The Allen Collection
William Allen and his son Frank collected and catalogued more than six thousand photos and postcard images of ships over a period of 60 years. When they died the collection was saved by a group of volunteers and I put them online as the first part of the Benjidog website in 2007.
Athenia
The Donaldson passenger steamer Athenia was torpedoed on 3 September 1939 - the day that France and Great Britain declared war on Germany. The Nazi regime blamed Churchill. The full story only emerged during the Nuremberg Trials of major war criminals that took place in 1945-6.
Battleships and Cruisers
Brief histories of British and Commonwealth battleships and battle cruisers including facts and figures about the ships and their armament. Most of the research for this section was done by my friend Steve Woodward.
British India Steam Navigation Company
Resources about British India Steam Navigation Company Ltd., mostly reproduced with the agreement of the widow of Fred Waddington the original publisher.
Court Line
A celebration of Court Line ships dedicated to those who sailed in them - particularly during the dark days of World War 2. This section was inspired by my late friend Stan Mayes
The Dempster Collection
Hugh Dempster was a keen amateur photographer who took pictures of ships around Ayr and Troon in the 1960s.
Funnels and Flags
The livery of British merchant shipping companies collected from various sources
Hog Island
The history of Hog Island, Philadelphia from earliest times to the present including the shipyard and ships built there.
P&O 'M Class' Liners
This section is about P&O's ten 'M Class' Passenger ships Moldavia, Mongolia, Marmora, Macedonia, Mooltan, Morea, Malwa, Mantua, Maloja and Medina built before WW1 to service the mail route between London and Australia. My grandfather served as a steward on Morea.
John Milligen & Co.
I came across John Milligen's coal company whilst doing research about his daughter. Here are details of his small fleet of colliers. I was surprised to find that a model ship model given to me in 2018 was of one of them.
"A Pebble in the Ocean"
This is a transcription of a privately published book about the Brocklebank ship Manipur that served as HMS Sandhurst during WW1, for part of the time disguised as the somewhat larger and very much faster HMS Indomitable in one of Churchill's less successful ideas for confusing the enemy. She acted as a fleet repair ship, troop carrier and depot ship and was on the scene at Scapa Flow when the German High Seas Fleet was scuttled. Her service continued throughout WW2 and she was finally broken up in 1946.
Ship Histories
Histories of various ships that are either referred to elsewhere on this website. I have included facts and figures, photos, and information about service histories to the extent that I have been able to discover them.
Shipping Snippets
A home for miscellaneous articles about shipping that do not warrant an entire section
Stephanotis
A detailed history of the beautiful 1903 steam yacht Stephanotis and her astonishing bunch of owners. The vessel spent her latter years as a training ship based at the King Edward VII Nautical College in Stepney (King Ted's) after being renamed Wendorian.
TheShipsList
Information about shipping fleets recovered from a website that is no longer online. The focus was on lines that carried emigrants to North America.