bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Shipbuilding in Ireland in the Nineteenth Century
Authors: Moss Michael S.
Published: January 2019

This chapter examines the shipbuilding output in Ireland in the nineteenth century, and its relatively small industrial output with regard to the rest of the United Kingdom. Moss makes particular note of several unique shipyards in Ireland that prospered despite having no access to indigenous raw materials and depending on connections with the Mersey and Clyde. Moss also explores the impact of political unrest on shipbuilding development.
The Danish Fisheries, c. 1450-1800: Medieval and Early Modern Sources and Their Potential for Marine Environmental History
Authors: Holm Poul , Bager Maibritt
Published: January 2019

Poul Holm and Maibritt Bager focus on documentary sources relating to Danish fisheries in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The chapter examines the rapid decline of Danish fisheries in the seventeenth century and suggests the cause is a combination of natural causes - climate change and species competition - and human factors - competitive markets and the evolution of dietary preferences. Their research into primary sources demonstrates a significant shift in fish populace across the period, and suggest climate forcing as an underlying factor for change.
Ship Agents in the Twentieth Century
Authors: Miller Michael B.
Published: January 2019

The histories of the Paul Günther firm and the Internationale Crediet- en Handels-Vereeniging “Rotterdam,” commonly known as “Internatio,” are instructive for thinking about the place and fate of ship agents in the twentieth century. The development of these two enterprises illuminates three themes: the varieties in the structures or kinds of ship agencies; the central role of ship agents in the maritime networks that moved people and goods around the world; and the alteration of that role and its business culture after decolonization and the container revolution....
The Narrow-Sea Complex: A Hidden Dimension in Mediterranean Maritime History
Authors: Chircop John
Published: January 2019

The reality of past narrow-sea nexuses in the Mediterranean can best be reconstructed from an in-depth analysis that includes the historical outlooks of native maritime communities. This indigenous historical perspective can be constructed from a range of sources that provide evidence about specific narrow-sea arrangements. The bulk of the material used in this study comprises local ...
The 1980s: Crisis and the Second Revolution
Authors: Broeze Frank
Published: January 2019

This chapter closely examines the contradictory narratives of the 1980s, that of a decline throughout the global economy and subsequent reduction of staff and demise or reduction of a good number of companies within the container industry, and the continued growth of the industry itself, plus further technological innovation and shrewd joint ventures that kept the industry afloat. Subsections examine in great detail: - General Developments; Individual Trade Routes; Intermodalism; and the Structure of the Industry: Concentration.
Labour Relations in the Conventional Cargo Era
Authors: Reveley James
Published: January 2019

This chapter considers the labour relations during the conventional cargo era, twenty years before the introduction of the container industry. Reveley argues in depth that companies that hired watersiders were disempowered by the structure of the labour market. The chapter is divided into subsections as follows: Bargaining Structures; Union Bargaining Strategies; The Employers, Bargaining, and the WIT; The Unions Amalgamate Nationally; Work Relations and Managerial Control Strategies; Management Through the Wages System; Workplace Bargaining Over “Rates”; Informal Work Practices; and Labour Productivity and Costs. The chapter concludes by stating that though employers could individually profit from these circumstances, collectively they were in a worse position than the strengthened unions, and that this status quo, despite bargaining efforts, remained so at the start of containerisation.
Labour Relations after Containerisation
Authors: Reveley James
Published: January 2019

This chapter details the pattern of employment, work relations, and the shift in power between the unions and employers, after the changes brought about by containerisation. It considers the strategies of unions, the reorganisation of employers, and the actions of the New Zealand Association of Waterfront Employers in particular detail. The chapter concludes by suggesting that difficult negotiations would later lead to union downfall
Five Years Before the Mast: Observations on the Conditions of Maritime Labour in Finland and Elsewhere
Authors: Kaukiainen Yrjö
Published: January 2019

This chapter attempts to define the characteristics of a transitioning maritime labour system. It discusses the living conditions and working environment for ordinary sailors in Finland and abroad, and provides examples of cruel maritime discipline, which, in parts, can be analogous to features of slavery. Kaukiainen responds to this discussion with an investigation on how far this cruelty contributed to desertion rates, and documents the previous shifts in power between masters and sailors over periods of history. The chapter concludes with the argument that there was a significant change in traditional power systems within maritime Finland during the early modern period, and suggests that this shift can be understood as an integral part of the emergence of merchant capitalism.
From Low-Cost to High-Cost Shipping: Finnish Maritime Labour Costs after the Second World War
Authors: Kaukiainen Yrjö
Published: January 2019

This chapter tracks Finland’s rise from a low-cost to high-cost shipping country from the 1930s to 1980s. It emphasises the rapid transition and development of Finland’s economy by providing statistics on Finnish shipping expenses and wages, considering tonnage losses during the World Wars; discussing both The Great Depression and The Great Boom; and following the modernisation of tonnage from the 1950s.
The Modernization of Finnish Coastal Shipping and Railway Competition c. 1830-1913
Authors: Kaukiainen Yrjö
Published: January 2019

