Human, Cultural, Historical and Reference

Maritime Culture, Heritage, Archaeology, Art and Museums glossary

The material and artistic heritage of seafaring: maritime archaeology and underwater cultural heritage under the 2001 UNESCO Convention, the conservation of waterlogged timber, landmark recoveries (Mary Rose, Vasa, Antikythera mechanism), preserved heritage ships and maritime museums, and maritime art and creative culture, from Turner’s marine painting and sea shanties to the literary canon of Melville, Conrad, and O’Brian.

260 defined terms.

Showing 250 on this page (page 1 of 2).

A

Aalborg Maritime Museum: Danish museum of merchant shipping history.
Aft Cabin Iconography: Recurring motif in Dutch Golden Age marine painting.
Ahnighito Meteorite: Carried south by Robert Peary's vessel, exhibited in New York.
Albert Dock, Liverpool: Historic 1846 dock complex housing the Merseyside Maritime Museum.
Amphora Wreck: Roman wreck class characterized by clay storage jars.
Ancient Mariner, The Rime of: 1798 poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
Andrea Doria: Italian liner sunk in 1956, subject of subsequent salvage and exhibition.
Anthropology of Seafaring: Subfield studying maritime communities and their lifeways.
Antikythera Mechanism: Hellenistic geared astronomical computing device recovered from a wreck off Antikythera in 1900 to 1901.
Artifact Conservation: PEG-impregnation and freeze-drying of waterlogged wood, as used on Mary Rose and Vasa.

B

Bakhuizen, Ludolf: Dutch Golden Age marine painter, 1630 to 1708.
Battle of Lepanto Tapestries: Renaissance commemorative textiles.
Belitung Wreck: Ninth-century Arab dhow wreck found in Indonesia in 1998 with Tang dynasty cargo.
Black Sea Maritime Archaeology Project: Survey discovering anaerobically preserved ancient wrecks.
Bligh, William: Captain of HMS Bounty, central to literary and dramatic depictions.
Boudin, Eugene: Nineteenth-century French marine painter.
Bristol Maritime Heritage Centre: Brunel-themed museum complex around the SS Great Britain.
British Museum Maritime Holdings: Phoenician and classical seafaring collections.
Brixham Trawler Heritage: Sailing fishing fleet heritage of Devon.
Burra Charter: ICOMOS Australia heritage conservation charter relevant to ships.

C

Cape Verde Wrecks Survey: 2016 onward Smithsonian archaeological project.
Catalonia Atlas 1375: Majorcan portolan-style chart by Abraham Cresques.
Charleston Maritime Museum: South Carolina museum highlighting CSS Hunley.
Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum: St. Michaels, Maryland.
Cobh Heritage Centre: Irish port museum focused on emigration shipping.
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor: Author of the Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
Conrad, Joseph: Polish-British author of Lord Jim, Typhoon, and Heart of Darkness.
Conservation Laboratory: Specialized facility for waterlogged-wood treatment, as in Stockholm and Portsmouth.
Cousteau Society: Marine heritage and conservation legacy of Jacques-Yves Cousteau.
Cutty Sark: Preserved tea clipper at Greenwich, built 1869.

D

Dana, Richard Henry: Author of Two Years Before the Mast, 1840.
Danish National Museum: Custodian of the Roskilde Skuldelev finds.
Davy Jones's Locker: Sailor folklore name for the seabed and resting place of drowned mariners.
Deck Log Tradition: Customary practice of daily entries valued in heritage interpretation.
Deep-Sea Archaeology: Discipline using ROVs and AUVs to investigate abyssal wrecks.
Discovery, RRS: 1901 Antarctic vessel preserved at Dundee.
Dock Workers' Heritage: Trade-union and labor history of ports such as Liverpool and Hamburg.
Dolphin Folklore: Cross-cultural maritime motif of friendly cetaceans.
Dredged Finds: Artifacts recovered during channel dredging in the Thames, Scheldt, and elsewhere.
Dutch Golden Age Marine Painting: Seventeenth century genre with van de Velde, Bakhuizen, and Vroom.

