Dr Sam Willis is a maritime historian and archaeologist. His writing is infused with his own experience and knowledge of seafaring. On graduating he spent eighteen months at sea on square-rigged sailing ships which included work on the Hornblower TV series and on Channel 4’s award winning film Shackleton. The Shackleton project involved building a replica of Shackleton’s ship the Endurance and sailing her into an arctic ice pack.

On his return from the arctic Sam worked in the curatorial department of the historic ship, I.K. Brunel’s ss Great Britain, as the final stages of her innovative conservation plan were implemented. To arrest the rusting of the iron hull, a glass ‘sea’ was constructed that sealed the hull from the elements. In 2005 the ss Great Britain won the coveted Gulbenkian Prize for museums.

As well as  writing books Sam has published a number of articles on a wide variety of subjects in maritime history. He has written for The Sunday Times, The Mail on Sunday, The Daily Mail, War in History, The Journal of Military History, The Journal of Maritime Archaeology, The International History Review, The Journal for Maritime Research and The Mariner’s Mirror. In 2004 Sam was awarded the Canadian Nautical Research Society’s Keith Matthews award. Sam is a Fellow of the Royal Hisotrical Society, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and an Honorary Fellow of the University of Exeter’s Centre for Maritime Historical Studies.