This chapter describes the modernization of Finnish coastal shipping and assesses its effect on Finnish railways. The chapter acknowledges the growing competition between coastal lines and railways that began in the late 1880s, but also notes the significance of the existing competition of land transport. The report additionally considers Finland’s regional variances whilst providing the advantages and disadvantages of both transport services.
British Timber Imports and Finnish Shipping 1860-1910
Authors: Kaukiainen Yrjö
Published: January 2019

This chapter foregrounds the international competition in shipping during the latter half of the nineteenth century and into the beginning of the twentieth century. It notes the impact that the developing timber trade had on shipping and offers an explanation for the low share of Finnish ships responsible for wood transportations. The chapter also provides a comparison of the difference in behaviour between Finnish and British owners and reports the decline of Britain’s shipping dominance after 1895.
Tons and Tonnages: Ship Measurement and Shipping Statistics, c. 1870-1980
Authors: Kaukiainen Yrjö
Published: January 2019

This chapter discusses the adoption of the British Moorsom system by most maritime nations between 1864 and 1885, and examines the main problems with the Moorsom system after 1867. In the report, Kaukiainen assesses the troubled history of the Moorsom ton; its technical problems and economic pressures; national rules and tonnages; technical loopholes; and total tonnages, while emphasising the correct way to approach unreliable and faulty statistics.
Chapter 5 Expansion South of the Arctic Seas, c. 1776-c. 1808
Authors: Jackson Gordon
Published: January 2019

For most people in the eighteenth century, and for most British people to this day, the whaling trade was synonymous with the Arctic voyages about which almost all the British whaling histories have been written. It is, however, important to remember that, despite its dramatic potential and home-spun quality, the Northern trade was no more than a subsidiary source of whale oil in the eighteenth century. Before 1770 it was rare for more than a tenth of peace-time imports to come from Greenland, and until the American Revolution the bulk of supplies came from the New England colonies. Imports from there averaged 3696 tuns in the years 1764-1775 compared with only 1168 tuns from Greenland....
Chapter 6 Decline in the North in the Early Nineteenth Century
Authors: Jackson Gordon
Published: January 2019

The ending of the Napoleonic war in 1815 was not followed by the same sort of bounding activity as followed the ending of the previous war in 1783, for two very obvious reasons. The sudden expansion after 1783 had resulted chiefly from the changed relationship between Britain and America; and the last few years of the Napoleonic war had themselves witnessed both "recovery" and prosperity in the whaling trade which preceded the normal return to peace-time activities. The year 1808 had been one of appalling depression in overseas trade when, because of restrictions imposed for war purposes, ports all over the country came virtually to a standstill. The whaling trade had suffered with the rest, and the prosperity of the early years of the century was briefly interrupted. Only fifty-six ships sailed for the Northern Fishery in 1808, and only nineteen for the Southern, though the aggregate value of their catches - as usually happened - remained disproportionately high....
Chapter 7 Expansion and Failure of the Southern Fishery c. 1808-1840
Authors: Jackson Gordon
Published: January 2019

The southern fishery was in no better shape, though it had promised so much at the turn of the century, when it appeared to offer limitless regions for the exploitation of the more valuable sperm whale. In fact, after the major expansion of the 1790s, the Southern Fishery stagnated in comparison with the Northern Fishery, which expanded both its catches and value with the opening up of the Davis Straits grounds. Between 1804-1805 and 1814-1815 the tonnage of Northern whalers grew by sixty-six percent, whereas that of Southern whales actually declined by twenty percent as the trade was forced to make time because of the troubles created by war. Whalers going south-east were disturbed on the Cape of Good Hope fishery, at least four being captured by the Dutch and taken into Capetown in 1804 alone. Whalers going south-west faced the historic difficulties of navigating and victualling in Spanish wasters. The chief Pacific sperm fisheries were still off the coasts of Chile, Peru and California, and around the Galapagos Islands and most of the victualling places, so vital for the Pacific trade, were in Spanish territory: Concepcion and Valparaiso in Chile, Lima and Payta in Peru, and Guayaquil in Ecuador. Captains were once more reluctant to double the Horn, though equally dangerous was the long haul through the south Atlantic for ships that missed the St. Helena Convoy....
Conclusion
Authors: Jackson Gordon
Published: January 2019