E

East India Marine Society: 1799 Salem, Massachusetts forerunner of the Peabody Essex Museum.
Edward Hopper Seascapes: Twentieth-century American coastal scenes.
Elbe Maritime Museum, Hamburg: International Maritime Museum Hamburg in the historic Kaispeicher B.
Endurance22 Expedition: 2022 discovery of Shackleton's Endurance in the Weddell Sea.
Ephemera of the Sea: Postcards, menus, and tickets preserved by maritime archives.
Erebus, HMS: Franklin Expedition wreck located in 2014 in Wilmot and Crampton Bay.
Ericsson, Leif: Norse explorer of Vinland, c. 1000 CE.
Ethnographic Museum, Hamburg: Repository of Oceanian outrigger canoes.
European Route of Industrial Heritage: Includes shipyard sites such as Cantiere Navale Triestino.
Excavation Permit: Heritage authority license required for archaeological work on wrecks.

F

Falklands Maritime Heritage: SS Great Britain salvage from Sparrow Cove in 1970.
Falmouth Maritime Museum: National Maritime Museum Cornwall in Falmouth.
Ferdinand Magellan Monument, Punta Arenas: Commemorative statue at the Strait of Magellan.
Figurehead: Ornamental carving on the bow of a sailing vessel, often preserved by museums.
Fingal's Cave: Geological site associated with Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture.
Flying Dutchman: Legendary ghost ship of the Cape of Good Hope.
Folk Songs of the Sea: Shanties documented by Stan Hugill and Cecil Sharp.
Forester, C. S.: Author of the Hornblower sea novels.
Fram Museum: Oslo institution housing the polar exploration ship Fram.
Frieze of Skips: Carved maritime decoration of Trondheim Cathedral.

G

Galleon Wrecks of the Manila Run: Wrecks such as San Diego and Nuestra Senora de Atocha.
Galway Hooker: Traditional Connemara sailing boat with cultural significance.
Gdansk Maritime Museum: Polish national maritime museum complex.
George Bayliss Marine Art: Twentieth-century British marine artist.
George Brookman Collection: Notable maritime postcard archive.
Gibraltar Maritime Heritage: Strategic-port museum collections.
Glasgow Riverside Museum: Holds the SV Glenlee.
Gokstad Ship: Viking burial vessel found 1880 in Norway.
Greenwich Maritime World Heritage Site: UNESCO-listed Maritime Greenwich.
Grosse Ile Quarantine Station: Canadian immigration and shipping heritage site.

H

Hamburg Speicherstadt: UNESCO-listed warehouse district associated with shipping trade.
Hanseatic Museum, Bergen: Norwegian museum at Bryggen.
Heaft of Vasa's Conservation: Stockholm program preserving the seventeenth-century warship.
Heritage Ship: Vessel maintained for its historical significance, often under national-register schemes.
Hermione Replica: 2014 French-built replica of Lafayette's frigate.
Hetjens Marine Pottery: Dutch and German maritime ceramic collections.
HMS Belfast: Royal Navy light cruiser preserved on the Thames.
HMS Victory Conservation: Long-term timber stabilization project at Portsmouth.
Hobart Maritime Museum: Tasmanian institution covering convict and whaling history.
Homer, Winslow: American marine and seascape painter, 1836 to 1910.

I

ICOMOS International Committee on Underwater Cultural Heritage: Advisory body to UNESCO under the 2001 Convention.
Imperial War Museum, Duxford and London: Holds maritime collections of both world wars.
In Situ Preservation: Conservation principle of leaving wrecks where found.
Industrial Heritage of Shipyards: ERIH-listed yards including Harland and Wolff.
International Congress on Maritime Museums: Founded 1972, networks 100+ institutions.
International Sailortown: Cross-port heritage research of dockside districts.
Inuit Sea Hunting Heritage: Subsistence umiak and qajaq tradition.
Iron Age Boat Burials: Pre-Viking Scandinavian vessel deposits.
Italian Maritime Museum, Genoa: Galata Museo del Mare, the largest Mediterranean maritime museum.
Ivory Carving on Sailors' Folk Art: Scrimshaw tradition of whalers.

