Having a keen interest in the sea and boats of all kinds, maritime research has become a speciality for me. 

I will consider maritime enquiries of any kind but have assembled a list of areas in which I have specific knowledge:

• Maritime Family History
• Boat building
• Emigrants and Convicts
• Evacuation of Dunkirk 1940 see Dunkirk article
• Cruise Liners and Passengers
• Shipwrecks see William Dampier
• Models see Cicely/lamorna
• Small vessels see Kindly Light
• Ports of Southern England and Wales
• Coastguard Records
• Merchant Seamen
• Royal Navy genealogy 

For information concerning my charges please go to Research Fees.

To carry out this type of work, I largely access the National Maritime Museum which has an excellent library and stores thousands of important records. In addition, I work with individual boat owners, often on projects to trace the vessel’s history or to find photographs. I have experience of many sources of photographic records, ranging from the archive of Beken of Cowes to Eileen Ramsay’s collection. I have interviewed survivors from the period of the requested search, but equally where there is no longer any one to talk to I have dredged information out of newspaper articles or company files. Lloyds Register of Shipping or Yachts is often a key starting point before progressing to material which may be less accessible. I can investigate craft from any age and have looked at historic documents concerning objects or people linked to the sea in an incredible variety of ways.

Please note, the Caird Library at the National Maritime Museum will be closed for large parts of 2008-2010.  Access to the collections is limited - please see www.nmm.ac.uk for further details.