British involvement in whaling lasted for three and a half centuries. It began with the expansion of Europe, when the whale was located in Arctic waters, and ended only when the virtual extinction of the whale made the trade unprofitable. Those in the last stages of the trade argued, when conscience pricked, that the extermination of the whale was impossible because the cost/yield ratio would prevent the catching of "too many" of the last specimens. It proved, in the event, to be a false argument based, perhaps, on too optimistic a view of human nature, or perhaps on a misunderstanding of the economics of whaling. When Europeans could no longer make whaling pay there were still those - the Russians and Japanese - who worked on different principles, and between them the various whaling nations have brought stocks so low that there are serious doubts if they can ever revive. With such mobile migratory marine animals there has to be a fairly large number before effective breeding can take place and nobody at the moment knows if the surviving specimens can provide for the future. Certainly the Right whale which has been protected throughout the modern phase of whaling has shown no appreciable increase in numbers. The abundance of food may encourage a revival of the blue and fin whales, but it has not yet done so, and scientists are pessimistic. One thing is absolutely clear: whatever happens to the survival of the whales, there can be no whaling in the foreseeable future among the baleen whales. Any attempt to revive the free-for-all slaughter would simply return the species involved to the threshold of extinction....
Scotts of Greenock, 1711-1945
Authors: Johnman Lewis , Murphy Hugh
Published: January 2019

This initial chapter outlines the founding of the Scotts Shipyard of Greenock in 1711, and follows the history of the company through to the end of the Second World War. It documents the company’s major accomplishments, business developments, finances, ownerships, and technical developments throughout the period before the postwar expansion. Events considered include the 1794 construction of the timber vessel, Caledonia, the largest Scottish vessel of the period; an association with the Admiralty; links with Liverpool shipyards; trade links with China and Hong Kong; the quick transition to steam technology; naval contracts; the twentieth century increase in naval demand; and secretive membership in the ‘Warship Group’ of private shipbuilders - a ring that aimed to protect prices from competition. The chapter concludes in 1945, noting that though the forward-thinking Scotts took advantage of wartime inflation and a boom in ship prices for financial stability, no one could predict the size of the postwar maritime expansion that would follow.
Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering, 1945-1965
Authors: Johnman Lewis , Murphy Hugh
Published: January 2019

This chapter returns to Scotts and details the company history between 1945 and 1965. It examines how Scotts adjusted to the immediate postwar period and the changes to shipping: an industry which had become accustomed to the booms and slumps of the interwar period and did not anticipate or react appropriately to the sustained period of world trade growth that was now upon it. It follows the company’s decision-making capabilities during the period and weighs them against the wider global shipping industry. It examines Scotts’ work with the Admiralty in clearing the postwar naval backlog; the protective measures of the Warship Group; the reluctance to embrace submarine technology; modernisation struggles; and a decline in British shipbuilding output that led to the 1964 Labour government’s establishment of the Shipbuilding Inquiry Committee. It concludes as British shipping firms began placing orders with shipyards abroad, an action that was to continue and increase over time. The conclusion clarifies that the imperative for Scotts was to maintain naval contracts with the Admiralty in order to turn profit in the face of coming hardships.
The Long March to Merger, 1965-1970
Authors: Johnman Lewis , Murphy Hugh
Published: January 2019

This chapter follows the lengthy process of the merger between Scotts and Lithgows Limited, taking place over a five year period between 1965 and 1970. It analyses whether or not the merger was inevitable via a detailed history of the contributing factors. It begins with the establishment of the Shipbuilding Inquiry Committee (SIC) and the efforts made to re-invigorate the industry to match international competitors; before tackling the labour question and employment concerns; the transition of the Admiralty to the Ministry of Defence; the status of the Warship Group; competition from Japanese shipyards; the revitalising recommendations of the SIC Report (Geddes Report); the establishment of the Shipbuilding Industry Board; and the difficult industrial relations that persisted throughout. It concludes by suggesting that the merger would be one of name only, due to the four years of unproductive talks, disruptions, and deliberations by those involved.
Except the Rules
Authors: Gleicher David
Published: January 2019

This chapter studies the period 1:00 to 1:40am, seeking to determine when the lifeboats left the Titanic, where the third class passengers were at the time, and which routes they were taking in order to evacuate. It provides several route diagrams; a table noting lifeboat departures and passenger occupancy by class and gender; and an analysis of the testimonies from the British and American inquiries. It concludes that there is little evidence of the routes taken by third class to the lifeboats, in part due to the lack of third class testimonials, but that their evident presence in these lifeboats suggests some discovered alternate routes through the first class that ensured their safety.
A Statistical Study
Authors: Gleicher David
Published: January 2019

This chapter tests the conclusions made over the course of the journal by studying the statistical likelihood of a passenger surviving the sinking of the ship. It is based around factors including class, gender, family, and age. The data is contrasted with Wyn Wade’s hypothesis that third class citizens had been conditioned throughout their lives to give up hope, and Walter Lord’s hypothesis that the ship’s design prevented third class escape. It confirms that the data matches the assertions made across previous chapters: the bias of the ship’s authorities toward the first and second classes mirrors the lower survival rate of third class men and women alike. It also provides the statistical equations used to formulate this conclusion.
The Contagion and Short-term Effects of the Crisis
Authors: Tenold Stig
Published: January 2019

