Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Series Editor's Foreword
- About the Author
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 British Coastal Shipping: A Research Agenda for the European Perspective
- Chapter 2 The Significance of Coastal Shipping in British Domestic Transport, 1550-1830
- Chapter 3 The British Coastal Fleet in the Eighteenth Century: How Useful Are the Admiralty's Registers of Protection from Impressment?
- Chapter 4 Management Response in British Coastal Shipping Companies to Railway Competition
- Chapter 5 Conferences in British Nineteenth-Century Coastal Shipping
- Chapter 6 Coastal Shipping: The Neglected Sector of Nineteenth- Century British Transport History
- Chapter 7 Railways and Coastal Shipping in Britain in the Later Nineteenth Century: Cooperation and Competition
- Chapter 8 The Crewing of British Coastal Colliers, 1870-1914
- Chapter 9 Late Nineteenth-Century Freight Rates Revisited: Some Evidence from the British Coastal Coal Trade
- Chapter 10 Liverpool to Hull - By Sea?
- Chapter 11 Government Regulation in the British Shipping Industry, 1830-1913: The Role of the Coastal Sector
- Chapter 12 An Estimate of the Importance of the British Coastal Liner Trade in the Early Twentieth Century
- Chapter 13 The Role of Coastal Shipping in UK Transport: An Estimate of Comparative Traffic Movements in 1910
- Chapter 14 Climax and Climacteric: The British Coastal Trade, 1870- 1930
- Chapter 15 The Shipping Depression of 1901 to 1911: The Experience of Freight Rates in the British Coastal Coal Trade
- Chapter 16 The Coastal Trade of Connah's Quay in the Early Twentieth Century: A Preliminary Investigation
- Chapter 17 The Cinderella of the Transport World: The Historiography of the British Coastal Trade
- Bibliography of Writings by John Armstrong
Introduction
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Series Editor's Foreword
- About the Author
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 British Coastal Shipping: A Research Agenda for the European Perspective
- Chapter 2 The Significance of Coastal Shipping in British Domestic Transport, 1550-1830
- Chapter 3 The British Coastal Fleet in the Eighteenth Century: How Useful Are the Admiralty's Registers of Protection from Impressment?
- Chapter 4 Management Response in British Coastal Shipping Companies to Railway Competition
- Chapter 5 Conferences in British Nineteenth-Century Coastal Shipping
- Chapter 6 Coastal Shipping: The Neglected Sector of Nineteenth- Century British Transport History
- Chapter 7 Railways and Coastal Shipping in Britain in the Later Nineteenth Century: Cooperation and Competition
- Chapter 8 The Crewing of British Coastal Colliers, 1870-1914
- Chapter 9 Late Nineteenth-Century Freight Rates Revisited: Some Evidence from the British Coastal Coal Trade
- Chapter 10 Liverpool to Hull - By Sea?
- Chapter 11 Government Regulation in the British Shipping Industry, 1830-1913: The Role of the Coastal Sector
- Chapter 12 An Estimate of the Importance of the British Coastal Liner Trade in the Early Twentieth Century
- Chapter 13 The Role of Coastal Shipping in UK Transport: An Estimate of Comparative Traffic Movements in 1910
- Chapter 14 Climax and Climacteric: The British Coastal Trade, 1870- 1930
- Chapter 15 The Shipping Depression of 1901 to 1911: The Experience of Freight Rates in the British Coastal Coal Trade
- Chapter 16 The Coastal Trade of Connah's Quay in the Early Twentieth Century: A Preliminary Investigation
- Chapter 17 The Cinderella of the Transport World: The Historiography of the British Coastal Trade
- Bibliography of Writings by John Armstrong
Summary
When launching a scholarly book, it is not unreasonable to ask why the academic community should have thrust upon it yet another fat volume. Surely there already is a sufficiency of tomes on maritime history? Quite obviously, the appearance of this publication suggests little sympathy with the latter view. It is not so much the absolute number of maritime histories as the topics they address. It is my contention that little has been written on the British coastal trade, especially on the crucial period of industrialization and urbanization between about 1750 and 1914. The coastal trade was called “the Cinderella trade” a few years ago because it was a neglected area of study despite the fact that it was the largest segment of nineteenth-century British maritime commerce. It remains a relatively underresearched area of maritime history, and not just in the UK: there is relatively little written on the cabotage of any country. There are, of course, some honourable exceptions, but these are relatively rare.
The aim of this volume is two-fold. First, it endeavours to show the current state of knowledge on the British coastal trade. In so doing it indicates those areas which have not been addressed or where there is an on-going debate which could benefit from fresh research. This is the second aim: to encourage new research. In this regard the volume offers a shopping list of possible research topics which would carry the subject forward. This is based upon my belief that there may be some benefits in having these articles together in one volume. Some, it must be admitted, first appeared in rather obscure journals and thus may be difficult to access, and others saw their initial light of day in collections which are not always easy to trace. Thus, bringing them together in a single volume may ease access. It may also show that there is a critical mass of research on the British coastal trade.
A further question which might fairly be put is why has this particular set of essays been chosen? Not all of my work has been included, even on the coastal trade. So what criteria have been used for inclusion or exclusion? Obviously, the economics of producing this volume and its structural integrity dictate a maximum, especially when printing and postal charges are taken into account.
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- Information
- The Vital SparkThe British Coastal Trade, 1700-1930, pp. vii - xPublisher: Liverpool University PressPrint publication year: 2017