of your career, how has the maritime industry changed for women?

The maritime industry is changing. There’s been a real drive to advance and encourage women within certain sectors such as cruises, yachts, offshore and the North Sea.

I’m a great believer in “if you see it, you can become it.” In my spare time, I’m a Careers at Sea ambassador, which involves going to local colleges and schools to raise awareness of the opportunities within the maritime industry. I also mentor seafarers. My current mentees are based in India, Nigeria and Ghana. It’s nice to have an international perspective – and to support them with the different challenges they experience.

There are challenges for both male and female seafarers, but particularly in certain areas, women are still being held back. For example, there have been instances where women can’t work onboard because there isn’t a shared cabin available for them, and they can’t share with a man. I’ve never worked with any senior female officers either. For whatever reason, it does seem to be difficult for women to break these barriers.

At certain points in my career, it certainly felt impossible to become a captain. I went the long way around and worked for lots of different companies. I did a stint on passenger ships, because they were open to having women on board, but the environment wasn’t right for me. Ultimately, everything did come together, and I’ve now ended up with lots of different experiences and knowledge.

Growing up, I wasn’t passionate about anything, but it wasn’t until I started working at sea that I found my calling. Every day is different. I’ve had the opportunity to go around the world, see lots of places and work with people from so many different cultures.

Making Waves

Stories of incredible women working at sea

Discover more Image: © Inka Cresswell

Our partners

With grateful thanks to The TK Foundation for its support of the Making Waves series.

Images courtesy of Captain Philippa Bowden

Tall tales and deep waters: the story of the ocean with Olivia Armstrong

James Gill — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 10:36:07 +0000

Tall tales and deep waters: the story of the ocean with Olivia Armstrong James Gill Thu, 06/11/2026 - 10:36

Performer and storyteller Olivia Armstrong is standing in the Pacific Ocean.

Her feet aren’t wet, sharks aren’t nibbling her toes, but she’s still fully immersed in our watery world.

(At this point I should probably say that Olivia is standing on a map of the ocean – specifically the Ocean Map at the National Maritime Museum.)

Storyteller Olivia Armstrong performing at World Ocean Day 2026

‘Usually with maps we cut the sea to see the land,’ Olivia tells the crowd of young children gathered around her. ‘But here we cut the land to see the sea! Can you see? You might be in the Pacific Ocean, or the Southern Ocean, or the Atlantic Ocean. But can you see, see, see, that all the seas are really one BIG sea, bringing life to everyone and everything?’

Since re-opening in June 2025 the giant floor map has been at the heart of the Museum’s events and engagement. There have been dance shows, live music, performance art, science busking and even baby yoga.

Now Olivia is bringing the Ocean Map to life through movement and storytelling – but where do you start with a story as big as the ocean?

‘If you can embody it, you can understand it’

Olivia Armstrong describes herself as a storyteller, and storytelling in this context has a very particular meaning. Through movement, sound and participation, her performances encourage both children and adults to feel part of the story.

‘I suppose what defines storytelling is that you're not watching something: you’re joining in something,’ she says. ‘I know roughly what I think is going to happen, but it will be slightly different each time because the audience and I are creating it together.’

This particular story, 'Deep Sea Detectives', was first performed during World Ocean Day 2026, and is set to return to the Museum in the future. By blending folklore and science the piece encourages people to recognise the importance of the ocean to all life on Earth.

(If that sounds a bit highbrow, it also involves parachutes and tinfoil, water spray and rain sticks. This is a story for the ages and for all ages.)

‘I love to use folklore and myth as a way to bring people in, and there's so many great stories related to the ocean,’ Olivia explains. ‘For example, in northern Germany they thought the tides were caused by the man in the Moon coming down, lifting up the water and then throwing it back down to Earth.

‘There's another story I love about why the sea is salty. It’s said that a little boy made this bet with a giant that he could drink the sea. But the whole ocean was too much, he couldn't hold it in – so he peed it out! So that’s why the sea is salty.

‘So there’s all this folklore that captures the imagination, but then you can also lead into the no-less-amazing science. We try to make it physical too, because if you can embody it you can understand it.’

When talking about ocean depth for example, Olivia claps and asks audiences to time their responses based on how deep the water is. The longer the echo, the deeper the water: sonar through the senses.

The show is also site-specific, using the Ocean Map’s unfamiliar perspective to help people see how life in the ocean connects with life on land.

‘The Map is the most amazing creative impetus because everybody responds to it a different way,’ she says. ‘Some people want to go swimming on it, others are hopping across the land.

‘And I try and get the adults to join in too,’ she adds. ‘Stories are for everybody; this is all for you. You’re going to go away feeling fully immersed in the world of the ocean, and hopefully, want to find out more about the things that interest you.’

Support projects like this

Royal Museums Greenwich is a charity, and relies upon donations from generous supporters who share our passion for the sea, art, history and science. Donate now to keep like events like World Ocean Day free and support our learning and engagement programmes

Make a donation

Our relationship with the sea is changing. Discover how the ocean impacts us – and we impact the ocean – with the National Maritime Museum.

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The shift from wind to fossil fuels was far from smooth. As shipping tries to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, can we learn from fuel transitions of the past?