This chapter discusses the first stage of the shipping crisis: the spread from tanker crisis into all areas of shipping and the short-term effects that emerged in the first half of the 1970s. It analyses the oil price hike, declining shipyard activity, the surplus of bulk and cargo ships, and the 1973-75 recession, to concludes that each of these elements combined in a unique manner to develop the crisis further.
Seal Fisheries of the Falkland Islands and Dependencies
Authors: Dickinson A.B.
Published: January 2019

This study offers a chronological history of seal fishing in the Falkland Islands and Dependencies from the eighteenth century to the early twenty-first. It concerns the fluctuating seal population due to sealing; the Atlantic and global demand for seal fur and oil; the competition between American, British, and Canadian sealers over the territory’s seal stocks; and the attempts by various ruling governments to prioritise domestic sealing, maintain sufficient seal stocks, and continue to make profit. It is comprised of nine chapters, the first and last chapters of which serve as introduction and conclusion. The study also includes eight appendices presenting tabled statistics, and a select bibliography. The appendices concern seal skin imports into London; vessel details at Puerto Soledad; the value and amount of seal products exported from the Falklands; Canadian sealing vessels entering Port Stanley; seal catch and oil yield in South Georgia; South Georgian seal catch summaries; South Georgian commercial catches by sealing division; and marine mammal products landed in the Newfoundland fisheries region.
Introduction
Authors: Hunter Mark C.
Published: January 2019

This chapter outlines the structure of the journal, the topics to be discussed, and the critical approaches utilised for analysis. It introduces each nation’s key objectives: the use of naval diplomacy and power to avoid conflict; the suppression of piracy through co-operation force; and the advance of their economic powers. It also outlines their clashing objectives surrounding the slave trade - Britain’s goal of suppressing the slave trade for economic gain and America’s reluctance to address the topic. It introduces the concept of naval relation studies, interest-based naval analysis, and the comparative methodologies used in the analysis. It also introduces the sources consulted in the following chapters - primarily American and British newspapers, policy documents, naval documents, and naval and economic statistics. It concludes by summarising each chapter’s aims.
Conflict Avoidance in the Equatorial Atlantic
Authors: Hunter Mark C.
Published: January 2019

This chapter examines how sea power was utilised and adjusted by America and Britain in order to diffuse political tensions and keep the balance of power and their individual commercial endeavours protected. In particular, it examines Anglo-American co-operation and conflict during the 1840s and 1850s; Spanish-American filibusters; naval policing; and the American Civil War. It concludes that by 1860, Britain and America were intent on avoiding conflict with one another, and that as civil war broke out in America, Britain avoided becoming embroiled in the conflict.
Port Cities, Diaspora Communities and Emerging Nationalism in the Ottoman Empire: Balkan Merchants in Odessa and Their Network in the Early Nineteenth Century
Authors: Schulz Oliver
Published: January 2019

This chapter examines the complicated political history of the merchant trade community of Odessa, which includes the Russian expansion into the Black Sea; the Greek settlement in Odessa; the role of Bulgarian merchants in Odessa; the establishment of Novorossiya; and the rise of Greek nationalism in the area. It examines the methodological difficulties in studying this period due to a lack of population and business statistics. It concludes that the port of Odessa became Greek-dominated over time, and maritime mercantile activity in Odessa became a factor that symbolised Greek Nationalism and ‘Greekness’.
Japan and the Development of Taiwan's Fishing Industry
Authors: Chen Henry T.
Published: January 2019

This chapter describes and analyses Japan’s influence on the Taiwanese fishing industry. It attempts to determine why the colonial government opted to turn Taiwan into a principal base of the fishing industry, and the geographic advantages possessed by Taiwan and the port of Kaohsiung in relation to the fishing grounds of Southeast Asia. It discusses the business interests, technical contributions, and fishing methods introduced to Taiwan by Japan, including the development of trawl-fishing as opposed to rafts and small boats. It details the construction of the Takao fishing port and the development of rail and sea routes that enabled fishing exports to reach Japan. In summary, Japan’s expansionist policies, modernised fisheries, and the large-scale exploitation of marine resources in Southeast Asia laid the foundation for an advantageous Taiwanese fishing industry in postwar Asia.
The Taiwanese Fishing Industry and the Military-Political Complex
Authors: Chen Henry T.
Published: January 2019