J

Jamestown Settlement Ships: Replicas of Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery.
Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Memorial Ship Mikasa: Preserved at Yokosuka.
Java Wrecks: Indonesian maritime archaeology of Tang and Song trade.
Jellicoe, Admiral Earl: Subject of biographical works in naval historiography.
John Cleveley the Elder: Eighteenth-century English marine painter.
John Singer Sargent, Watercolor Seascapes: American maritime watercolors.
Joseph Conrad Society: Literary society promoting Conrad's maritime fiction.
Julius Caesar's Channel Crossing: Foundational episode in classical maritime literature.
Junior Maritime Museum, San Francisco: SF Maritime National Historical Park youth program.
Jutland Centenary Exhibition: 2016 commemoration of the 1916 battle.

K

Karlskrona Naval Port: UNESCO World Heritage seventeenth-century Swedish naval base.
Kennedy, John F. PT-109 Memorabilia: Maritime relics of the Pacific war.
Kjell Akselsen Folk Songs: Norwegian shanty collection.
Klaipeda Sea Museum: Lithuanian Baltic maritime institution.
Knot Tying Folk Art: Decorative sailor's macrame.
Korean War Wrecks: Underwater archaeological resource off the peninsula.
Kraken: North Atlantic legendary sea monster, recorded by Pontoppidan in 1755.
Kronan, Swedish Warship: Sunk 1676, partially excavated since 1980.
Kuwait Maritime Museum: Gulf seafaring and pearl-diving heritage.
Kyrenia Ship: Fourth-century BCE Greek merchantman recovered off Cyprus.

L

Lascar Heritage: South Asian merchant seamen of the eighteenth to twentieth centuries.
Lateen Sail Heritage: Mediterranean and Indian Ocean rig tradition.
Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City: Formerly inscribed UNESCO World Heritage Site, delisted in 2021.
Lloyd's of London Marine Heritage: Insurance institution founded in 1688.
London Museum of Docklands: Branch of the Museum of London.
Long John Silver: Fictional pirate from Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Lord Jim: 1900 novel by Joseph Conrad.
Lothal, Indus Valley Dockyard: Bronze Age maritime structure in Gujarat.
Loyalist Naval Heritage: American Revolution-era Royal Navy auxiliaries.
Lusitania Wreck Surveys: Underwater investigations off Kinsale.

M

Mariners' Museum and Park, Newport News: Major US maritime museum.
Maritime Archaeology Trust: UK heritage body.
Mary Rose Museum: Portsmouth institution housing the recovered Tudor warship.
Mediterranean Maritime Archaeology: Long history including Ulu Burun, Kyrenia, and Madrague de Giens.
Melville, Herman: Author of Moby-Dick, Billy Budd, and Typee.
Mendelssohn Hebrides Overture: 1830 musical work inspired by Fingal's Cave.
Mermaid: Cross-cultural maritime mythological figure.
Merseyside Maritime Museum: Liverpool institution covering port and emigration history.
Moby-Dick: 1851 novel by Herman Melville.
Mystic Seaport Museum: Connecticut museum and historic shipyard.

N

Nanhai One: Song dynasty merchant wreck raised intact in 2007.
National Maritime Historical Society: US-based organization publishing Sea History magazine.
National Maritime Museum, Greenwich: World's largest maritime museum, founded 1937.
National Museum of the United States Navy: Washington Navy Yard institution.
Nautical Archaeology Program at Texas AandM: Pioneering academic department founded 1976.
Naval Folk Art: Tattoos, scrimshaw, and sailor's valentines.
Newport News Shipbuilding Archive: Industrial heritage collections.
Nordic Maritime Heritage Association: Regional ship preservation network.
Norse Sagas: Saga literature recording seafaring in Greenland and Vinland.
Nydam Boat: Iron Age oared vessel found in Denmark.

O

Oar-Powered Heritage Vessels: Surviving examples of mediaeval Mediterranean galleys.
Ocean Liner Memorabilia: Steamship company china, posters, and menus.
Oceanographic Museum of Monaco: Founded by Prince Albert I in 1910.
Old Salt: Folkloric term for an experienced seafarer.
Olympia, USS: Spanish-American War cruiser preserved in Philadelphia.
Oseberg Ship: Viking burial vessel found in Norway in 1904.
Otaru Canal District: Japanese port heritage area in Hokkaido.
Overseas Chinese Maritime Heritage: Diaspora trade history.
Ovid's Maritime Imagery: Classical Roman literary tradition.
Oxford English Dictionary Maritime Words: Major lexical record of nautical English.