‘I've seen how Windrush identity has evolved’ – Anita McKenzie on mixed heritage and belonging

Anita McKenzie's parents arrived in Britain from Jamaica during the 1950s. Listen as she shares her memories of life in London, recorded as part of the Indo-Caribbean Windrush Oral History Project

Making Waves: Captain Philippa Bowden

What’s it like to work in Antarctica? Ice pilot Captain Philippa Bowden on navigating the immense frozen wilderness – and the challenges facing the region

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To celebrate 30 years of the Thames Footpath, poet Robert Seatter embarked on a journey from source to sea, responding to what the Thames means to us. Where did the river take him?

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The women leading India's maritime future

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Writing the Thames: a poet's journey along the river

James Gill — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 08:44:30 +0000

Writing the Thames: a poet's journey along the river James Gill Wed, 06/03/2026 - 08:44

I am absolutely delighted to be part of the 30-year celebration of the Thames Footpath, as its poet in residence.

What does this last phrase conjure up for you, dear reader? Maybe a wanderer with a busy notepad writing through sun and rain, or a man in a pea-green boat fishing thoughts from the depths, or…

In fact, I am more likely to be found in scattered conversation with the countless people who use the river: walkers and rowers, lockkeepers and river workers, old and young, occasional strollers and committed ramblers… And then I’ll go back, open my laptop, and try to capture some of those exchanges in concise and evocative words.

My simple aim is to reflect the presence of the River Thames, and convey what is has meant – and continues to mean – to all those who encounter it via the glory that is the Thames Footpath.

Follow the trail

Sources of the Thames at Trewsbury Mead near Kemble (© John Tippetts, courtesy of Visit Thames)

The result of all these exchanges will be a trail: 30 short texts or poems, beginning at the source of the river and ending at the sea, accessible via QR codes on the footpath’s finger posts. You’ll be able to hear my voice reading them too.

There will be words of reflection about the power of nature to take us somewhere else, nowhere embodied more expressively than in a river – which literally takes us on a journey. We cannot stand still! At Barnes Wetlands Centre for example I learned about the migratory journey of the arctic tern, which travels an extraordinary 25,000 miles every year, almost forgetful of wings, breaking its journey at this river haven.

There will be words about activity, about walking and running, wild swimming, the camaraderie of rowing, the sedate mystery of angling. Walkers spoke of the footpath almost as pilgrims do: that sense of a destination and a rhythm of steps, to listen to heart, gut, the stranger body.

…and the river remembers

‘The Mud-lark’, from Henry Mayhew’s book 'London Labour and the London Poor' (PBF5076)

There will be words about history and myth, the river as time, transporting us back to other moments which are still connected to us through the flow of water.

The fragmentary finds of mudlarks, a broken piece of this moment, this river, this world; palaces like Hampton Court, their glittering comings and goings; the trade journeys conjured up by the streamlined presence of the Cutty Sark; or rivers of memory evoked in the children’s classic Wind in the Willows, its story tinged with real-life tragedy.

And there will be words about the world: how we have not cared enough about it and yet are all connected to it. Ashes scattered in the Thames for Hindu burial rituals will eventually flow into the rivers of the world as they dissolve in the water – I give her to let her go.

What has become absolutely clear to me in working on this fascinating project is how important this river is, and how a river means so much more than a river. All the lives I live in the patterns they make. Within a couple of minutes of my many conversations people were not telling me about a river; they were telling me about how they live their lives.

Get involved

To complete the project, I’ll be writing a community poem at its finale, capturing in one place what this river means to everyone in their own words.

If you’d like to be part of this, simply send me a short phrase or three words that evoke what the River Thames is for you (robertseatter@hotmail.com).

And all the poems will ultimately be available in a hand-printed publication, RIVER, created in partnership with visual artist Jessica Palmer, and published in June 2026 by Paekakariki Press.

Flowing through history

Explore images of the River Thames from the collections of Royal Museums Greenwich.

Flowing through history

Explore images of the River Thames from the collections of Royal Museums Greenwich.

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Thames to the Sea

William Lionel Wyllie

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Dock-keepers, the Edwards family on the banks of the Thames, opposite St. Paul’s Cathedral, 1923

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Aerial photograph of the Thames Barrier, looking towards central London and the Millennium Dome

Learn more about the history of the Thames barrier

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London Verbrandt

A Dutch hand-coloured engraved pictorial map, showing the extent of the Great Fire in 1666.

G297:20/27

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'On the Thames'

Watercolour by Matilda Rose Herschel, the daughter of mathematician and astronomer John Herschel.

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The Thames and Greenwich Hospital by Moonlight

By Henry Pether, made circa 1854-60.

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Aerial view of Cutty Sark next to the River Thames

Visit Cutty Sark

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A lighterman standing on the bow of a lighter, hauling on a rope

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The Fair on the Thames

Print depicting a scene from the last great 'frost fair' of 1813-14.

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A view of the passenger steamer 'Hampton Court' under way on the Thames passing Cliveden Woods heading upstream

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'The Triumphall Entertainment of ye King and Queenes Matie by ye Maior of London at their coming from Hampton Court to Whitehall'

Print from a series depicting the marriage of Charles II and Catherine of Braganza, showing a river procession from Hampton Court to Whitehall.

