David Lyon spent his working life at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, where for over twenty years he looked after the huge ships' plans collection before becoming Curator of Naval Ordnance, then Head of Enquiries and finally Chief of Research of the Maritime Information Centre. He served in the Royal Navy Reserve and having qualified as a diving officer, was instrumental in the development of underwater archaeology in Britain, diving on the Mary Rose amongst others. He is a member of the Council of the Society for Nautical Research and of the Nautical Museums Trust. He has written and lectured extensively both in Britain and abroad an his many publications include The Sailing Navy List, The Denny List, Steam, Steel and Torpedoes, and Sea Battles in Close-up: The Nelson Era. He has first-hand experience of all manner of craft and now shares with his wife a double-ended yole which they sail in the Thames estuary.
