Maritime Studies - reviews & further information

British Privateering Enterprise in the Eighteenth Century

A modern view of British privateering in the wars between 1702 and 1783, which assesses the activity as an economic enterprise and considers its military significance. Attention is focused on the legal framework of commerce raiding, its business character and regional distribution, prizes and profitability, and the rivalry which often governed the privateers' relations with the Royal Navy. The work, based on Admiralty and other primary records, offers a fresh analysis of this aspect of British maritime endeavour in the eighteenth century.

"...an excellently researched and written guide to eighteenth-century British privateering which sets new standards for academic achievement."
The American Neptune

"The excellence of this book lies in the research that has gone into it, its orderly stucture and its readability. Most of all it opens the way for even more detailed work to be undertaken at national, regional and local levels. We are indeed deeply indebted to Dave Starkey."
The Northern Mariner

"A first class work of original scholarship and a readable account of a dramatic chapter in nautical history."
Lloyd's List

British Shipbuilding and the State Since 1918: A Political Economy of Decline  

"A fascinating analysis of the decline of the industry . . . The book is packed with facts and figures, and the authors are to be congratulated on their work, which is a must read for anyone who has been associated with this once great industry."
Shipping – Today and Yesterday, Oct 2002

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.   

• Analysis based on records from employers associations, individual shipbuilding yards, central Government, technical societies and the trade press

• The first national study of the subject

• A case study in the politics of British industrial decline

Market: Economic, political, maritime historians.  Undergraduate and postgraduate students taking courses in maritime, political and economic history.  Those involved with the shipping and shipbuilding industries.  General readers with an interest in the subject.

Authors: Lewis Johnman is Principal Lecturer in History at the University of Westminster and Secretary of the British Commission for Maritime History; his others books include The Suez Crisis (with Anthony Gorst)(Routledge, 1997) and Down the River: Voices from Clydeside Shipbuilding (Argyll, 2001).  Hugh Murphy is Senior Caird Research Fellow at the National Maritime Museum and a Researcher at the Centre for Business History in Scotland at the University of Glasgow.

CONTENTS 

Introduction                                                                                                                                  
1          Sea Change: the Impact of the Great War and Boom to Bust in the 1920s                          2          The Weight of History: The 1930s                                                                                       3          The Challenge of War                                                                                                         4          The Missed Opportunity                                                                                                      5          Things Begin to Slide
6          Death by Inquiry: Geddes and Jockeying for Position                                                           7          Things Fall Apart 8          Privatised Unto Death                                                                                                         Epilogue                                                                                                                                        Bibliography                                                                                                                                 

Coastal and River Trade in Pre-Industrial England: Bristol and its Region, 1680-1730

"A well organized, fully documented and highly informative monograph."
Northern History, XXXIX

"From time to time certain books emerge that quickly establish themselves as basic works of reference and become benchmarks by which other studies are subsequently judged. Hussey has written such a book. It is a solid achievement of synthesis and clarity and represents the leading edge of modern historical scholarship. Moreover, it demonstrates the enormous value of regional studies to our understanding of the economic history of transport and maritime commerce in the pre-industrial age."
International Journal of Maritime History, 2002

"Hussey has certainly combined historical scholarship with the computational skills appropriate to the work of a modern historian."
The Local Historian, Vol. 32, No. 2, May 2002

"A most worthwhile contribution to maritime history and our knowledge of trade in this rather under-researched area."
Society for Nautical Research Newsletter

"Produced to the customary high standards of the University of Exeter Press, with a full bibliography, this is a well-written, important and welcome contribution to our understanding of coastal shipping and trade."
South West Soundings, Vol. 51

This book provides full case studies and fresh, critical analysis of the principal voyage patterns, commodities, traders and shipping of Bristol and its region in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the widely acknowledged ‘Golden Age’ of the port. 

 Making use of data derived from port books, Dr Hussey argues that the extensive coastal and river network that served Bristol provided a vital link in the organisation of the pre-industrial economy of the city and its domestic hinterland—south-west England, the central and west Midland counties, the Welsh Borderlands and south and south-west Wales.

