author

M. (Michael) Oppenheim

1853–1927

A self-taught maritime historian who began his working life as a ship’s surgeon, he became one of the early scholars to treat English naval administration as a serious subject of study. His books helped shape later understanding of how the Royal Navy and merchant shipping were organized in the Tudor and Stuart periods.

1 Audiobook

A history of the administration of the Royal Navy and of merchant shipping in relation to the Navy from MDIX to MDCLX, with an introduction treating of the preceding period

A history of the administration of the Royal Navy and of merchant shipping in relation to the Navy from MDIX to MDCLX, with an introduction treating of the preceding period

by M. (Michael) Oppenheim

About the author

Born in Hoxton, London, on 26 June 1853, Michael Morris Oppenheim trained as a surgeon and spent part of his early career serving on merchant ships. That practical experience at sea seems to have helped spark the historical interests that later defined his reputation.

Although he had no formal training as a historian, he became an important independent scholar of maritime history. He is especially remembered for pioneering work on English naval administration and for studying the relationship between the Royal Navy and merchant shipping in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Oppenheim was closely connected with the Navy Records Society and produced research that later historians continued to value. He died in Rome on 27 April 1927, leaving behind work that helped establish naval administration as a serious field of historical study.