Think I might have become a little obsessed with my dissertation, tentatively titled, "Stress, Anxiety and Created Communities: the Voyages of Darwin, Huxley and Hooker." It's not even due till September but I'm itching to start writing it. It's all I can think about!

#navalhistory

Walked into my bedroom to discover the sun, trees and my HMS Victory model painting a pretty picture on the wall 😍

#navalhistory

According to staff, this is a popular place for proposals. Have they even seen the movie!? "I love you most ardently." "You are the last man I could ever be prevailed upon to marry!"

#prideandprejudice
#janeausten
#stourhead

When you hear the name HMS Beagle, you think of Darwin. If you're into #navalhistory, you might know of Fitzroy. But have you heard of Pringle Stokes, Beagle's captain on her first voyage to Patagonia? He is the reason Fitzroy (and indirectly Darwin) became bound up with that little 10-gun brig 1/5

Ahoy shipmates, with only four Patrick O'Brian left I need some recommendations for naval fiction in the Age of Sail. I've already read the Hornblower, Bolitho, Drinkwater and Kydd series. Is Ramage any good?

#navalhistory
#historicalfiction

I picked this one up from an antique shop about 20 years ago. Know absolutely nothing of its history but I love every bit of it. She looks so alive, it's like it could have been taken yesterday.

The album cover is just as bad!

Having been told at school that I have no musical talent, I am now officially listed as a composer. To those teachers who crushed my spirit as a child: I have taught myself to play piano, cello and guitar, and apparently I'm quite musical after all, so be careful when you tread on children's dreams.

I have to admit, I'm not a fan of reading hardbacks, so after finding them in a charity a year ago I kept putting off reading them...now I've found them in paperback, I'm hoping to read these soon (after finishing HMS Beagle, so that'll be three ship biographies in a row) 😁

#navalhistory

Not a bad haul for £17. World of Books is awesome!

#navalhistory #historybooks

It wasn't so serene yesterday 😉

I love the background. It reminds me of this boardgame c.1900 depicting Nansen's Expedition to the North Pole.

Thank you. The water bus is currently going past Belfast, so that's pretty cool 😊

In the late 1800s my local museum acquired a piece of lace from the coat #Nelson wore when he lost his arm, attached to a page saying 'Sir Wm Beatty's compliments'. I've found references to pieces of that coat floating around in the early 1800s as relics. Anyone tell if it's real?

#navalhistory

Tonight I came across Sir John Franklin's compass box. It was recovered from the ice by one of the expeditions sent to look for him after his disappearance in 1845 and entered the collection of the Russell-Cotes Museum in Bournemouth. Local museums can have amazing artefacts.
#navalhistory

Found this GORGEOUS c.1900 boardgame at Russell-Cotes Museum, Bournemouth, called Nansen's Expedition to the North Pole, capitalising on the British public's fascination with polar exploration. The quality is amazing and it even maps the route of the Fram and Nansen's sled route. #history

I treated myself to some second-hand books. Definitely a theme here... #navalhistory