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Learn more

Explore the history of the River Thames with Royal Museums Greenwich

'There was an awful smell once we got to the Thames'

Gordon 'Willie' Williamson worked aboard Thames barges throughout the 1960s, and witnessed the final years of central London as a busy cargo hub

Niki Gorick: Dock Life

A snapshot of the culture and communities of London’s docklands, on display at Cutty Sark

Pollution in the River Thames: a history

Lifeline, water source, sewer – follow the murky history of London's relationship with the River Thames

Mapping uncharted histories: the 19th century woman who developed London’s map trade

Artist Remiiya Badru’s new display in the Queen’s House tells the story of maritime publisher, Penelope Steel

Strange finds in the River Thames

Author Vanessa Taylor explores how discoveries by the banks of the Thames continue to shape our relationship with the river

Maritime London gallery

Discover how life on the River Thames has evolved in the past 300 years at the National Maritime Museum's Maritime London gallery

Guide to Maritime Greenwich: London's UNESCO World Heritage Site

In 1997, UNESCO recognised Greenwich as a World Heritage Site. Discover what's so special about London's famous maritime hub

Mudlarks: the murky world of London’s river scavengers

If we were able to return to Victorian London and head down to the banks of the Thames at low tide, we could observe silent human figures aged from childhood upwards, bent over, wading (sometimes waist-high) in the wet mud

A closer look at the Thames lightermen and watermen

In this blog we look at the larger-than-life characters who carried people and goods on London’s river in centuries gone by.

Dickens and The Great Stink of 1858

For many, Charles Dickens is synonymous with Christmas jollity. However, there was a darker side to Dickens’ work. Not only did he repeatedly refer in his novels and articles to the contemporary filth of the Thames, which culminated in the Great Stink crisis of 1858, he was also actively involved in kick-starting the reform programmes to resolve the issue.

Visit Cutty Sark

Step aboard the historic tea clipper, the fastest ship of its time and now a famous sight in the heart of Greenwich's UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Learn more

Main image: Bridges on the River Thames by Jaanus Jagomägi via Unsplash

How much of the ocean has been explored?

James Gill — Tue, 19 May 2026 13:33:19 +0000

How much of the ocean has been explored? James Gill Tue, 05/19/2026 - 13:33

It is often claimed that we know more about the surface of the Moon than we do about the bottom of the ocean – and in a way it’s true!

A study in 2025 estimated that we have visibly observed less than 0.001 per cent of the deep ocean floor, an area just a tenth of the size of Belgium.

'Visibly observing' is only one way of exploring the ocean however. We may not be able to use telescopes to look down into the depths, but humans have found plenty of inventive ways of studying the ocean, as the collections of the National Maritime Museum make clear.

Sea-bed samples from HMS Challenger, organised into trays. Using deep-sea sounding and dredging, the Challenger Expedition collected geological samples of deep-sea sediments that gave clues as to the nature of the ocean floor (NAV0843)

One hundred and fifty years ago for example, the British research ship HMS Challenger departed England on a quest to explore the world's ocean. Three and a half years later the ship returned carrying the largest collection of examples of life from the deep sea.

Challenger was a trailblazer, but technological advances have since transformed our understanding of the ocean. Today thousands of ships, satellites, buoys, robots and even animals are taking readings and sharing vital information about the waters of our planet. Wave heights and sea levels, current strengths, temperature, salinity, oxygen levels and even the colour of the ocean are measured. Computer modelling helps to make sense of the ocean of data available to us.

Observing the ocean helps us create forecasts and weather warnings, monitor fish stocks and food sources, measure the health of marine habitats and populations, and predict how the ocean might be affected by human-caused climate change.

9 tools of the trade

Discover some of the methods and technologies that scientists use to observe and measure the ocean.

Tap to begin

1. Floats

Drifting robotic floats take many important measurements of seawater including temperature and salinity (how salty the water is). These floats are dropped from ships, sink to a certain depth and then drift with the ocean currents. After taking readings, they return to the surface to transmit the data before returning for another cycle. The Argo programme currently has a network of more than 4,000 active floats across the world.

2. Buoys

Buoys also contribute to ocean data. Some drift with the ocean, collecting both sea surface readings and information about the water beneath. Other buoys are fixed in place, helping scientists to observe how a particular area is changing. Some of these fixed moorings have been in place for many years.

Image: Miquel Gomila / SOCIB, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 via Flickr

3. Animals

As well as recording marine life, scientists are beginning to recruit animals themselves as oceanographers. Creatures such as seals, turtles and penguins have been fitted with special sensors that can measure the waters that they live in as well as their location. The Animal Borne Ocean Sensors (ANIBOS) network helps us to measure the ocean in hard-to-reach places. For instance, the real size of Bahama Banks was only discovered in 2022 using a combination of satellite imagery, scuba-diving surveys and cameras attached to tiger sharks!

Image: M.Gomila/SOCIB via Ocean Observers

4. The CDT

CTD stands for 'Conductivity, Temperature, and Depth', which are the basic measurements made by this vital instrument. Measuring the conductivity of sea water – how well an electrical current flows in sea water – tells us the water's salinity (how salty it is). Combining salinity with temperature can tell us how dense the water is at different depths. A CDT is lowered into the water using a cable from a research ship.

5. Observations from ships

A network of Voluntary Observing Ships (VOS) helps to record weather observations at sea and collect climate data. Ship crews are trained to take readings, and the data contributes to some of the weather forecasting and warnings services that all seafarers rely on. In 2024 the Global Ocean Observing System recorded a record 4.5 million observations.

Image courtesy of Global Ocean Observing System

6. Tide gauges

Tide gauges have been around for centuries, providing sea level measurements relative to the land where they were placed. Modern tide gauges often use radar to measure the height of the water. The sensor sends a signal down to the surface and measures the time it takes for the ‘echo’ to return.