This chapter analyses the relationship between the government, military, and fishing industry in postwar Taiwan, as the level of state intervention and military control over fishing authorities in this period was unusually high. It discusses the roles of the Kuomintang Government, the China Fishing Company, Mainland Chinese parliamentarians, and the Legislative Yuan in relation to fisheries, and explores topics such as political brainwashing, military mobilisation, military surveillance, and governmental monitoring of the fishing industry. It concludes that the Taiwanese fishing industry struggled for three decades to gain national representation and to enter the political sphere independently.
Conclusion
Authors: Chen Henry T.
Published: January 2019

The development of Taiwan's fishing industry off Southeast Asia in the twentieth century can be described and analyzed at the state, industry and community levels. Viewed from the perspective of the state, it is clear that the government's policies and regulatory practices played significant roles in the birth and development of the industry since the colonial period. To avoid the growing problem of over-fishing in the East China Sea, the colonial authorities encouraged fleets to expand their fishing southward in the 1930s. At the same time, the Japanese military encouraged them to explore the hitherto unknown fishing grounds in the ...
British Coastal Shipping: A Research Agenda for the European Perspective
Authors: Armstrong John
Published: January 2019

This chapter reviews the recent research into British coastal shipping in attempt to establish the economics of the trade. From there it suggests how to scale the research out to a European-wide study. It then defines the British coastal trade and how it differs from other countries - particularly as an island nation’s coastal trade is necessarily internal. It also notes where coastal trade differs from foreign trade and short-sea shipping. It argues that the coaster was crucial in supporting and encouraging industrialisation, and thus worthy of individual study rather than as a minor facet of shipping. It explores the advantages of coasters over other methods of transport, such as rail and horse-drawn haulage. After declaring the strengths of coastal shipping, it concludes by reviewing the gaps in the academic knowledge and suggesting areas for further research - including ownership, profitability, and analysis of commodities.
Late Nineteenth-Century Freight Rates Revisited: Some Evidence from the British Coastal Coal Trade
Authors: Armstrong John
Published: January 2019

This chapter analyses previous studies of maritime freight rates and offers a statistical and economic analysis of the British coastal trade. It explores the methodology of calculating freight rates, plus the motives for raising and lowering them, and calculates the operating costs of coal shipping in the British coastal trade. It asserts that advances made in coastal shipping technology lowered costs and transformed the coastal coal trade into a more profitable enterprise.
The Coastal Trade of Connah's Quay in the Early Twentieth Century: A Preliminary Investigation
Authors: Armstrong John
Published: January 2019

This chapter explores one of the few existing sources for coastal trade activity in ports - the trade records of Connah’s Quay on the River Dee between 1905 and 1914. It examines the port register, crew agreements, and the records of Wrexham, Mold and Connah’s Quay Railway, in attempt to determine the specific (as opposed to national or regional) factors that contributed to the decline of port activity in the run up to the First World War. These factors include the treacherous waters of the Dee Estuary; the absence of liner trade; the narrow range of goods; and the imbalance between outward and inward-going voyages. Through analysis of these factors, it concludes that Connah’s Quay was indeed atypical of the national trend in coastal shipping during this period.
The Reluctant Warrior: Thomas Jefferson and the Tripolitan War, 1801-1805
Authors: Seiken Jeff
Published: January 2019

This chapter is the second of two to explore United States President Thomas Jefferson’s approach to the Tripolitanian War. Unlike the previous chapter, this one presents Jefferson as both reluctant to use force and unprepared for the length and toll of the campaign. It examines his fluctuating attitude toward the navy; concern over the financial cost of war; difficulty in securing an end to the war; and the handling of the disastrous loss of the Philadelphia. It concludes that though Jefferson was ambivalent and reluctant to enter war and failed to use sufficient force for the majority of the campaign, he was triumphant in avoiding paying tribute to Tripoli, and the war was an overall success for the United States.
The “New” Navy, 1652-1713
Authors: Bruijn Jaap R.
Published: January 2019

This chapter analyses the ‘New’ period in the history of the Dutch Navy, classified as between 1652 and 1713. It is divided into six sections: the reasons for the old navy’s obsolete status; the components of John de Witt’s ‘new’ navy; the various campaigns against England, France, and the Baltic; the changes that took place within Naval administration; the careers of Michiel de Ruyter and other naval officers; and the manning of ships in the ‘new’ period. It concludes with the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714), and the financial toll this took on the Dutch navy, a gradual process that wore down their capacity to operate. It concludes that financial problems coupled with the diminished threat from France forced the Dutch Navy to fundamentally alter their structure and subsequently redefine their role within the republic.
The Impact of Technological Change
Authors: Armstrong John , Williams David M.
Published: January 2019

