Series Editor's Foreword

Summary

Maritime history has made some amazing strides in the past half century. From largely being the preserve of aniquarians and aficionados of ships, it has become an increasingly respected genre within the larger body of historical scholarship. Yet if there is one area that has been relatively ignored - with, as John Armstrong would likely put it, “a few honourable exceptions” - it would be the history of the trades in which merchant vessels engaged. In the early modern period we know a lot about the tobacco and timber trades, and the study of the slave trade in all its ramifications has been revolutionized by the work of a dedicated group of scholars. But virtually all the great trades of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries still await proper scholarly treatment.

There is, however, an “honourable exception” to this last generalization, for as the essays that follow demonstrate with grace and insight, we know quite a bit about the British coastal trade. That I can make this claim is due almost entirely to the work of a single remarkable scholar - John Armstrong. Although as John is always careful to remind us, his work has been entirely on the British trade, it is no less important for this focus. Moreover, although even in the United Kingdom this sector was far from homogeneous, I believe that readers of the essays in this volume will come away with an appreciation of the main characteristics of its various branches. As John has pointed out repeatedly, there remain many significant things that we still do not know. Yet what is striking to me - and I suspect that it will be to many other readers as well - is that thanks to John Armstrong's industry, imagination and hard work we know quite a bit about the British coastal trade.

For this reason, and many others besides, we are extremely happy to have this selection (and as the bibliography at the end of the book demonstrates, it is only a selection) of John Armstrong's writings in a single volume in the Research in Maritime History señes. Having worked on this book for the past few months and reacquainted myself with his body of work, I am convinced that all maritime historians will learn a great deal from the essays included here.