Image: Jonathan Thacker, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

7. Satellites

Sea level measurements in specific locations can be combined with information from satellites, which are constantly flying over the ocean and taking highly accurate global average readings. Satellites can now measure sea surface height to within three centimetres.

Satellites can also give us a wealth of other information about the ocean, including sea surface temperature and height, sea ice coverage, water colour and depth. They can also help us track levels of phytoplankton (microscopic plant life).

Image: NASA Earth Observatory

8. Underwater vehicles

A range of underwater vehicles help scientists measure the ocean and observe deep water environments for themselves. Gliders move up and down the water and can travel for many months, making them ideal for longer observing expeditions. Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVS) or autosubs meanwhile may be used as part of a specific research project.

Image: Alex Brearley/British Antarctic Survey

9. Research vessels

Research vessels are ships and boats that carry out specific scientific missions. Scientists live and work in collaboration with the ship's crew and logistics teams to carry out important projects. Some ships, such as the polar research ship RRS Sir David Attenborough, are purpose-built for specific environments and projects.

Image: Jamie Anderson courtesy of British Antarctic Survey

See the ocean differently

The Ocean Map at the National Maritime Museum reminds us how much of the Earth is covered by water – and how important the ocean is to our planet

Explore the map

Our relationship with the sea is changing. Discover how the ocean impacts us – and we impact the ocean – with the National Maritime Museum.

Inside the megaship: on board one of the world's biggest container ships

What is it like to sail on one of the giants of global trade? Artist and researcher Zoe Childerley journeyed aboard HMM Southampton to find out

From sailing ships to steam power: how the Industrial Revolution changed life at sea forever

The shift from wind to fossil fuels was far from smooth. As shipping tries to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, can we learn from fuel transitions of the past?

‘I've seen how Windrush identity has evolved’ – Anita McKenzie on mixed heritage and belonging

Anita McKenzie's parents arrived in Britain from Jamaica during the 1950s. Listen as she shares her memories of life in London, recorded as part of the Indo-Caribbean Windrush Oral History Project

Making Waves: Captain Philippa Bowden

What’s it like to work in Antarctica? Ice pilot Captain Philippa Bowden on navigating the immense frozen wilderness – and the challenges facing the region

Tall tales and deep waters: the story of the ocean with Olivia Armstrong

How storyteller Olivia Armstrong is using the Ocean Map at the National Maritime Museum to help children see our watery world in a new way

Writing the Thames: a poet's journey along the river

To celebrate 30 years of the Thames Footpath, poet Robert Seatter embarked on a journey from source to sea, responding to what the Thames means to us. Where did the river take him?

The women leading India's maritime future

A new project supported by Royal Museums Greenwich documents the experiences of women in India's maritime industries. How do they compare to stories from the past?

The unexpected history of the shipping container

They carry everything from apples to iPhones – but how did a simple metal box have such a profound impact on the way we live, work and shop?

How the ocean works

A window into our watery world

Main image: The floor of the oceans based on bathymetric studies by Bruce C Heezen and Marie Tharp (G201:1/57)

The women leading India's maritime future

James Gill — Wed, 06 May 2026 08:39:33 +0000

The women leading India's maritime future James Gill Wed, 05/06/2026 - 08:39

In 1999 Sonali Banerjee graduated as India’s first female marine engineer. She was the only woman in a college of 500 cadets.

More than 25 years on, her trailblazing career demonstrates how far India has come in supporting women in the shipping industry – and the challenges that still remain.

‘What really matters is what lies within you,’ Banerjee says. ‘It is very important that we believe in our own ability, believe in our own instincts and then move ahead with what we most believe in.’

Banerjee's story features in SHE_SEES India, a new project by Lloyd’s Register Foundation that documents the experiences of women working in India’s maritime sector. Through a series of interviews and portraits, the project celebrates women who have forged a path in what is still a male-dominated industry.

Banerjee later became the first woman to reach the rank of Chief Engineer and is now a leading surveyor in India’s Register of Shipping. She says her experience at sea had a profound influence on her life and career. ‘Life at sea is very different from working ashore, where you have back-up and many options if things go wrong,’ she says. ‘At sea, your resources are limited. You can’t call up somebody and ask for some more help; you have to manage with whatever’s available in terms of people, materials and equipment. That teaches you a lot about life.’

Curators at Royal Museums Greenwich are partnering with Lloyd’s Register Foundation to bring stories of women in the maritime world, both past and present, to light. Exploring how individual perspectives from India compare with historical accounts will help the Museum better understand how women's roles and experiences within the industry have changed.

Banerjee’s story has interesting parallels with that of Dr Nina Baker, who in 1972 became Britain’s first female deck cadet. In 2020 Baker participated in an oral history with the National Maritime Museum, where she reflected on her efforts to break into the maritime industry.

‘Anybody I met who had any connection with the Merchant Navy, I was up saying, “You know, I want to go to sea, and do you think this might be possible?”,’ she recalled, knowing that seafaring was not a typical career path for women at the time. ‘And some of them would say, “Well, the only women at sea are stewardesses on the cruise ships.”’

India is a valuable case study when studying diversity and inclusion within the maritime sector more broadly according to the project’s authors. ‘In terms of maritime diversity, India is further ahead than many countries,’ explains writer and editor Nicola Good. ‘According to the International Maritime Organization WISTA Survey 2024, it accounts for some 7% of women seafarers, which is substantially higher than the overall global average of 1%. So, we also sought to use this opportunity to gain an understanding of why Indian women are more readily getting on board.’

