I specialise in the naval history of Britain and of other countries, from the 6th century to the present day. I am particularly interested in international comparisons between naval powers, and in internal connections between naval history and other approaches to national history.
- Senior Research Fellow, All Souls College (from 2008 to 2017)
- Lecturer, then Professor of Naval History, University of Exeter (from 1999 to 2008)
- Anderson Senior Research Fellow, National Maritime Museum (from 1991 to 1999)
- Assistant Keeper, Public Record Office (from 1974 to 1991)
- Undergraduate and Postgraduate at University College, Oxford (from 1968 to 1974)
- Naval history of Britain and of other countries, from the 6th century to the present day
- International comparisons between naval powers, and in internal connections between naval history and other approaches to national history
- Naval connections with political, economic, social, agricultural, religious and medical history, among others
- (ed. with R. Cock), A Guide to the Naval Records in the National Archives of the UK (London: University of London, Institute of Historical Research, 2006; 2nd edn. 2008).
- The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain, vol. II, 1649–1815 (London: Allen Lane in association with the National Maritime Museum, 2004).
- (ed.), Memoirs of a Seafaring Life: The Narrative of William Spavens (Great Britain: Folio Society, 2000).
- The Safeguard of the Sea: A Naval history of Britain, vol. 1, 660–1649 (London: HarperCollins Publishers in association with the National Maritime Museum, 1997).
- (ed.), Naval Power in the Twentieth Century (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1996).
- (ed. jointly), British Naval Documents, 1204–1960 (Aldershot: Scolar, for the Navy Records Society, 1993).
- (ed.), The Insatiable Earl: A Life of John Montagu. Fourth Earl of Sandwich, 1718–1792 (London: HarperCollins, 1993).
- Publications (PDF)