This book presents an in-depth study of the impact of the steamship on Britain during its first forty years, roughly between 1810 and 1850. It relates the early steamship to several industrial themes including diffusion; construction; modernisation; the role of government - particularly the difficult attempt to align laissez-faire politics with the greater need for public safety measures due to technological advance; business and finance; plus public reaction and tourism. The aim is to establish the significance of the steamship as a conduit of modernisation and societal change. It consists of a foreword, introduction, and fourteen chapters devoted to specific themes, structured to ensure each chapters build on the preceding chapter’s progress. Collectively, they demonstrate that the development of both experience and enterprise with steam power both gained and refined during this period made the mid-century expansion of steamship technology across Britain possible. Ultimately, it establishes that steamship services began to adapt to oceanic routes, steam began to integrate into the world economy, and the age of sail began to draw to a close.
The Steamboat, Safety and the State: Government Reaction to New Technology in a Period of Laissez-Faire
Authors: Armstrong John , Williams David M.
Published: January 2019

This chapter explores the government reaction to steam power and the issues of public safety that surrounded it. In particular, it questions the lack of prominent government intervention until the middle of the nineteenth century. It studies the economic advantages of steam over sail; the new hazards associated with steam power and the causes and rates of accidents; the call for government intervention which grew out of these hazards; an analysis of the lack of government response to this pressure for close to thirty years; and a study and assessment of the action eventually taken. It concludes by bringing these points together and places them into the wider context of maritime safety, the role of government, the problematic aspects of laissez-faire politics, and the difficulties inherent in the transition to new technology.
The "Norwich Explosion" of 1817: A Local Tragedy of National Significance
Authors: Armstrong John , Williams David M.
Published: January 2019

This chapter is a case study of the ‘Norwich Explosion’ of 1817, in which an engine boiler on the steamboat Telegraph exploded and caused several crew and passenger deaths. It seeks to distinguish why this tragedy took on considerably more national significance than other similar tragedies that incurred fatalities during the early nineteenth century. It also examines the setting up of a Select Committee on Steamboats following the explosion and how this forced the government to question whether or not they had a duty to intervene in the interests of public safety, or to continue to allow markets to operate freely. It then reviews the outcome of the enquiry and the reasons why the recommended reforms ultimately were not implemented. It concludes by suggesting that if reforms had occurred, further development of steam technology may have been hindered. It also suggests that the laissez-faire attitude of the government during the nineteenth century would have been significantly altered as a result.
Early Steamboat Services and Their Impact in North Wales, 1817-1840s
Authors: Armstrong John , Williams David M.
Published: January 2019

This chapter explores the impact of the early steamboat in North Wales, a region underexplored by maritime historians in regard to steam technology. It concentrates on period between 1817 and the 1840s. It begins by considering the comparatively small number of registered steamboats in North Wales and offers reasons why - the small population of towns and the rural environment are particular factors of note. It then expands out to examine steamboat services in the rest of Britain in comparison. It explores the geographical problems of establishing steamships in Wales, plus the successes and failures of several routes. The Holyhead-Dublin route is given significant attention, as it became a major communication route between Britain and Ireland. Finally, it studies the impact of the steamship on Welsh communities, and finds that it created an economic boost and provided wider access to technology, news, information, and passengers. Furthermore, livestock farming, retail trade, and the tourist industry all developed significantly in North Wales due to the presence of the steamship.
The Rise of the English Shipping Industry in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
Authors: Davis Ralph
Published: January 2019

This volume is a reprint of Ralph Davis’ seminal 1962 book, The Rise of the English Shipping Industry in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. The aim was to examine the economic reasons for the growth of British shipping before the arrival of modern technology, with a particular attention on overseas trade. The study can roughly be divided into two halves. The first is an in-depth exploration the roles within the shipping industry, from shipbuilders and shipowners to seamen and masters, from an economic perspective. The second is a chapter-by-chapter review of British overseas trade with Northern Europe, Southern Europe, the Mediterranean, East India, and America and the West Indies. The final two chapters diverge from the main sections, and focus on the interplay between government, war, and shipping. Davis attaches no extra significance to any particular nation or role, and offers an even-handed approach to maritime history still considered rare in the present day. Costs, profits, voyage estimates, ship-prices, and earnings all come under close and equal scrutiny as Davis seeks to understand the trades and developments in shipping during the period. To conclude, he places the study into a broader historical context and discovers that shipping played a measured but crucial role in the development of industrialisation and English economic development. This edition includes an introduction by the series editor; Davis’ introduction and preface; seventeen analytical chapters; a concluding chapter; two appendices concerning shipping statistics and sources; and a comprehensive index.
Ships and Shipbuilders in the Eighteenth Century
Authors: Davis Ralph
Published: January 2019