The team interviewed more than 30 women during India Maritime Week in October 2025 from across the industry. Each person was asked about their motivations for pursuing their career and what more could be done to encourage women to thrive in maritime.

Redneshwary Kandeepan, who works in crewing for tugs and barges, said, ‘Society must understand that this is a field where a woman can thrive and we need to make sure vessels have the facilities to accommodate women.’

The issue of suitable facilities was also highlighted by the Port of London's Senior Harbour Master Cathryn Spain, who told Royal Museums Greenwich in 2023. ‘I still hear stories of young women working in the ports and at sea who are experiencing harassment and discrimination. There are other elements that need to change too: for example, ensuring that there are appropriate changing facilities on the shoreside and appropriate provisions for ships in ports.’

As Senior Harbour Master, Cathryn Spain leads on port security, resilience and emergency management in the Port of London (image courtesy of Port of London Authority)

Emphasising the need for pastoral care and professional support was also a common thread both through the SHE_SEES India stories and interviews conducted by Royal Museums Greenwich.

‘For those women who are already at sea, we need to empower them with a sense of psychological safety so they can speak up when they are disadvantaged,’ said Divya Nair, a clinical psychologist at Fleet Management. ‘I've always noticed that as women, we are so driven to prove ourselves in male dominated fields that we don't readily open up. We feel we must bear the burden solo and work through the challenges ourselves.’

Explore the SHE_SEES India series on the Lloyd’s Register Foundation Heritage website, and find more stories of women throughout maritime history below.

Editor’s note: Lloyd's Register Foundation supports Royal Museums Greenwich through its Grants programme. Learn more about the partnership, 'Creating ocean citizens for a safer world'.

'I want to go to sea, do you think this might be possible?' – Nina Baker in her own words

Dr Nina Baker became the first female deck cadet in the British Merchant Navy. Listen to her account of a pioneering career

‘We need to normalise seeing women in this industry’

Ashley Mullenger lifts the lid on the life of a female fisherman

Oral histories: the women of the RNLI

Listen to the stories of women who volunteer with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution – part of a series of recordings by the National Maritime Museum

‘Our actions will define the future of our oceans’

How wildlife filmmaker Inka Cresswell is inspiring the next generation to save our seas

Tenacious women in the kingdom of letters

The correspondence between mothers and wives to John Markham, on the Admiralty Board, reveals the surprising role these women played in attempting to secure their family's survival

'The maritime industry has got better for women – but there’s more to be done'

Meet Senior Harbour Master Cathryn Spain, who oversees navigational safety on the River Thames

From mapmakers to mariners

Artist Remiiya Badru explores the stories of three pioneering women found in the collections of Royal Museums Greenwich

Making Waves

Stories of incredible women at sea

The women who went to sea – dressed as men

Barred from the seafaring life, women had to disguise themselves as men if they wanted to experience the high seas - and brave the consequences of being found out

Research guide: women and the sea

This guide outlines useful sources for research on women and the sea, chiefly at the National Maritime Museum but also The National Archives

An ocean of stories

Visit the National Maritime Museum to learn about the past, present and future of our watery world

Plan your visit

The unexpected history of the shipping container

James Gill — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 11:13:15 +0000

The unexpected history of the shipping container James Gill Fri, 03/27/2026 - 11:13

In the 1870s the sailing ship Cutty Sark carried around 600 tonnes of tea per voyage from China to Britain.

Today, almost two million tonnes of tea are shipped around the world every year – just one tiny part of a vast system of global maritime trade.

Many developments contributed to this expansion, yet few have proven as transformative as one seemingly mundane invention: the shipping container.

On 26 April 1956 a converted oil tanker named the Ideal X left port in Newark, New Jersey carrying 58 metal containers. When it arrived in Texas five days later, the containers were unloaded directly onto to waiting trucks. It was a small experiment with enormous consequences.

Seventy years on this simple idea has fundamentally changed how goods move around the world. But aside from major news events such as the 2021 blocking of the Suez Canal, it's easy to forget just how much of everything we buy is brought by sea.

How did the container transform life at sea and in the docks? And is there a price to being able to ship goods from the other side of the world so cheaply?

On this page

Cargo before containerisation
Dangers at the docks
Origins of the shipping container
How ports changed after containerisation
Slow ships, fast fashion
Environmental impacts of container shipping

Cargo before containerisation

The 19th and early 20th centuries saw a revolution in the way ships were built, powered and sailed. However, the way goods were actually handled changed remarkably little.

Simple hoists, cranes and equipment like this docker’s hook, made around 1936, were still the main tools of a highly dangerous and labour-intensive trade. Barrels, sacks, bales and crates all had to be handled piece by piece as they were lifted onto the ship and stowed in the hold.

London dockers case hook (TOS0269)

At the other end of the voyage, every individual item had to be unloaded again and stored in warehouses until it could continue its journey. Delays were routine and theft common.

Unloading tea ships in the East India docks (58/2798)

Dangers at the docks

Dock work wasn't just dangerous; it was highly insecure too. Just like so-called 'gig economy' workers today, dockers were typically employed only for specific roles at times of high demand. Workers would have to wait at the gates of the docks in the hope of being selected.

Trade unionist Ben Tillett vividly described the conditions for London dockworkers in a speech later published in the English illustrated magazine in 1890:

‘To obtain employment we are driven into a shed, iron-barred from end to end, while outside a foreman or contractor walks up and down with the air of a dealer in a cattle market, picking and choosing from a crowd of men, who in their eagerness to obtain employment trample each other under foot, and like beasts fight for the chances of a day's work.’