• Covers Bristol and the ports of the Bristol Channel and Severn Valley, Somerset, North Devon, Cornwall, central and west Midlands, Welsh Borderlands, south Wales

• First book-length study to come from a nationally-funded major project to computerise the Coastal and Inland Port Books

• Of interest to students and scholars of urban, economic, social and maritime history
  

 Market: Students and scholars of urban history, economic and social history, port books and maritime history.  Regional historians interested in the Severn Valley, South-West England, the Midlands and South Wales.  Academic libraries.  Maritime and general libraries and museums in the Bristol region, South-West England and South Wales.   

Author:  David Hussey is Senior Lecturer in History/History and Computing and Director of the Port Books Programme at the University of Wolverhampton.

CONTENTS

Introduction
Chapter 1:            Bristol, coastal trade and the Bristol Channel region
Chapter 2:            Voyages and connections in the Bristol Channel
Chapter 3:            Cargoes, consignments and commodities: the regional trade in goods
Chapter 4:            The organisation of trade: owners, operators, merchants and boats 
Chapter 5:            The coastal trade in operation 
Conclusion
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
Appendix 3
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Cockburn and the British Navy in Transition

"This well-researched and carefully written biography will be of particular interest to specialists in the 19th-century Royal Navy, but its examination of the impact of national politics on naval administration and individual reputations gives it wider appeal."
Naval History (Dec 98)

" . . thorough, scholarly and closely based on the documents . . . This is very much an official Life, for not much survives to illuminate the private man, and he seems, perhaps unavoidably, somewhat colourless-but it is nevertheless a life full of interest and importance, not only for the "British Navy in transition", but for the political and social life of the era."
Times Literary Supplement, 26 June 1998

Sir George Cockburn was the most influential serving officer in the politics of the British navy in the nineteenth century. He came to public notice as the man who burned the White House, following his part in the British attack on Washington in 1814. He also escorted Napoleon to St Helena after Waterloo. But his greatest impact was as the Admiralty Commissioner who presided over much of the transition of the British navy from sail to steam between 1818 and 1846.

This book examines the career of a formidable personality who maintained the interests and professionalism of the British navy through one of the most difficult periods of political and technological evolution it has yet faced.

• Provides a unique insight into the conduct of the British Admiralty
• Famous as the man who burned the White House
• Will appeal to both the specialist and general reader

Market: Historians of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, of the War of 1812, of Nelson and Napoleon, of British politics between 1815 and 1859. Undergraduate and graduate students of maritime and naval history. Maritime museums. Academic libraries. The general reader with an enthusiasm for naval history.

Author: Roger Morriss was a Curator at the National Maritime Museum, London until 1995. He is an Honorary Research Fellow in the University of Exeter Centre for Maritime Studies, and in the History Department, University College London.

Ebb Tide in the British Maritime Industries

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 the First World War, 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.

• First book to link the development of the three main British maritime industries during the twentieth century and their reactions to the opportunities presented by the offshore energy industry

• ‘This is a significant and original contribution to the field of maritime history.  There have been a welter of single industry studies and company histories—many of excellent quality—but there is no work which draws all of these elements together.  This is a serious, synthesised account of how and why Britain lost its position as the world’s leading maritime power.’  Dr Lewis Johnman, University of Westminster and co-author with Hugh Murphy of British Shipbuilding and the State Since 1918 (University of Exeter Press, 2002)

• ‘The book covers ground which lacks serious analytical discussion at this length.  Jamieson explores the reasons for Britain’s maritime collapse after 1918 . . . it should be welcomed by those still involved with the industries concerned, and in the governments which played such an important role in this decline after 1918—chiefly by doing nothing!’ Professor Gordon Jackson, University of Strathclyde 

Market: Maritime and economic historians. Informed general readers interested in maritime and British twentieth-century history.  Academic, specialist and general libraries with maritime collections. 

Author: Alan G. Jamieson is a freelance writer and researcher.  He was previously a Leverhulme Research Fellow in British Maritime History at the University of Exeter.  He has contributed to several books, including The New Maritime History of Devon (Conway Maritime, 1992) and is co-editor, with David J. Starkey, of Exploiting the Sea: Aspects of Britain’s Maritime Economy Since 1870 (UEP, 1998).

