A former Alaskan and career maritime historian, I bring to Portsmouth experience of teaching and research on the history of coastal communities, from the Pacific coast to the Atlantic shore. I am a member of the Centre of Port Cities and Maritime Cultures and I teach on the MA Naval History course as a social and cultural historian. I am also a former Chair of the British Commission for Maritime History, a Vice-President of the Society for Nautical Research and a councillor for the Navy Records Society.

My book Cornish Wrecking, 1700-1860 is the first full length study on the topic of wrecking (plundering shipwrecks). It has generated new projects on the social and cultural history of wrecking internationally. 

My current research focuses on  the social and cultural history of British coastal communities, including local Sea Fencibles and Coastguards, who responded to shipwrecks on their shores in 18th and 19th centuries. I am also continuing my research on the environmental history of wrecking in the Atlantic Archipelago.

I welcome applications for PhD projects on social, cultural, and environmental history of the Royal Navy (at sea and ashore) in the 18th-early 19th centuries, coastal communities, and studies that feature knowledge exchange and sense of place.

I grew up on the Alaskan coast, which gave me an appreciation for the sea and for maritime history. This love of maritime history has shaped my career from the beginning. I was fortunate to come to the University of Portsmouth in 2017 to teach on the MA Naval History programme.

I received my PhD from the Greenwich Maritime Institute, University of Greenwich, where I investigated the practices of wrecking (shipwreck plundering) mainly in Cornwall, but also in other parts of the UK. My previous history qualifications include a BA in History from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks and an MA in British and Maritime History from the University of Victoria, in British Columbia, Canada.

I worked for the University of Alaska Anchorage and its various branch campuses for 22 years, in both a part-time capacity and full-time as a tenured professor of history before moving to the UK. I was a member of the history team and Greenwich Maritime Centre at the University of Greenwich for five years prior to joining Portsmouth.

As a part-time senior lecturer, I coordinate and teach Naval, Maritime and Coastal History Research Skills, teach on The Navy and the Coast, and supervise projects for Investigating Interconnected Worlds: People, Land and Sea in the Past and Present, and Naval, Maritime and Coastal History Dissertation modules.

In previous academic posts, I have taught undergraduate modules on Making History, Global Exploration; Maritime Nation: Britain and the Sea from 1500; various European History from the Early Modern period to 1945; Maritime History of Alaska and the North Pacific; Russian America: A Social and Cultural History; Alaska History; History of the Gold Rush; Colonies and Revolution (US); American Women's History to 1870; World War II in the Aleutians; and the History of Discoveries.

At the postgraduate level I taught Alaska History; Environmental History and the Sea; Global Travel, Exploration and Empire, 1600-1911; Emergence of a World Power: Britain and the Maritime World, 1688-1914 (Merchant Navy).

I was first supervisor for Elizabeth Libero and her 'Navigating a British South Atlantic,' on the Royal Navy in the South Atlantic from 1800-1815 and their activities and knowledge exchange', which she successfully defended in Dec 2019;  Ida Jorgensen, and her 'Knowledge Exchange in 18th century European Shipbuilding,' a transnational study that focuses on cross-boundary exchange of knowledge in naval shipbuilding between the UK, Denmark, Sweden and France. I am currently a first supervisor for Daisy Turnbull, 'Shipwreck Shores: Wrecking and Coastal Cultures in Britain and Sweden, 1700-1850'. Daisy is a student in our split-site PhD bursary scheme with the University of Halmstad in Sweden and she is due to complete her PhD in autumn 2025. I am looking forward to welcoming Andrew Lyter in October 2025 for his project '"I can do no duty, sir.": American Citizeship and British Naval Service on the North American Station, 1812-1815'.

I am also on the supervisory team for Dr Callum O'Connell, who recently successfully completed his viva on 'Seapower, Geography, and Empire: The Case of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, 1842-1872' and current students Ryan Walker, 'Qualified in Submarines: Submariners in American Culture, 1915-1940'; and William Ramsden, 'Give him sympathy and a hellping hand': Understanding the Impact of Occupational Accidents and Disability in English and Welsh Railway Staff and their Families, 1897-1939'. Malcolm Butler will be joining us in October 2025 with his project on the history of the Royal Canadian Navy's Uganda's service in the Pacific during the Second World War. 

https://www.port.ac.uk/study/courses/postgraduate-taught/ma-naval-maritime-and-coastal-history

My research interests have followed on from my PhD and include local and regional maritime and coastal history, centring on shipwrecks and coastal communiites. This work comprises:

• Wrecking--the plundering of shipwrecks--with focus on the development and use of wrecking narratives around the coasts of the UK, including folkloric narratives. My recent research focuses on the environmental history of wrecking. My work not only informs media and film, but its relevance emerges whenever there's a shipwreck on British shores.
• Lifesaving--with particular focus on those individuals and organisations involved after survivors are brought ashore. This research is particularly relevant as in 2014 England and Wales saw the closure of many Coastguard stations, lessening the government role in lifesaving, and increasing the responsibility of volunteer and charity lifesaving organisations. Yet no academic studies exist that give agencies a contextual history of lifesaving, including the cooperation and conflict which ensued between the public and charity sectors as lifesaving grew in importance through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This project can be used to inform policy as the search for equilibrium between the sectors is again played out.

I have also maintained a lifelong interest in European exploration of the Northwest Coast of North America, particularly on Royal Navy voyages.

I am happy to take calls and emails from the media on my research, and I'm aware of the need to respond to journalists in a timely manner. Please contact me through email.

I have appeared on BBC2's Timeshift: Shipwrecks, BBC Radio 4's Making History, and BBC2's flagship documentary Timewatch for an episode 'In Search of the Wreckers.' I even heard a rumour that my work was used for such programmes as Poldark and Jamaica Inn.