These 'coins' from Blackwall Yard illustrate another form of exploitation: dockers were regularly paid in tokens rather than cash. Workers could redeem these tokens only at company shops, where goods might be of lesser quality or sold at a premium.

Tin and trade tokens (REL0709)

In 1888 a report in medical journal The Lancet highlighted the physical toll of dock labour. A surgeon working at Poplar Hospital estimated that 'during the course of five years' constant work, out of a hundred men the majority would suffer some accident; in fact, hardly any would escape.' The investigation found that 'insufficient food', 'reckless speed' and 'the desire for cheapness' all contributed to a high level of preventable accidents at the docks.

'Here lives are needlessly squandered; men are ruptured, their spines injured, their bones broken, and their skulls fractured, so as to get ships loaded and unloaded a little quicker and a little cheaper,' the report concluded.

'Come mister tally man, tally me banana'

Harry Belafonte's 'Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)' featured on the first album to sell more than a million copies. You may well have heard it – but do you know the song's shipping origins?

The traditional Jamaican work song revolves around workers loading bananas on to a ship, waiting for the 'tally man' to count their stacks and give them their pay. 'Work all night on a drink of rum,' the song goes. 'Daylight come and me wan' go home'.

'Unloading Bananas from Steamer, New Orleans, La', 1907 (From the New York Public Library)

'People sing and delight and dance and love it,' Belafonte told NPR in 2011. 'They don't really understand unless they study the song that they're singing a work song that's a song of rebellion.'

The origins of the shipping container

Dock safety began to improve in the UK during the 20th century. Research by Dr Guy Collender published by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation found that fatalities fell from 115 in 1899 to 69 in 1939.

However, even by the 1950s dock work was still incredibly dangerous, with an injury rate three times that of construction workers and eight times that of manufacturing. Regular strikes for improved pay and working conditions increased the already-long turnaround times in ports. Unions and ship owners were seemingly often pitted against each other.

Several attempts had been made to use containers for transporting goods before the Second World War. However, these had been limited in scale and confined to specific back-and-forth routes.

In the 1950s, American trucking entrepreneur Malcolm McLean began to explore how containers might ship goods more efficiently.

Malcolm McLean (Maersk Line, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons)

An outsider to the shipping industry, McLean identified that it would be quicker and easier to unload goods from ships on to trucks or trains directly. Initially McLean explored loading a lorry complete with its container on to the ship. However, the space limitations and the conditions the vehicles would face on the open ocean made this impractical. Instead, he developed the idea of loading just one part: the box itself.

Diagram from a patent filed by Malcolm McLean titled 'Apparatus for shipping freight' (via Google Patents, CC BY 4.0)

McLean purchased a former military ship, renamed it the Ideal X and configured it to carry his metal containers. On 26 April 1956 the first test voyage carrying 58 containers left New Jersey for Texas. The modern shipping container was born.

Starting small

This rather quaint looking model depicts one of the world's first container ships, Container Venturer (1958). The ship is fully laden with 16 containers that look like railway carriages without their bogies, because that is exactly what they are. This model represents the very beginning of containerized transport.

Giants of the sea

This ship model represents HMM Algeciras, which at the time of its launch in 2020 was the world's largest container ship. The ship is capable of carrying 23,964 TEU. TEU stands for Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit, a standard way of measuring cargo capacity based on the size of a 20-foot-long (6.1 metres) shipping container.

How ports changed after containerisation

Despite the potential safety benefits, dockers' unions were quick to realise that containerisation would mean far fewer workers – a key motivator for inventor McLean himself.

In a patent filed in 1954, McLean wrote, 'A major impediment to transoceanic trade resides in the relatively high cost involved in moving a small shipment of merchandise from a consignor to a consignee. Such merchandise may be handled as many as ten or more times due to the number of loading, unloading and storing operations involved, and the cost of labor as well as the time involved are major factors in determining the cost of moving the shipment.'

As the number of people needed to work the docks fell, there was no longer any need to locate ports close to residential areas. In addition, as the vessels became larger to hold more containers, many city ports lacked sufficient deep water facilities. Cheaper locations with deeper waters and faster road and rail connections could be developed to handle the increasingly large ships.

Scenes such as this photograph from 1932 showing the cargo ship Penang towering over houses and gardens in Millwall, south east London became a thing of the past. The ships and seafarers that carried goods around the world became increasingly invisible to the consumers themselves.

Northfleet Hope container terminal

SLR2160 • Ship Models

A model of the Northfleet Hope container terminal made of wood with metal and plastic fittings and painted in realistic colours. The Northfleet Hope Berth was built in 1978 and was the first purpose-built container terminal to be established in the UK. The terminal was initially designed to handle the large volume of refrigerated containers common to the Australian and New Zealand trade, and was equipped to handle 1,000-plus containers at sub-zero temperatures.

More about this item

Slow ships, fast fashion

Containerisation may have decreased the visibility of the maritime world, but it has dramatically increased the amount of global trade.

In the year 2000, the biggest ships could carry just over 4,000 containers. Today, they carry 23,000. These ever-larger ships feed modern consumer appetites.

One of the starkest examples of how container shipping has changed society is in the retail industry and the growth of 'fast fashion'. A single container can hold 10,000 pairs of jeans, making the shipping cost per item almost negligible. Low transport costs mean cheaper clothes and longer supply chains, and create the risk of poorer working conditions, environmental controls and traceability standards.