CONTENTS

Introduction

Vanishing Fleets: Shipping 1918-1990

Losing the Market: Shipbuilding 1918-1990

Breaking with the Past: Ports 1918-1990

Maritime Opportunity?: North Sea Oil and Gas 1964-1990

Conclusion

Exploiting the Sea

"The strength of these papers lies in their breadth. They are well written and researched pieces, and there will be few maritime historians who won’t find something new and interesting amongst these studies."
The Great Circle, Vol. 23, No. 2, 2001

"A fascinating history that contains many lessons for those currently involved in the maritime industries."
Asia Pacific Shipping, Aug 2001

"A fascinating history that contains many lessons for those currently involved in the maritime industries."
Work Boat World Magazine, July 2001 issue

‘A collection that considers a very wide range of the functional aspects of Britain’s relative and absolute maritime decline.’
International Journal of Maritime History

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.

Market: Students, teachers and scholars of the maritime and economic history of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Academic and general libraries. The general reader with an interest in maritime history.

Editors: David J. Starkey is Wilson Family Lecturer in Maritime History, University of Hull and one of the General Editors of Exeter Maritime Studies. Alan G. Jamieson is Leverhulme Research Fellow in British Maritime History in the Centre for Maritime Historical Studies, University of Exeter.

CONTENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS

Introduction: The Maritime Dimension of the British Economy, David J. Starkey (University of Hull)
Climax and Climacteric: The British Coastal Trade 1870-1930, John Armstrong (Thames Valley University)
Britain's Shipping Interests since 1930, Alan G. Jamieson (University of Exeter)
Dockyards and Dockyard Towns 1880-1939, Peter Hilditch (Cambridge)
Naval Procurement and the British Shipbuilding Industry 1945-64, Lewis Johnman and Anthony Gorst (University of Westminster)
Cornish Fish and Norwegian Ice, Tony Pawlyn (University of Exeter)
The Development of the British Distant-water Trawling Industry 1890-1939, Robb Robinson (Hull College)
Yachting and Aquatic Recreation 1890-1960, Janet Cusack (University of Exeter)
Twentieth-century Seaside Tourism Strategies, Nigel Morgan (University of West Glamorgan)
British Shipping and the British Economy since 1870: A Retrospective View, Sidney Pollard (University of Sheffield)

The Glorious First of June 1794: A Naval Battle and Its Aftermath

Published in co-operation with the National Maritime Museum  

"This book is the result of a conference devoted to one naval battle, and it is a model of its kind. The editors are of course old hands at this sort of thing. Michael Duffy, who as editor of the Mariners Mirror became friend and confidant to so many naval and maritime historians, was the editor of the proceedings from another ground breaking conference Parameters of British Naval Power, 1650-1850. Roger Morriss, one of those productive naval and military historians – a veritable North Atlantic triangle of scholarship – from Ian R. Christie’s graduate seminar in the 1960s at King’s College, London, is one of the foremost authorities on the Royal Navy during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. Both these fine historians teach at that relatively new and highly successful centre of naval history, Exeter University, in Devon, England . . . This is a thoroughly good read."
The Northern Mariner, 2002

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 eyewitnessses, some published for the first time

• Traces the impact of the battle on public imagination by discussing plays, print, paintings, artefacts and memorials

Market: Maritime historians.  Historians of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. Undergraduate and postgraduate students taking courses in naval history and the late eighteenth century.  Maritime museums.  Academic libraries.  General readers with an interest in naval history.

Editors: Michael Duffy is Head of History and Director of the Centre for Maritime Historical Studies at the University of Exeter and General Editor of Exeter Maritime Studies. He is the author of The Younger Pitt (Longman, 2000), and editor of Parameters of British Naval Power 1650-1850 (UEP, 1992) and The New Maritime History of Devon (Conway Maritime, 1992).  Roger Morriss was Head of Manuscripts at the National Maritime Museum until 1995, and now teaches, principally at the University of Exeter, and is currently General Editor of the Navy Records Society.  He is the author of Cockburn and the British Navy in Transition: Admiral Sir George Cockburn (UEP, 1997).

CONTENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS

Introduction: The Battle of the Glorious First of June 1794
Michael Duffy and Roger Morriss
The Prairial Battles: The French Viewpoint
André Delaporte
The Glorious First of June: The British Strategic Perspective
Christopher Ware
The Glorious First of June: The British View of the Actions of 28, 29 May and 1 June 1794
Roger Morriss
The Man Who Missed the Grain Convoy: Rear Admiral George Montagu and the Arrival and Vanstabel’s Convoy from America in 1794
Michael Duffy
The Convoy, the Grain and Their Influence on the French Revolution
Lawrence Evans
The Glorious First of June: A Battle of Art and Theatre
Peter van der Merwe
The Battle Sanctified: Some Memorials and Relics
Barbara Tomlinson

Man and the Maritime Environment

A cross-disciplinary set of essays which explore man's relationship with the maritime environment. They deal with the development of British and American marine science, including past events and future predictions; nineteenth century seafarers and their attitude to sea creatures; and the impact of rising seaside tourism on Devon's coastlines and coastal waters.

Manila Ransomed

'This a short book . . . but one that is nevertheless effective and the product of much scholarship, including archival research in both Britain and Spain.'
War in History, 1998 5 (2)

'Nicholas Tracy, making use of a large number of British and some Spanish documents, has in Manila Ransomed written what is probably the definitive account in English of the British capture and occupation of Manila during the Seven Years War. Manila Ransomed is a worthy addition to the Exeter Maritime Series.'
Mariner's Mirror, vol. 82 (1996)

In 1762, at the end of the Seven Years War, a small but technically proficient force of British Army regulars and East India Company soldiers, supported by the ships and men of the East Indies Squadron of the Royal Navy, sailed from Madras to capture Manila. Commanded by General William Draper and Vice-Admiral Samuel Cornish, they captured the greatest Spanish fortress in the western Pacific and attempted to establish a trade with China.

Readership: Scholars, students and enthusiasts of military and naval history.

NICHOLAS TRACY is Adjunct Professor at the University of New Brunswick. He has undertaken numerous studies for the Canadian Departments of National Defence and of External Affairs and his published work includes books and articles on British naval history, international affairs and strategic studies.

Parameters of British Naval Power

"The volume provides a model of how such a collection of essays should be organised and can be read with pleasure and profit both by students of the period and by modern naval strategists."
The Northern Mariner

"The editor has done well in assembling these stimulating and sometimes provocative essays on a common theme... The format is attractive and the references copious. It is much to be commended and sets a high standard for subsequent maritime studies to match."
Newsletter of South-West Maritime History Societies

"This book is certainly a welcome addition to the historiography of the Royal Navy."
Mariner's Mirror

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.

"This collection of essays reflects the breadth and ambition of naval history in Britain. It raises a series of questions about our perception of naval power and demands that future historians should avoid both the simple triumphalist assumptions of the past and the equally flawed revisionism of more recent times. British policy was necessarily built on naval power, and the stateman and admirals of the period were experienced and generally able enough to make to make the most effective use of the limited opportunities provided by this particular form of power. We will only understand the role of the navy in British history if it is studied in breadth, depth and context. This volume is an encouraging sign. The University of Exeter is to be complimented for supporting the modern revival of scholarly naval history; the editor and contributors for a volume of quality essays."
War in History

Pirates and Privateers

". . . adds greatly to the corpus of solid research."
The International History Review, June 1998

". . . as a quantity of new evidence, intriguingly presented, it is certainly a valuable piece of work."
The Great Circle, vol. 19, No. 2, 1997

"The book is a new and wide-ranging study showing how privateering and piracy played a central role in 18th and 19th century maritime and economic history. All the essays are exceptionally well supported with documentary references. Maps, illustrations, tabulated data and a sound index complete a most satisfying and scholarly study."
Lloyd's List, June 14, 1997

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.

Market: Students and scholars of maritime and economic history. Academic libraries. The general reader with an interest in the subject.

Editors: David J. Starkey is Wilson Family Lecturer in Maritime History, University of Hull and one of the General Editors of Exeter Maritime Studies. E.S. van Eyck van Heslinga is Director of Collections, Netherlands Maritime Museum, Amsterdam. J.A. de Moor is Associate Professor in History, University of Leiden.