This chapter explores the developments in shipbuilding and the evolving role of shipbuilders across England over the course of the eighteenth century. Like the previous chapter it often compares British shipbuilding with Dutch shipbuilding due to their interlinked histories and the presence of Dutch prize-ships across England as a result of the Dutch wars. Shipbuilding in the eighteenth century is examined closely to determine the extent to which British ships began to resemble Dutch flyboats. It also considers changes in manning levels as technology increased; the shipbuilding efforts on colonial land; the capture of prizes; and the threat of cheaper American shipbuilding disrupting Britain’s global shipping precence. The latter part of the chapter traces the development of shipbuilding technology and the necessary physical changes to the ships themselves. It concludes by asserting that British merchant ships developed tremendously in over the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, though not nearly as sharply as they would with the arrival of steam.
The Growth and Dissolution of a Large-Scale Business Enterprise
Authors: Boyce Gordon
Published: January 2019

This book is an in-depth case study of the Furness Withy and Co Shipping Group, which operated both tramp and liner services and was one of the five major British shipping groups of the early twentieth century. It demonstrates how British shipowners of this period generated success by exploring Christopher Furness’ career in relation to the social, political, and cultural currents during a time of tremendous shipping growth in Britain and the establishment of some of the largest shipping firms in the world. It approaches the study from three angles. The first analyses how the Furness Group expanded its shipping activities and became involved with the industrial sector. The second illustrates the organisational and financial structure of the enterprise. Finally, the Group’s leadership and entrepreneurship is scrutinised and placed within the wider context of twentieth century British business. The case study begins in 1870, with an introduction explaining how Christopher Furness came to join the family company, Thomas Furness and Co. in order develop services, expand, and instigate the changes and mergers that brought the Furness Group into existence. There are thirteen chronologically presented chapters, a bibliography, and seven appendices of data including an ownership timeline, tonnage statistics, acquisitions, a list of maritime associates, and a timeline of Christopher Furness’ life. The book concludes in 1919 with the de-merging of the Furness Group’s shipping and industrial holdings, the resignation of the Furness family from the company’s board, the sale of their shares, and the move into managing the firm’s industrial interests.
Diversification into the Industrial Sector, 1895-1901
Authors: Boyce Gordon
Published: January 2019

This chapter follows the diversification of the Furness Group into the industrial sector between 1895 and 1901, as it accumulated coal, steel, engineering, and shipbuilding firms. This period saw a tremendous surge in British and American industrial merges, dubbed merger mania, and so the chapter begins by addressing the differences between their respective surges. It then outlines Furness’ plan to diversify the firm’s interests, tackling it section by section. It explores the pattern of acquisitions; the role of company promoters; Furness’ own work as a promoter of industrial and shipping enterprises and the growth of his trade network; and the form of public floats. It concludes that in contrast to the industrialists who took advantage of the financial boom to liquidate investments, Furness used the growing confidence in the investment community to expand his presence in the primary sector of the economy whilst continuing to form new shipping ventures.
Funding Philanthropy
Authors: Ash Susan
Published: January 2019

This book investigates how Dr. Barnardo, the Victorian children’s philanthropist, operated as both story teller and showman, using mass media to create a globalised support network. His philanthropic ‘empire’ operated as an exceptional Victorian manifestation of promotional and branding mechanisms that are perceived as commonplace in the twentieth century. Metaphor and narrative modes normally associated with fiction such as Charles Dickens’s novels, as well as public spectacles associated with showmen such as P. T. Barnum, provide the organising principle for the book. Ultimately, however, the analysis reveals an overlapping concurrence of these three categories because, in practice, each tends to inflect the other. The book is also crucially concerned with affect, theorising how corporal responses such as excitement, shame and disgust operate in Barnardo’s figures of speech, ‘stories’ and spectacles to arouse sympathy and provoke ideological and financial support. Part One takes a long look at metaphor in order to tease out how ‘the open door’, Barnardo’s central institutional icon, operated as a multifaceted metaphor to characterize and promote his version of philanthropy in a crowded charity market. Part Two examines how Barnardo shaped perception of his brand by storytelling practices based on the ‘re-creation’ of direct, first-hand experience and feelings. Part Three considers how collective benevolence also depends upon spectacle for widespread success.
Survivors
Authors: Hitchcott Nicki
Published: January 2019

In chapter four, Hitchcott further considers the difficulties faced when fictionalising the testimonies of genocide survivors, as well as the difficulties and prejudice that survivors face in present day Rwanda. Attention is brought to the perceived social hierarchy that exists in post-genocide Rwanda, and where survivors find themselves placed within it by fellow citizens. A culture of mistrust exists between those that returned to Rwanda after fleeing the genocide and those that remained but survived as it is assumed they committed atrocities themselves in order to live. Hitchcott analyses the isolation of survivors as depicted in Rwanda genocide fiction, particularly in Jean-Marie Vianney Rurangwa’s ‘Au sortir de l’enfer’, and ultimately how these authors attempt to re-establish the dignity of survivors by creating characters with stories to be heard and understood.
Publishing Africa in French
Authors: Bush Ruth
Published: January 2019

