Location
Royal Geographical Society
Join Royal Museums Greenwich to explore the story of HMS Captain alongside naval historians, descendants of its designer and crew and other VIPs in this special lecture at the Royal Geographical Society.
The Captain (1869) was a revolutionary warship, embodying the technological innovation of Victorian Britain, with rotating armoured turrets, wrought iron armour and steam propulsion as well as sails. At first appearance the ship was formidable, intended to cross oceans with its powerful guns and present a stout defence of British interests, including protecting Canada against invasion from the south.
Tragically, only five months after its commission, on 7 September 1870 HMS Captain capsized off Cape Finisterre in a severe gal. Nearly 500 officers and men, including Captain Hugh Burgoyne VC and the ship’s designer Captain Cowper Phipps Coles CB, drowned. 18 survivors rowed ashore to tell the story.
Join us for a lecture from historians Dan Snow (broadcaster and founder of the History Hit podcast), Professor Andrew Lambert (Professor of Naval History at King’s College, London) and Dr Howard Fuller (Reader in War Studies at the University of Wolverhampton). Explore a small exhibition of artifacts associated with the Captain and hear from the panel about this revolutionary warship, explore the part it played in changing the face of naval warfare, and follow the continuing extraordinary story of HMS Captain.
Tickets are available on the Royal Museums Greenwich website here: https://www.rmg.co.uk/whats-on/other/hms-captain-technological-triumph-tragedy