CONTENTS

Government Measures against Piracy and Privateering in the Atlantic Area, 1750-1850 Robert C. Ritchie
Hydrarchy and Libertalia: The Utopian Dimensions of Atlantic Piracy in the Early Eighteenth Century Marcus Rediker
Living and Working Conditions in Chinese Pirate Communities 1750-1850 Dian Murray
Living and Working Conditions in Philippine Pirate Communities 1750-1850 Ghislaine Loyré
Piracy in the Eastern Seas, 1750-1850: Some Economic Implications J L Anderson
Mediterranean Privateering between the Treaties of Utrecht and Paris, 1715-1856: First Reflexions Gonçal Lopèz Nadal
A Restless Spirit: British Privateering Enterprise, 1739-1815 David J Starkey
Cruising in Colonial Waters: The Organisation of North American Privateering in the War of 1812 Faye Kert
Experience, Skill and Luck: French Privateering Expeditions, 1792-1815 Patrick Crowhurst
The Organization of a Privateering Expedition by the Middelburgse Commercie Compagnie, 1747-1748 Corrie Reinders Folmer-van Prooijen
The Risky Alternative: Dutch Privateering during the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War, 1780-1784 Jan van Zijverden
Profit and Neutrality: The Case of Ostend, 1781-1783 Jan Parmentier
Privateers, Piracy and Prosperity: Danish Shipping in War and Peace, 1750-1807 Ole Feldbaek
The Voyage of the Bornholm: Danish Convoy Service in the Caribbean, 1780-1781 Erik Goebel

Index

Power and Politics at the Seaside

"This book is carefully and well researched, making good use of local tourism reports and the press, and is especially strong in following the promotional literature of the Devon resorts . . . a useful reminder of the importance of the sea coast in the development of tourism in the last century. Those unfamiliar with the current issues in tourism studies will also find the book a good introduction to the field."
Mariner’s Mirror, Aug 2001

"To an unusual extent, this book shows awareness of the parallel literatures both of the social history of tourism and leisure, and of the mix of economics, anthropology, geography and cultural studies (including the new cultural geography) which provides the dominant influences on tourism studies. An important part of the authors’ agenda involves making tourism studies aware of the importance of history . . . But the ideas should also travel in the opposite direction, making historians more aware of the importance of tourism and the issues it raises. The themes Morgan and Pritchard choose to emphasize are of particular interest to urban historians . . . This is a well-constructed, original and sustained analysis which should interest a wide range of readerships across several disciplines . . . a very good book whose efforts to pull together disparate constituencies merit high praise."
Urban History, Vol. 28:3, 2001

Drawing on rich local, regional and national sources and bringing together approaches from history, sociology, geography and cultural studies, the book addresses the seaside holiday as an historical and sociological phenomenon. It locates seaside tourism within the wider leisure experience and suggests that the seaside manifests and reinforces the wider social, economic and political power relations which shape society.

• First book to examine the role of politics and power in seaside development
• Adopts an interdisciplinary approach
• Authors have extensive experience of tourism and leisure policy

"[The book] is particulary to be welcomed for opening up a number of twentieth century themes in tourism in an historically aware manner. Reading overall as a cultural and political analysis, it usefully complements and refreshes a field which will welcome this contribution to the debate."
International Journal of Maritime History, Vol. XII, No. 2, 2001

"The politics of tourism development is a neglected field and this book provides a detailed and, at times, painful analysis of important themes in this context which will be of value to readers without a specific interest in Devon as a location . . . The authors provide excellent illustrative archival material to support their analysis . . . their work is fascinating in its insights."
Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 28, No. 2

"The place of the British seaside in academic study is strengthening, and this study is a splendid addition, with some nice illustrations . . .  The focus on power and politics is central and of immense interest.  It is not unique to the Devon resorts, or indeed to seaside resorts in Britain, but parallels and echoes are to be found in the experience of any tourist destination."
Albion, Vol. 32, Issue 4, Winter 2000

Authors: Nigel Morgan is Principal Lecturer and Director of Graduate Studies in the School of Hospitality, Leisure and Tourism at the University of Wales Cardiff. He was previously Tourism Development Officer for Vale of Glamorgan Borough Council. Annette Pritchard is Senior Lecturer in the School of Hospitality, Leisure and Tourism at the University of Wales Cardiff. She was previously Senior Research Officer for the Wales Tourist Board and is editor of The Leisure Monitor. Morgan and Pritchard are co-authors of Tourism, Promotion and Power: creating images, creating identities (John Wiley & Sons, 1998).

