Exeter Maritime Studies – serie

An important part of eighteenth-century maritime conflict involved the destruction of enemy commerce and the protection of home trade. In performing these tasks, state navies were augmented by privateers, vessels owned, equipped and manned by private individuals authorised by their governments to attack and seize the enemy’s seabourne property. For their reward, the investors and seafarers engaged in privateering ventures shared in the proceeds of any ships and goods taken and condemned as lawful prize. Privateering therefore represented a business opportunity to the maritime community, a chance to acquire instant wealth at the enemy’s expense; at the same time, it appeared as a cheap convenient means by which the state might supplement its naval strength. In this important analysis David J. Starkey draws upon a wealth of documentary evidence to throw fresh light upon the character, scale and significance of the British privateering business.

A searching collection of investigations into British naval power in the closing centuries of the sailing ship era. The discussions focus on the later seventeenth century strategy of a 'big ship' battlefleet; the setting up of a Western Squadron post-1689; naval recruiting; naval power and foreign policy; and the administration of the early Victorian navy and the coming of steam.

Those travelling on the seas have always been vulnerable to the attacks of predators acting within or without the law. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries such assaults reached new heights as the development of trans-oceanic empires increased massively the wealth and extent of sea-borne trade, and with it the potential for prize-taking.Pirates and Privateers focuses on the character of pirate communities in the Caribbean, the East Indies and China, and on the scale and significance of privateering operations based in the principal European maritime states. It brings together the latest work of an internationally renowned group of scholars to shed fresh light on the fascinating, frequently misunderstood subject of violence at sea in the age of sail.

Exploiting the Sea offers new perspectives on Britain's vital but changing relationship with the sea since the late nineteenth century. It assesses the significance to the British economy of sea-reliant industries such as shipping, shipbuilding, fishing, coastal trading and seaside tourism. It also seeks to explain why the clear pre-eminence that Britain established in the maritime world during the Victorian era has not been sustained in the twentieth century. Exploiting the Sea is a new volume in the highly successful series Exeter Maritime Studies, and brings together contributions from experts writing in their own specialist fields to give a wide-ranging but structured analytical approach to a misunderstood subject.

Few industries attest to the decline of Britain’s political and economic power as does the near disappearance of British shipbuilding. On the eve of the First World War, British shipbuilding produced more than the rest of the world put together. But by the 1980s, the industry which had dominated world markets and underpinned British maritime power accounted for less than one per cent of world output. Throughout this decline, a remarkable relationship developed between the shipbuilding industry and the Government as both sought to restore the fortunes and dominance of this once great enterprise. This book is the first to provide an analysis of twentieth-century shipbuilding at the national level. It is based on the full breadth of primary and secondary sources available, blending the records of central Government with those of the Shipbuilding Employers Federation and Shipbuilding Conference, as well as making use of a range of records from individual yards, technical societies and the trade press.

Few industries attest to the decline of Britain’s political and economic power as does the near disappearance of British shipbuilding. On the eve of the First World War, British shipbuilding produced more than the rest of the world put together. But by the 1980s, the industry which had dominated world markets and underpinned British maritime power accounted for less than one per cent of world output. Throughout this decline, a remarkable relationship developed between the shipbuilding industry and the Government as both sought to restore the fortunes and dominance of this once great enterprise. This book is the first to provide an analysis of twentieth-century shipbuilding at the national level. It is based on the full breadth of primary and secondary sources available, blending the records of central Government with those of the Shipbuilding Employers Federation and Shipbuilding Conference, as well as making use of a range of records from individual yards, technical societies and the trade press.

A distinct branch of the multi-faceted fishing industry, trawling dates back at least to the 1370s when attempts were made to prohibit the use of a primitive trawling device, the 'wondyrychoun' on the Thames. But it was not until the late 18th century that the beam trawl was deployed to any great extent, the fishermen of Barking and Brixham claiming credit for pioneering the technique. Thereafter, particularly from the 1840s, trawling eclipsed seining, drifting and line fishing as the principal method of capture, a transition which not only underpinned the growth of east coast fishing stations such as Hull and Grimsby, but also explained Britain's emergence as the largest and most successful of Europe's fishing nations. The rapid adoption of the steam trawler in the 1880s confirmed these trends and facilitated the exploitation of more distant fishing grounds. Two World Wars, a series of Cod Wars and intense foreign competition have eroded Britain's pre-eminence in the 20th century, so much so that by the early 1990s her interests in distant water trawling were negligible. The author adopts a largely chronological approach to chart the rise and fall of trawling in Britain. Using an array of primary sources, he identifies the key factors - growing demand, links with markets, technological change, political rivalries - which have conditioned the performance of the trawling business. A number of themes permeate the work, including the life and working conditions of the trawlermen, the place of trawling in the fishing industry at large, attitudes to the conservation of fish stocks and the role of government in the prosecution and prosperity of the trawl fishery. In dealing with such issues, the book provides a well balanced, thoroughly researched account of a vital arm of Britain's 19th and 20th century fishing industry.

The Glorious First of June 1794 was the first great naval engagement of the Great War with France (1793-1815). Participants on both sides considered it the hardest-fought battle between them in the eighteenth century and both sides felt they attained their objectives: the British captured or sank seven French battleships, the French saved their big grain convoy from America.In this book experts explore the naval campaign from both British and French perspectives, setting it in its wider context of the war strategy of the rival powers. The intensity of the encounter is demonstrated through the accounts of eyewitnesses, three of which are here published for the first time, and the impact of the battle on public imagination is traced through plays, prints and paintings, and through the artefacts and memorials by which it was commemorated. Considered to be the hardest-fought battle between France and Britain in the 18th century Includes the accounts of eye witnessses, some published for the first time Traces the impact of the battle on public imagination by discussing plays, print, paintings, artefacts and memorials.

This book examines how the principal British maritime industries - shipping, shipbuilding and ports - adapted, or failed to adapt, to a changing world in the period 1918 to 1990, and discusses their reactions to the great opportunities seemingly offered by offshore oil and gas from the mid-1960s. At the outbreak of World War I, Britain's maritime industries still dominated the world. The British merchant fleet was by far the largest in the world, the nation's shipbuilding output eclipsed all rivals, and British ports were busy and expanding. By 1990, British shipping was a shadow of its former self, shipbuilding seemed on the verge of total collapse, and although the ports had been modernised, trade was concentrated at only a few of them. For almost four centuries, these industries had been of vital importance to Britain's wealth and power, but by 1990, politicians scarcely gave them a second thought.