P

Patrick O'Brian: Author of the Aubrey-Maturin novels.
Peabody Essex Museum: Salem institution founded 1799 by the East India Marine Society.
Penobscot Marine Museum: Maine institution covering coastal trade and shipbuilding.
Phoenician Trade Heritage: Tyre and Carthage archaeological remains.
Piracy Folklore: Black-flag legends including Blackbeard and Anne Bonny.
Polynesian Voyaging: Wayfinding tradition revived by the Hokule'a voyages from 1976.
Pommern: Finnish four-masted barque preserved at Mariehamn.
Portuguese Discoveries Museum, Belem: Monument and museum in Lisbon.
Postal History of the Sea: Maritime mail markings and ship-letter cancels.
Punic Wreck of Marsala: Phoenician warship excavated by Honor Frost.

Q

Q-ship Heritage: Imperial War Museum interpretation of decoy vessels.
Quarry Bank Maritime Connections: National Trust mill heritage with port linkages.
Quay Side Folklore: Customs of dockworkers and waterside communities.
Quebec Maritime Museum, L'Islet: Musee Maritime du Quebec.
Queensland Maritime Museum: Brisbane institution covering tropical maritime history.
Qufu Maritime Texts: Confucian-era references to seafaring trade.
Quincy Class Heavy Cruiser Memorials: USN wartime ship memorials.
Quincy Shipbuilding Heritage: Massachusetts industrial site.
Quintet of Seascapes, Boudin: Series of nineteenth-century French marine paintings.
Quoddy Heritage: Maine and New Brunswick fishing heritage along the Quoddy region.

R

Replica Vessels: Modern reconstructions including Hokule'a, Hermione, and Sea Stallion from Glendalough.
Ria de Vigo Wrecks: Spanish historical wreck-rich estuary.
River Lea Maritime Heritage: London inland waterway heritage.
Roman Wrecks of Madrague de Giens: Wine-amphora carrier excavated 1972 onward.
Roskilde Viking Ship Museum: Danish institution housing the Skuldelev finds.
Rotterdam Maritime Museum: Maritiem Museum Rotterdam.
Royal Museums Greenwich: Group including the National Maritime Museum, Royal Observatory, and Cutty Sark.
Royal Yacht Britannia: Preserved at Edinburgh's Port of Leith since 1998.
Ruskin's Sea Writing: Nineteenth-century critic's reflections on Turner's seascapes.
Rye Maritime Museum: English Cinque Port heritage site.

S

Sail Training Heritage: Tall ship traditions preserved by Sail Training International.
Salem Maritime National Historic Site: First US National Historic Site, established 1938.
San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park: Hosts Balclutha, Eureka, and other vessels.
Scrimshaw: Whaler folk art using etched whale teeth and bone.
Sea of Galilee Boat: First-century CE Israeli vessel find from 1986.
Sea Stallion from Glendalough: Modern reconstruction of Skuldelev 2 longship.
Seafarers UK: Charitable heritage and welfare organization, formerly King George's Fund for Sailors.
Seaport Museum, New York: South Street Seaport Museum at Manhattan.
Shanty: Working song of the age of sail, documented by Stan Hugill.
Skuldelev Ships: Five eleventh-century Viking ships excavated 1962 in Roskilde Fjord.

T

Tall Ships' Races: Annual sail training event organized by Sail Training International.
Tate Britain Marine Collection: Holdings of Turner and constituent British marine artists.
The Sea, The Sea: 1978 Booker-winning novel by Iris Murdoch with maritime themes.
Titanic Belfast: Museum at the original Harland and Wolff slipway.
Titanic Historical Society: 1963-founded heritage organization.
Tower Bridge Engine Room Heritage: Adjacent to Pool of London maritime history.
Treasure Island: 1883 novel by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Trireme Trust: Reconstructed the Olympias trireme replica with Hellenic Navy.
Turner, J. M. W.: English Romantic painter celebrated for seascapes including The Fighting Temeraire.
Two Years Before the Mast: 1840 maritime memoir by Richard Henry Dana.