Publishing Africa in French provides a critical analysis of the global dynamics and cultural and publishing history of French and African literature. It focuses on French readership and the French literary-political sphere, and engages with issues of authorial authenticity, literary value, and author autonomy. The study is built on careful documentations of the pre- and post-publication process, and explores the relentless interweaving of ideas expressed in literary form, their institutional contexts and underlying human relationships, and asks: Who writes about Africa and who is Africa written for? The book is split into two sections, ‘Institutions’ and ‘Mediations’. The first part of the book, ‘Institutions’, situates three institutions of particular significance, the publishing houses of Le Seuil and Présence Africaine, and the Association nationale des écrivains de la mer et de l’outre-mer. ‘Mediations’, the second section of the book, concludes with a consideration on how institutional structures work into or against the literary texture of selected publications, and examines readers’ reports and editorial revision; the use of pseudonyms; the development of named collections and the process of literary translation from English. Publishing Africa in French aims to bring book-historical principles to bear on a decisive period in French literary history and foregrounds the influencing factors on literary expression and its material impressions in the period of decolonization.
Conclusion
Authors: Bush Ruth
Published: January 2019

In post-war France, literary representations of sub-Saharan Africa were written and read in response to political, aesthetic, and commercial imperatives. A greater number of these representations appeared in the late 1950s and early 1960s from a flourishing African literary scene which built consciously on the achievements of black writers in France during the inter-war years and as French publishers responded to growing – if still very limited – interest among metropolitan readers. The literary field of this period was gradually reconfigured by decolonization and its destabilizing effect on ideas of literary value and authority and their, often unconscious, attachment to the French national imaginary. This is seen in the degree of meaning attached to African authorship by readers, attitudes towards the French language, and editorial mediations of literary style. Whether explicitly engaged with the complex political realities of decolonization, affirming black cultural identities, or reproducing colonial stereotypes of exotic difference, decisions were made regarding the form, content, and material production of a very wide range of texts. What emerges is a complex portrait of the French-language publishing scene during the so-called ...
Authorship at a Crossroads
Authors: Kleppinger Kathryn A.
Published: January 2019

Presenting a broad overview of the historical and literary context in which the descendants of North African immigrants to France began to write novels, this introductory chapter establishes the primary questions and stakes of the book. It provides readers with necessary contextual information such as the French presence in Algeria as well as government policies regarding audio-visual broadcasting. It also presents several related scholarly studies in the field and argues that this book presents new perspectives on a well-studied population by considering the role of the audio-visual media in creating a commonly shared idea of what types of novels these authors write. Theories by Stuart Hall (dominant, negotiated, and contestatory frameworks), Édouard Glissant (opacity), and Pierre Bourdieu (literary field) are used to place these authors in a broader context. The chapter concludes by arguing that scholarly studies of this literature, like other texts labelled as ‘Francophone’ or ‘Postcolonial,’ has been pre-determined by which texts have been promoted in the media and thus supported by publishers.
Mehdi Charef and theInvention of Beur Writing
Authors: Kleppinger Kathryn A.
Published: January 2019

After a brief discussion of political activism in the early 1980s by the descendants of North African immigrants to France, this chapter explores the reception and promotion of Mehdi Charef’s début novel, Le thé au harem d’Archi Ahmed (1983). Charef appeared on several top literary, society, and news programs, and successfully established himself as an insider providing new perspectives on France’s North African immigrant community. To better understand the contours of Charef’s media appearances, the chapter also explores the lack of attention accorded to Nacer Kettane’s Le sourire de Brahim and Leïla Sebbar’s Shérazade, 17 ans, brune, frisée, les yeux verts. Kettane promoted his work dogmatically as a political intervention, while Sebbar focused artistic and feminist aspects of her writing. These case studies reveal how Charef successfully positioned himself in a middle ground, as an author who accepted social and political readings of his work but also provided new and unique information on a population that had come to be heavily discussed by journalists and politicians.
Maghrebi Migrant Women in France and French Cinema
Authors: Kealhofer-Kemp Leslie
Published: January 2019

The introduction provides a general overview of the place of Maghrebi migrant women in France and outlines the book’s purpose, scope, and methodology. The study adopts the concept of ‘voice’ as a framework through which to critically examine the representations of Maghrebi women in a diverse corpus of documentaries, short films, téléfilms, and feature films, and the introduction draws on scholarship in post-colonial, film, and gender studies. It sets out the book’s key questions, including: In what ways do cinematic depictions of first-generation women challenge dominant perceptions about this generation, and notably the idea that the women are silent and disempowered? Do films depicting Maghrebi women invite audiences to come to a better understanding of the women’s subjective perspectives, and if so, by what means? What opportunities and constraints do the formal conventions characteristic of the four types of films present in representing first-generation women? To what extent is the question of Islam raised, and can it be said that this shapes the representations of Maghrebi women in a particular way? The introduction concludes with a description the fieldwork undertaken to construct the study’s cinematic archive.