Chapter 1 - British Steam Navigation, 1812 to the 1850s: A Bibliographical and Historiographical Review

Summary

The essays in this volume cover aspects of the history and significance of the early steamship during the first fifty years of its existence. They embrace the period from the first commercial steamship voyage of Comet in 1812 up to the late 1850s. Both theme and period possess substantial historical literatures which extend back well over a century. But within the body of past studies, wide ranging though they are, there remain many lacunae - hence our research. In the case of some of the essays in this volume, we can justly claim to have broken new ground; in others, we have broadened and deepened research into aspects considered by previous writers. Through our work we hope to have added to the sum of knowledge on, and the understanding of, the early steamship. So that readers may gain some appreciation of where our modest contribution resides, it may be of value to review the existing literature on the first half-century of steam navigation. We would emphasize first and foremost that our review is designed to place our studies in context. We do not ascribe any special coherence to this period. On reflection, it might be said that the years between 1812 and the 1850s represent the “era of the wooden paddle steamer,” but such vessels continued to play a significant role after 1860, and early iron hulls and screw propulsion date from the 1830s. Again, it might be argued that the shift from sail to steam - which is not a theme we have addressed in the papers of this volume - only began significantly from around the 1860s with the development of the compound engine - but such observations are very much afterthoughts. This bibliographical and historiographical survey covers the period it does because those years provide the temporal parameters of the papers in this volume. Likewise, its coverage is confined to British commercial steam shipping, albeit abroad as well as in home waters.