As a society we have become used to access to affordable, almost ‘throw-away’ fashion. The average person in the UK buys around 61 items of clothing per year, more than any other country in Europe. More clothes means more waste, with more than 711,000 tonnes of textiles sent to landfill or incinerated in the UK each year.

Even when clothes are donated instead of dumped, 70 per cent of the used clothes are exported. The same system of containerisation that transported items in the first place are now used to export the problem of what to do with clothes when they are no longer wanted.

Ghana is the world's largest importer of used clothing, with the BBC World Service reporting that an estimated 15 million items of clothing arrive in the country every week. A Greenpeace investigation in 2025 found that 40 per cent of the clothing was unusable, resulting in waste textiles being dumped and harming protected wetland habitats.

Going green? The environmental impact of container shipping

Containerisation has ushered in cargoes that would have been unthinkable to the crews and dockers who worked with Cutty Sark in the 19th century. The difference of course is that, compared to the fossil fuel-powered ships of today, Cutty Sark relied on sail power alone.

A very large container ship emits three grams of carbon dioxide for every tonne of cargo transported over one kilometre. Air freight emits almost 150 times that amount (graphic courtesy of International Chamber of Shipping)

While the sheer size of the vessels makes ships more carbon-efficient compared with planes and trucks, shipping as a whole is still responsible for roughly three per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Efforts to clean up the maritime industry have faced major hurdles: a vote to agree a 'Net Zero Framework' at the International Maritime Organisation, the UN agency responsible for world shipping, was delayed in October 2025.

In the meantime, the environmental costs of moving goods around the world continue to rise. Greenhouse gas emissions from shipping were the highest on record in 2024 according to data analysed by the European Federation for Transport and Environment, with container ship emissions in particular rising by 46 per cent.

Image courtesy of Cameron Venti / Ocean Image Bank

That year, ships travelling between Asia and Europe were forced to avoid the Suez Canal due to security concerns in the Red Sea. Instead, companies opted for the much longer route around Africa, travelling faster and burning more fuel to meet delivery deadlines.

Malcolm McLean’s container helped make the modern world possible. Seventy years on, its legacy invites a harder question: not just how efficiently goods move, but at what cost.

Life on board a container ship – in pictures

Artist Zoe Childerley is embarking on a project with the National Maritime Museum to bring experiences of modern seafarers to light. How did she find her first voyage on board a container ship?

Thames barges and London docks – an oral history

Gordon 'Willie' Williamson worked aboard Thames barges throughout the 1960s, and witnessed the final years of central London as a busy cargo hub

How does the UK respond to a maritime emergency?

If a ship runs into trouble in UK territorial waters, an individual known as ‘SOSREP’ is often one of the first to be notified. Who are they, and how do they help prevent disaster at sea?

Remembering the Sea Empress oil spill

Cliff Benson reflects on how efforts to save oiled sea birds inspired a lifetime's dedication to wildlife protection

Making Waves

Stories of incredible women at sea

Pollution in the River Thames: a history

Lifeline, water source, sewer – follow the murky history of London's relationship with the River Thames

Turning our view of the world inside out: introducing the new Ocean Map

The National Maritime Museum's Ocean Map reminds us just how much of the Earth is covered by water – and how important the ocean is to our planet

How the ocean works

James Gill — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 16:09:27 +0000

How the ocean works James Gill Mon, 03/02/2026 - 16:09

The Ocean Map at the National Maritime Museum is a peculiar way of seeing our planet.

The map uses what is known as a Spilhaus projection to show the ocean as a single connected system rather than separate bodies of water.

The Ocean Map at the National Maritime Museum

‘Most maps cut through the ocean to see the land more clearly, showing us continents and coastlines in a familiar way,’ writes Aimee Mook in The Ocean Map: exploring our watery world. ‘This map shows us our one big ocean in a more unfamiliar way!’

Seeing the world in this way raises lots of questions. If there is one 'world ocean', how does water move around it? Why are conditions so different in different parts of the ocean, from the icy Arctic to the tropical Pacific? Perhaps most importantly of all, what impacts are we having on the ocean – and how are scientists trying to understand what's happening in this huge blue system?

Skip to

Introducing ocean currents
Ocean zones and depths
The importance of sea ice
Submarine volcanoes
Creatures and features

Introducing ocean currents

Throughout history humans have followed the motion of the ocean. Currents, tides, winds and waves have carried us to every part of the world.

But the ocean doesn’t just carry people. Ocean circulation – the movement of water around the Earth – transfers energy, food, salt and sediments, and influences both our local and global climate.

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As wind blows over the open ocean, it drags the top layers of water with it, creating surface currents. These surface currents can combine to form large circular systems called gyres.

Gyres spin in different directions depending on whether they are in the northern or southern hemisphere. This is due to the Coriolis effect, where the rotation of the Earth causes air to be deflected east or west.

'A view of ye general and coasting trade-winds, monsoons or ye shifting trade winds through ye world'

G201:1/38 • Charts & Maps

This chart, published in 1715, indicates prevailing wind directions using arrows and fine engraved lines. Sailing ships made use of these predictable patterns: nautical terms like ‘trade winds’, ‘volta do mar’ (a Portuguese phrase meaning ‘turn of the sea’), the ‘Roaring Forties’ and ‘the doldrums’ all describe the conditions that seafarers encountered in different parts of the world.

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Currents don’t just happen at the surface however. Deep ocean currents are also constantly moving water up, down and around our planet thanks to changes in water density – how ‘heavy’ the water is.