U

Uluburun Shipwreck: Late Bronze Age trader off southern Anatolia, c. 1320 BCE.
Underwater Archaeology: Discipline emerging mid-twentieth century with George Bass at Cape Gelidonya.
Underwater Photography Archives: Cousteau and National Geographic collections.
UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage: Adopted 2001, entered force 2009.
Universal Decimal Classification, Maritime Section: Library classification for maritime literature.
University of Rhode Island Maritime Archaeology: Graduate program in maritime history.
US Naval Institute Press: Publisher of maritime history works.
USS Constitution Museum: Boston museum adjacent to Old Ironsides.
Utility of Boats Exhibitions: Heritage of working craft displays.
Uudenkaupungin Museo: Finnish coastal town museum with maritime collections.

V

Vasa Museum: Stockholm museum housing the salvaged 1628 royal warship.
Velde, Willem van de: Dutch marine painters, the Elder and the Younger.
Venice Naval History Museum: Museo Storico Navale at the Arsenale.
Viking Ship Museum, Oslo: Houses the Oseberg, Gokstad, and Tune ships, now part of Museum of the Viking Age.
Vinland Map Controversy: Disputed Pre-Columbian map associated with Norse exploration.
Vlieland Strandings: Dutch heritage of beach-stranded vessels.
VOC Wrecks: Dutch East India Company wrecks studied by archaeologists.
Volendam Shipyard Heritage: Wooden-vessel building tradition.
Voyage of HMS Beagle, Darwin: 1839 published narrative.
Vrouw Maria Wreck: 1771 Dutch merchantman lost in the Baltic.

W

Welsh Maritime Heritage Centre: Cardiff Bay collections.
Wha'Tum'Pum Ocean Crossings: Polynesian heritage voyaging.
Whale Hunt Folk Heritage: New Bedford and Lamalera traditions.
Whaling Museum, New Bedford: Premier US whaling collection.
Whitby Heritage: Town associated with Captain Cook and Bram Stoker's Dracula.
Willem Barentsz Voyages: Three Dutch Arctic voyages of 1594 to 1597.
Windermere Steamboat Museum: English Lake District inland maritime collection.
Working Waterfront Heritage: Living maritime industrial heritage districts.
Wreck Diving Heritage: Sport heritage including HMS Royal Oak war grave.
WW2 Atlantic Convoy Heritage Centre: Liverpool and Halifax heritage sites.

X

X-ray Diffraction in Conservation: Analytical method used on Mary Rose finds.
Xanten Roman Boats: First-century vessels excavated in Germany.
Xebec Carving Tradition: Mediterranean ornamentation of historic vessels.
Xebec Heritage: Mediterranean lateen-rigged historical vessels.
Xenophon's Anabasis: Classical narrative including Black Sea coastal navigation.
Xeresean Wine Crates: Sherry-trade ephemera preserved in port museums.
Xerxean Decree: Iconographic motif in Persian and Greek art of the maritime campaigns.
Xerxes' Hellespont Heritage: Preserved memory of the Persian crossing.
Xiamen Maritime Museum: Chinese coastal port museum.
Xian Maritime Texts: Tang-period accounts of Indian Ocean trade.

Y

Yachting Heritage Museum: Various national institutions including Mystic Seaport's yacht collection.
Yamato Memorial Museum: Kure, Japan museum on the Imperial Japanese Navy.
Yankee Whalermen: Tradition memorialized at New Bedford.
Yard Carpenters' Tradition: Heritage trade of shipyard joiners and shipwrights.
Yarmouth Beach Yawl: Norfolk lifeboat-style craft.
Yokohama Maritime Museum: Includes Nippon Maru sail training ship.
York Mariners' Guild: Medieval English maritime guild.
Young Endeavour Heritage Voyages: Australian sail training brigantine.
Yusuhara Folk Sailing Tradition: Japanese coastal heritage.
Yvon Le Corre Marine Art: Modern French marine watercolorist.

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