Lavery was born in Scotland and brought up in Dumbarton. Upon graduating, Lavery worked first as a teacher, then in the printing industry, before gradually fulfilling his interest in maritime heritage as an author, consultant, and curator, building a solid reputation as a highly respected authority in the field. He worked at Chatham Historic Dockyard on the Wooden Walls exhibition. During 14 years in the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich he developed the modern collecting policy and worked on numerous exhibitions such as Seapower, All Hands, and several of the galleries in the Neptune Court development. He has lectured regularly on cruise ships, including many trips on the square riggerSea Cloud, and he undertakes maritime tours in the United Kingdom and Europe. Traditional Boats & Tall Ships refers to him as "one of the world's leading naval historians." He has since published over 30 books, covering marine architecture, ship construction, and naval warfare from its infancy to present day. He is a leading expert in the career of Nelson and the broader Royal Navy. Patrick O'Brian found Nelson's Navy to be "the most nearly regal that I have come across in many years of reading on the subject." The Times labelled the same book a "masterpiece on life in the Senior Service under England's favourite seafaring son." In addition to editing works such Deane's Doctrine of Naval Architecture 1670, Lavery produces articles which feature regularly in maritime magazines and journals. Lavery was a historical consultant on Peter Weir's 2003 blockbuster film , starring Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany. His naval expertise was also utilised "on the replica constructions of Captain Cook's Endeavour and the emigrant ship Susan Constant", the latter being the subject of his 1988 book. In 2007, Lavery released Churchill Goes to War, which was, according to the Mail on Sunday, "a well-researched and at times deeply inspiring book". In November of the same year, Lady Mountbatten presented Lavery with the Desmond Wettern Maritime Media Award at a ceremony aboard the MV Silver Sturgeon. According to the Maritime Foundation, the award "was made to Mr Lavery as an author, broadcaster, and adviser on major feature films, which have contributed to our understanding of the social structure of Britain's maritime power and all maritime aspects of British national life." The following year, he was awarded the Society for Nautical Research's Anderson Medal. In 2009, Lavery wrote a The Sunday Timesbestselling book to accompany the BBC series Empire of the Seas, presented by Dan Snow, which, as The Sunday Express explains, "looks at the growth off Britain thanks to the Royal Navy, from Drake's defeat of the Armada to the First World War."