Seawater density is affected by temperature (how hot or cold it is) and salinity (how salty it is). Cold, saltier water is heavier and so sinks. Warm surface water gets pulled in to replace the sinking water, creating a cycle. The cold water moves slowly round the Earth before rising to the surface again in a process called upwelling.

Diagram showing deep and surface water currents around the world (courtesy of Maphoto/Riccardo Pravettoni)

This cycle is sometimes called the global ocean conveyor belt. It is estimated that it would take 1,000 years for a drop of water to complete a full circuit of this global stream.

Ocean zones and depths

Look at Earth from space and the blue of the ocean takes centre stage. What these pictures can't do is take you beneath the surface.

The ocean is three-dimensional, and water is not the same all the way down. Light, pressure and salt levels change as you descend, and life has adapted to conditions found at different depths.

Scientists tend to divide the open ocean into different zones or layers. Tap the arrows to learn more about each zone.

Image: JSC/NASA

Sunlight Zone

The sunlight zone extends from the surface to 200 metres (650 feet) below sea level. This is the part of the ocean where many of our most familiar ocean creatures live, from the great white shark to the loggerhead turtle. Phytoplankton (microscopic, plant-like organisms) live here too as they need sunlight to grow and photosynthesise, producing the oxygen we all rely on.

Image: Karim Iliya/Kogia

Twilight Zone

The twilight zone is anywhere from 200 – 1000 metres (650–3,300 feet). This zone contains more fish than almost any other part of the ocean, although most of them are tiny, measuring only a few centimetres or less. Huge numbers of creatures rise up from the twilight zone to the surface each night to feed on plankton, before returning to the murky depths during the day to hide from predators. This is called the Diel Vertical Migration, and is the largest migration of animal life on Earth.

Image: Twilight Zone Expedition Team 2007, NOAA-OE, CC BY 2.0 via Flickr

Midnight Zone

The midnight zone is found between 1,000 and 4,000 metres (3,300–13,000 feet). Life here is in perpetual darkness, so many animals found here produce bioluminescent light to hunt or communicate. The wreck of the Titanic is also found in this zone, lying about 3,800 metres (12,500 feet) down on the bottom of the North Atlantic.

Abyssal Zone

The abyssal zone is anywhere between 4,000 to 6,000 metres (13,000–20,000 feet). The flat ocean floor here is broken in places thanks to the movement of tectonic plates (the pieces that make up the Earth's crust). This movement also leads to strange features such as hydrothermal vents, where chemicals and boiling water stream out from under the Earth's crust. While conditions here would be deadly for most animals, some life forms have adapted to survive in these unique environments.

Image: MARUM, CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Hadal Zone

The hadal zone is the name for the deepest parts of the ocean, classed as anywhere deeper than 6,000 metres (20,000 feet). These depths are often found in ocean trenches, which are long, narrow canyons that form when one tectonic plate is pushed beneath another. At 10,935 metres (35,876 feet), Challenger Deep is the deepest point in the ocean, located in the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean.

'Descending into the ocean is like going on a smooth elevator ride': Challenger Deep diver Dawn Wright

Image: Victor Vescovo via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

The importance of sea ice

About 15% of the world's ocean is covered by ice for at least part of the year.

Sea ice in the polar regions is vitally important for our planet: it helps keep the global ocean conveyor belt turning, reflects some of the Sun’s rays back into space, and supports the nutrient-rich waters that form the foundation of the marine food chain.

But human-caused climate change is having a dramatic impact on sea ice. Measurements of summer Arctic sea ice extent each year show a shrinkage of 12.2% per decade due to warmer temperatures.

The National Maritime Museum is home to thousands of objects related to polar exploration, including from expeditions searching for the 'Northwest Passage' – an Arctic sea route connecting the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Human-caused climate change means that this once almost-impassable sea route is now increasingly ice free during the summer months.

The number of ships operating in the Arctic reached a record high in 2025 according to data from the Arctic Council. More traffic in the region could have serious impacts for indigenous communities and marine life.

Sea Ice Aware

Areas of the ocean that have frozen are considered 'sea ice', and can vary from slushy, barely solid areas to sheets of ice that are meters thick. Since the late 1970s, satellites have been used to monitor both the extent and concentration of sea ice around the world.

This online tool lets you track the extent of sea ice in both the Arctic and Antarctic each month, and explore how it has changed over time.

Submarine volcanoes

Volcanoes are openings in the Earth’s crust that allow hot molten rock known as magma to erupt from beneath.

While it's hard to imagine fiery magma spewing out beneath the waves, scientists believe that up to 80% of all the volcanic activity on Earth actually takes place underwater. The film below from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution gives some idea of what these submarine volcanoes look like.

‘Underwater volcanoes are unique environments that can teach us a lot about extreme life on Earth, and even the possibility of life on other planets,’ explains curator Aimee Mook in The Ocean Map: exploring our watery world.

Kavachi, named after a fiery sea god from the Solomon Islands, is one of the most active underwater volcanoes on Earth. But, as Mook says, ‘Animals like hammerhead sharks have been found living inside Kavachi, despite the unusually high temperatures and challenging environment.’

Creatures and features

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Discover some of the life, habitats and human features that are pinpointed on the Ocean Map at the National Maritime Museum. View in full screen

Our relationship with the sea is changing. Discover how the ocean impacts us – and we impact the ocean – with the National Maritime Museum.

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