CONTENTS

1. Introduction
2. Tourism, Power and the Historical Perspective
3. The British Seaside in the Twentieth Century
4. Resorts, Communities and Social Tone in Devon
5. Creating the Seaside Image
6. Planning Resort Entertainment
7. Power and Politics at the Seaside

Recreation and the Sea

"[This book] is nicely presented with clear crisp text, good diagrams and relevant photographs. It is also well priced and provides much food for thought and new ideas . . . For anyone interested in the history of tourism and recreation this book deserves to be read."
Progress in Tourism and Hospitality Research, Vol.4, No.2, 1998

'There is little with which to quibble in this fine collection.'
The Northern Mariner, Vol. VIII No. 2, April 1998

Leisure studies have become an increasingly important area of research within social history. In six original essays and an Introduction by established historians, RECREATION AND THE SEA focuses on the theme of the sea and leisure activities in England and Continental Europe.

• Will appeal to the general reader with an interest in leisure and yachting history
• Contains maps and illustrations

Editor: Stephen Fisher until his recent retirement was General Editor of Exeter Maritime Studies; he is now an Honorary Research Fellow in the Exeter Centre for Maritime Historical Studies.

CONTENTS

The Rise of the Devon Seaside Resorts, 1750-1900

"... this lucid and enjoyably written book, which is spiced throughout by the author's eye for the telling example and wittily pointed anecdote."
John K. Walton, Mariner's Mirror

"Travis has produced a valuable study relevant to both the history of leisure and maritime history in its widest sense."
The Northern Mariner

The first comprehensive study of the emergence of Devon's seaside resorts. Relating the development of these resorts to the wider processes of social and economic change, it explains why early tourists were drawn to the remote Devon coast and shows how fishing villages were transformed into fashionable watering places. Themes covered include bathing rituals and sea-water drinking, health cures and cholera epidemics, sophisticated amusements and improving recreations, paddle-steamers and excursion trains.

Shipping Movements in the Ports of the United Kingdom, 1871-1913

"This volume will without doubt be of great utility to researchers in maritime history both for the data it makes accessible and the introduction, which provides valuable background on the compilation of the Annual Statement and discusses problems of definition and usage ... The volume is handsomely and strongly bound and, crucial in a reference work of statistics, the tables are admirably clear and easily read. All in all, this is an important reference volume and working tool for all those engaged in the study of British shipping during the era when it was most dominant."
The Northern Mariner, Vol. X, No. 2 (April 2000)

‘This book provides an immense amount of data for historians wishing to analyse the UK’s trade and shipping.  While it is not uncommon to see national shipping data, it is rare to get detailed series for individual ports.  From Aberystwyth to Yarmouth, from Aberdeen to Wigtown, from Ballina to Youghal, historians will be able to use these series to analyse regional and local patterns of trade and shipping.’
The Great Circle, Vol 21, No. 2 1999

This book draws on the Annual Statements to provide a statistical profile of the extent and character of shipping movements in the coastal and foreign trade of the 130 or so Customs Ports of the UK. It is a valuable work of reference for those interested in maritime, economic and local history in the Victorian and Edwardian eras.

• The first statistical profile based on the Annual Statements of Navigation and Shipping
• Introduction analyses the way the Annual Statements were assembled
• Port-by-port breakdown offers an illuminating insight into trade and shipping activity in the UK

Market: Scholars of maritime, economic and local history. Maritime and local history enthusiasts. Maritime museums. Academic libraries.

Editors: David J. Starkey is Wilson Family Lecturer in Maritime History, University of Hull and co-editor with Michael Duffy of Exeter Maritime Studies. Richard Gorski is Philip Nicholas Memorial Lecturer in Maritime History, University of Hull. Sue Milward is Computing Development Officer, University of Exeter. Tony Pawlyn is Chairman, South West Maritime History Society.

