Welcome to Life at Sea


Bringing together unique primary sources drawn from world-class maritime archives and heritage collections Life at Sea takes a sociocultural approach, focusing on the individual experiences and personal narratives of seafarers. Through a broad range of sources, from journals and memoirs to ships’ logs and court records, the lives of ordinary seamen, merchants, whalers and pirates can be explored. This resource offers exciting new insights into three centuries of the Anglo-American maritime world.

Nature and Scope

Find out more about the nature and scope of the documents included in Life at Sea.

Thematic Guides

The documents in Life at Sea have been indexed by key themes. Read short introductions on these major thematic areas including Discipline and Punishment, Whaling and Women and the Sea. 

Searching Guide

This Searching Guide is intended to help researchers navigate archival materials, search and browse effectively and sift through the documents within Life at Sea to uncover narratives that deviate from the dominant or mainstream voices presented. 

Visual Resources

Visual highlights from Life at Sea, including paintings, sketches and photographs.

Essays and Video Interviews

Learn more about how to get the most out of Life at Sea, with introductory and contextual contributions from leading scholars.

Everyday Objects at Sea

Exhibitions featuring material objects selected to showcase the belongings of a Master and a Seaman.