Captain Vincent Williams

Honourable Company Of Master Mariners

My working life has to my great pleasure and satisfaction been spent within the marine environment. I have served aboard ships in all ranks to and including Captain. Having additional degrees in Management and Law I have worked ashore in those areas within the maritime industry. My interests in History, Classics, and Renaissance and Baroque Art have been developed over many years. I have appreciated combining these pastimes with my maritime experience to deliver lectures over a broader content in a range of venues, i.e., as an officer aboard ship, as a university Principal Lecturer, at national institutions, and more recently as “Guest Lecturer” aboard cruise vessels. I have always thoroughly enjoyed working or being associated with the sea and ships. It is in my blood.

Presentations

MARITIME.

EXPLANATION OF “MARITIME THINGS” Aboard /about/ as seen from our ship.

OCEANS. Suitable for trans-ocean passages. Currents, winds, life and other phenomena.

UNBELIEVABLE, BUT TRUE! Includes:

a) Lucky Linda, asleep on one ship, awoke on another.

b) Fortuitous theft of gold by crew aboard a liner.

c) Foretelling disaster. A ghost or dream?

d) Queen Elisabeth II’s world voyage aboard a cargo ship (Nov’ 53 – May 54). Inside information!

OUR SAFE-BEING ENHANCED. Events which led to significant improvements in shipboard safety, e,g.. Women first, swipe-cards for access/disembarking etc..

SAVING LIFE & PROPERTY – AND REWARDS. Lecturer’s personal accounts as a “Salvage Master”.

SHIPS THAT MADE LAW. Events on ships which led to revised law of Murder, Contract etc.

INFAMOUS SHIPS. Recalling dimly remembered incidents with analyses and explanations.

DEVELOPMENTS IN THE CRUISE INDUSTRY. Early years in brief; focus on recent developments.

CLASSICAL.

CARAVAGGIO. Explanation for the stories behind or depicted in his paintings. The lives of his favourite models in those paintings.

UNDERSTANDING SYMBOLS IN RENAISSANCE ART. View paintings by Botticelli and others, identify symbols, decode messages or suggest explanations.

ARTEMISIA GENTILESCHI. The most significant female artist of the Renaissance period. Her thrilling life, and her paintings.

AENEAS. The epic voyage from Troy to found Rome. The consequences on Roman culture, names, gods, etc..

GOLDEN FLEECE. The story of the lamb born to a human through its heroic adventures to the finale. The archaeological finds giving credence to the myth.

TROJAN WAR. Its causes and consequences. Was Helen abducted or did she go willingly? Etc..

CARTHAGE. Foundation to destruction.

 WOMEN WHO RULED EMPIRES. Includes:

a) Female “Emperor” Wu Zetian, China, AD 625-705.

b) Maria Theresa, Holy Roman Empire, 1717-1780.

c) Ekaterina ll/Catherine the Great, Russia, 1729-1796.

CAUTION, DANGEROUS WOMEN! Includes:

a) Princess Medea -She only a woman can comprehend.

b) Pharaoh Cleopatra VII -Historical, not Shakespearean

NELSON. (Atlantic, Baltic, Mediterranean). The battles, the women, crews, tactics, founder of modern man-management, and “That Hamilton Woman”.

VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY. Includes:

a) Vikings in the Atlantic.