Lightning accidents are relatively rare ashore, but in the age of sail it was extremely common for vessels and seamen to be struck. Nonetheless, this type of danger remains understudied by maritime historians. Lightning resulted in disrupted navigation, damaged vessels, and numerous serious or lethal injuries.
This lecture will use a range of printed and archival sources from Britain and western Europe to investigate the ways in which natural philosophers' understanding of lightning, shipboard surgeons' limited training on the matter, and inventors' bids to protect nautical instruments and infrastructure from strikes interacted with sailors' vernacular and embodied knowledge.
Lightning shaped the maritime world to an extent that is yet to be fully recognised.
About the speaker
Dr Sara Caputo is currently a Senior Research Fellow, Director of Studies in History, and British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at Magdalene College and the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge. From October 2025, she will be Barbara and Dietrich Schultz Assistant Professor in History at Magdalene College.
Her first monograph,Foreign Jack Tars: The British Navy and Transnational Seafarers during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2023.
Her second book, Tracks on the Ocean: A History of Trailblazing, Maps, and Maritime Travel, appeared with Profile Books and The University of Chicago Press in 2024.
Booking information
- Advance booking for this event is required. In order to book you will need an account on our website. If you already have an account you will be prompted to log in when you click 'book now'. Please create an account if you do not have one yet (you do not need to be a member of the Society to create an account).
Attending in-person
- We do not issue tickets (electronic or physical) for this event. Instead your name will be on a list at the door. Please use the Society's entrance on Exhibition Road.
Attending online
- If you are attending the event online, the joining instructions will be included in your confirmation email.
If you have any questions or require assistance with your booking, please email events@rgs.org
Venue information
This event will be held in the Ondaatje Lecture Theatre at Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), 1 Kensington Gore, London, SW7 2AR.
Doors open at 5.30pm. The lecture will begin at 6.30pm.
Plan your visit to the Society and find more information about our venue, including our address, accessibility and transport links.
- Exhibition
'Nyapun' by Robin Hanbury-Tenison
An exhibition of black and white photographs to acknowledge the friendship given and knowledge shared by Nyapun, his family and the Penan community, living in and around the Gunung Mulu National Park, Sarawak in 1977 and 1978.
Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)Open to all1 Apr 2025 - 10 Jun 2025 - Exhibition
Siam through the lens of John Thomson
An exhibition of large format photographic prints taken by John Thomson FRGS during his time in Thailand.
Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)Open to all28 Apr 2025 - 20 May 2025 - Webinar
CGeog application accelerator for GGP
A four-week accelerator programme specifically designed to support Government Geography professionals and public sector employees, helping you focus your efforts and effectively prepare your application for Chartered Geographer.
OnlineOpen to all30 Apr 2025 - 21 May 2025
