ShipShape happened by chance.

In 2022, a group of content creators all independently made the same decision: to visit Canada and highlight some of its lesser-known naval history to their viewers and readers.

As we all began to plan our journeys, it soon became clear that we’d all had the same idea. Rather than seeing this as a conflict, we realised it potentially presented us with an opportunity. Creating content is hard and requires a lot of time, patience and logistical support, so instead of continuing separately we instead decided to coordinate and co-operate.

For all of us, this was a gamble. Although we’d all interacted in various ways and places before, spending all of your time together on a trip is a bigger stretch. Creating content is mentally taxing and can easily lead to frayed tempers and delays if the party composition isn’t right.

If we’re honest, our expectation was that we would get along well enough, but come away thinking that doing it once might have been enough! Instead, the opposite happened. We discovered instead that our various skills, areas of knowledge and character traits combined to create a group that was even better than the sum of its parts.

So on our return to the UK, we decided to make our cooperation an ongoing thing and – over drinks on a warm summer day at the Historic Dockyard in Chatham – the Society and Historical Institute for the Preservation of Ships, Heritage, it’s Appreciatation, Pursuit and Exploration was born.

We definitely didn’t come up with the acronym first. Honest.

Our goals with this naval history collective go much further than combining annually, with your support, to explore more history across the globe and bring it to you. But that seemed like as good a place as any to start. 

So, for now, you can find out a bit more about the founding members of ShipShape via the links below, or watch our campaign video for Australia.

We hope you back us, because this is just the beginning of what ShipShape can be…