The history of the prison ships that were used that were used to lock up criminals during the victorian era. This video takes the story from their beginning, through the reformatory ships  of the victorian era, and onto the end of that era in the early years of the twentieth century.

An annotated script and all of the sources can be found on the Bluejackets website 

During the Victorian period institutions known as Industrial Training Ships sprang up around the coasts of Britain. They were similar to the infamous Industrial Schools, but they were set up to train youths in danger of beginning a life of crime for a useful career at sea instead.

All the sources for this talk are on the Bluejackets Website

Beatie Fry created the Training Ship Mercury and turned it into the famous institution for training young sailors. She ran it until the day that she died, but what made this formidable lady the woman that she was?

The script and sources can be found on the Bluejackets Reenactment Society website: 

What was the Merchant Navy? And did you need to do if you wanted to become an officer on a ship of the Merchant Navy?

The script and sources can be found on the Bluejackets website.

Who were the West African sailors that served with the Royal Navy?

The script and sources can be found on the Bluejackets website.

The Royal Navy liked to recruit sailors young so that they would be able to accept the a life at sea, but how young could you be in order to volunteer for service?

The script and sources can be found on our website 

How did the Royal Navy recruit the sailors that it needed to man its ships?

There is an annotated script and sources on the bluejackets website

How were officers recruited into the Royal Navy and what was their training like once they had been accepted

An annotated script and sources can be found on the Bluejackets Reenactment Society website

What makes a cutlass a cutlass, how id it evolve, and why is the pop-culture of a cutlass nothing like the real sword

A script and sources can be found on the Bluejackets Reenactment Society website

An introduction to the Royal Navy in the early part of the Victorian era, the introduction of their uniform and where they were fighting

The annotated script and sources can be found on our website:

https://www.thebluejackets.co.uk/video/VictorianEraOverview