Trawling: The Rise and Fall of the British Trawl Fishery

"Trawling makes a particularly strong mark simply in the way it conveys to the reader the everyday working lives of British trawl fishermen. We also gain valuable insight into the maritime trades that supported trawling. The objective, yet humanly transecendent, tone with which Robinson evokes the rigours and danger of trawling in ever more distant waters has seldom been matched by maritime historians dealing with this labour issue. There is a level of ethnographic authority in Robinson's narrative (possibly due to his family's longtime involvement in the industry) that soundly situates the reader in the trawlerman's distinct culture, from the benefits that accrued to being affiliated with a succesful skipper to the struggles to achieve unionization among commercial fishing's rank-and-file.

"One can feel the rhythms of the fisherman's community in Robinson's commentary - time spent not only at sea, but in the home, in the pub, and on the docks. Indeed, Trawling is one of the few treatments of this maritime industry that acknowledges the significant role women played in a setting where men were frequently gone. Trawling further contributes to fisheries history by discussing the unique role trawlermen played as small-boat handlers in the Trawler Section of Royal Naval Reserve during World War I; the Royal Naval Patrol Section during World War II; and as ever-present lifesavers during peacetime. As can be inferred from Robinson's title, trawling's symbolism and tangible effect will resonate economically and environmentally for years to come. To this end, Trawling is commendable for its methodological, interpretive, and substantive contributions to the international community of maritime historians."
International Journal of Maritime History 1999

"This is not the final statement on the history of trawling but it is the most valuable contribution to the literature so far. It should be read by everyone who claims a say in fisheries policy matters and also as a case study of the rise and fall of a major industry under the special infliences of a common-property resource, governmental management and international law."
The Northern Mariner, July 1997

'Robinson's treatment is sufficiently academic to satisfy the specialist but also an absorbing read for the layman.' The Maritime Yearbook

'Of all the most important industries and occupations, historians have paid least attention to fishing. Robb Robinson's book is likely to change this. It is an excellent pioneering study and opens up a vast field of new research opportunities.'
Mariner's Mirror, vol. 83 (1997)

This book is the first comprehensive study of trawling in Britain.

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 faciliated 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 perfomance 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.

Readership: Students of economic and social history, both national and local; maritime historians in general. General readers interested in life and labour at sea.

ROBB ROBINSON is Curriculum and Staff Development Officer at Hull College. He has published widely on the subject of the fishing industry, and comes from a family heavily involved with maritime commerce.

Trawling - The Paperback

'Of all the most important industries and occupations, historians have paid least attention to fishing. Robb Robinson's book is likely to change this. It is an excellent pioneering study and opens up a vast field of new research opportunities.'
Mariner's Mirror, vol. 83 (1997)

"This book provides a most enjoyable read that is also a classic in terms of both economic and social history. Anyone interested in the fishing industry anywhere, and in economic or general history, would be well advised to buy a copy."
Fishing Boat World

" . . . a highly readable, well-researched and detailed account . . . Written by Robb Robinson, a member of a Hull trawling family, it is heavy on fact, yet easily read, a welcome and authoritative addition to the wealth of published material on the fishing industry."
Grimsby Evening Telegraph

" . . . the most valuable contribution to the literature so far. It should be read by everyone who claims a say in fisheries policy matters and also as a case study of the rise and fall of a major industry under the special influences of a common- property resource, governmental management and international law."
The Northern Mariner

Market: Maritime, social and cultural historians. The general reader. Academic and general libraries. Conservationists.

Author: Robb Robinson was born into a Hull seafaring family and has written extensively on the fishing industry for a variety of national and international publications. He is a member of staff at Hull College.

Chapter 1 The Pre-Trawling Era
Chapter 2 The Pioneers
Chapter 3 Railways and Markets
Chapter 4 Opening up the North Sea
Chapter 5 Free Trade and Indentured Labour
Chapter 6 Fishermen and Fleeting
Chapter 7 The Coming of the Steam Trawler
Chapter 8 Beyond the North Sea
Chapter 9 Steam and Storm
Chapter 10 The Great War
Chapter 11 Distant-Water Dominance
Chapter 12 Inter-War Life and Labour
Chapter 13 The Second World War
Chapter 14 The Cost of Trawling
Chapter 15 Freezers and Factory Fleets
Chapter 16 Cod Wars and Common Fishery Policies: The Beginning of the End
Epilogue

Notes, Bibliography, Index

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