Pub Date : 2023-12-11DOI: 10.1177/08438714231220741
Ramona Negrón
{"title":"Book Review: Veracruz and the Caribbean in the Seventeenth Century by Joseph M. H. Clark","authors":"Ramona Negrón","doi":"10.1177/08438714231220741","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08438714231220741","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43870,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Maritime History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-12-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138978663","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-11DOI: 10.1177/08438714231220737
Katja Tikka
{"title":"Book Review: Connected Oceans: A Festschrift to Leos Müller by Lisa Hellman et al.","authors":"Katja Tikka","doi":"10.1177/08438714231220737","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08438714231220737","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43870,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Maritime History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-12-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138980044","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-11DOI: 10.1177/08438714231218569
C. Convertito
The islands of the West Indies are often considered the most dangerous places for eighteenth century British sailors. Contemporary sources maintain that the level of sickness and mortality in the West Indies crippled the Royal Navy's fleet to such an extent as to render it extremely ineffective during the American Revolutionary War. There can be no doubt that disease, accidents and naval action had an effect on the Royal Navy in the West Indies; however the true extent of the impairment has been grossly exaggerated. This paper seeks to examine the precise effects of disease and mortality on British sailors stationed in the West Indies during the American War of Independence.
{"title":"The health of Royal Navy sailors in the West Indies during the American War of Independence, 1776–1783","authors":"C. Convertito","doi":"10.1177/08438714231218569","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08438714231218569","url":null,"abstract":"The islands of the West Indies are often considered the most dangerous places for eighteenth century British sailors. Contemporary sources maintain that the level of sickness and mortality in the West Indies crippled the Royal Navy's fleet to such an extent as to render it extremely ineffective during the American Revolutionary War. There can be no doubt that disease, accidents and naval action had an effect on the Royal Navy in the West Indies; however the true extent of the impairment has been grossly exaggerated. This paper seeks to examine the precise effects of disease and mortality on British sailors stationed in the West Indies during the American War of Independence.","PeriodicalId":43870,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Maritime History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-12-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138981187","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-11DOI: 10.1177/08438714231220744
Syahrul Rahmat
{"title":"Book Review: The Maritime Silk Road: Global Connectivities, Regional Nodes, Localities by Franck Billé, Sanjyot Mehendale and James W. Lankton","authors":"Syahrul Rahmat","doi":"10.1177/08438714231220744","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08438714231220744","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43870,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Maritime History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-12-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138981144","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-10DOI: 10.1177/08438714231218524
R. E. Mewett
In the early eighteenth century, slow communications between the metropole and the margins of empire combined with fuzzy relationships among the various institutions of the composite imperial state to enable British naval officers to act with relative impunity. Facing little oversight and scant consequences for misbehavior, many captains took advantage of the entanglement of European empires in the Caribbean to pursue personal profit. They both protected local merchants engaged in illicit inter-imperial trade and themselves transported enslaved Africans across imperial lines. This article explores the extent of those activities and the intra- and inter-imperial conflicts they generated, emphasizing how naval officers’ behavior mirrored that of other public and quasi-public officials at the periphery. It also evaluates the conditions that allowed naval trading to persist despite its violation of longstanding laws and regulations, arguing that there was no powerful political stakeholder who clearly suffered by the naval officers’ actions.
{"title":"“It is ticklish meddling with the navy”: The British navy and Caribbean contraband trade, c. 1713–1750","authors":"R. E. Mewett","doi":"10.1177/08438714231218524","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08438714231218524","url":null,"abstract":"In the early eighteenth century, slow communications between the metropole and the margins of empire combined with fuzzy relationships among the various institutions of the composite imperial state to enable British naval officers to act with relative impunity. Facing little oversight and scant consequences for misbehavior, many captains took advantage of the entanglement of European empires in the Caribbean to pursue personal profit. They both protected local merchants engaged in illicit inter-imperial trade and themselves transported enslaved Africans across imperial lines. This article explores the extent of those activities and the intra- and inter-imperial conflicts they generated, emphasizing how naval officers’ behavior mirrored that of other public and quasi-public officials at the periphery. It also evaluates the conditions that allowed naval trading to persist despite its violation of longstanding laws and regulations, arguing that there was no powerful political stakeholder who clearly suffered by the naval officers’ actions.","PeriodicalId":43870,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Maritime History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-12-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138982828","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-07DOI: 10.1177/08438714231218556
SA Cavell
In 1808 the French Islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe represented the last threat to British colonial interests in the West Indies. Strategic concerns were not, however, the driving force behind British combined naval–military operations to capture them. Professional and financial gain were the primary motives for the officers in charge, Rear Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane and General Sir George Beckwith, as they debated fleet and troop dispositions for attacks on the islands. The chance to seize prizes, booty, and valuable appointments to colonial offices on captured territory played a large part in the formulation of plans, although changes to both the strategic situation in the region and the metropolitan–colonial relationship threatened their prospects. This article examines Cochrane and Beckwith's efforts to maintain autonomy in the face of stricter government oversight, sufficient to achieve their personal ambitions.
{"title":"Self-interest and high command rivalries in combined operations on Martinique and Guadeloupe, 1808–1811","authors":"SA Cavell","doi":"10.1177/08438714231218556","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08438714231218556","url":null,"abstract":"In 1808 the French Islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe represented the last threat to British colonial interests in the West Indies. Strategic concerns were not, however, the driving force behind British combined naval–military operations to capture them. Professional and financial gain were the primary motives for the officers in charge, Rear Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane and General Sir George Beckwith, as they debated fleet and troop dispositions for attacks on the islands. The chance to seize prizes, booty, and valuable appointments to colonial offices on captured territory played a large part in the formulation of plans, although changes to both the strategic situation in the region and the metropolitan–colonial relationship threatened their prospects. This article examines Cochrane and Beckwith's efforts to maintain autonomy in the face of stricter government oversight, sufficient to achieve their personal ambitions.","PeriodicalId":43870,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Maritime History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-12-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138590471","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-06DOI: 10.1177/08438714231218526
Evan Wilson
This essay introduces the forum by asking: what were the basic ‘ingredients’ of sugar in the eighteenth century? How did navies relate to each ingredient?
{"title":"Forum Introduction: Sugar and navies in the age of sail","authors":"Evan Wilson","doi":"10.1177/08438714231218526","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08438714231218526","url":null,"abstract":"This essay introduces the forum by asking: what were the basic ‘ingredients’ of sugar in the eighteenth century? How did navies relate to each ingredient?","PeriodicalId":43870,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Maritime History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-12-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138596186","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-04DOI: 10.1177/08438714231197545
Erica Mezzoli
This article aims to highlight the characteristics of women’s labour participation in fisheries in the communities of the maritime periphery of the city port of Trieste. In the period in question, Trieste’s Maritime District was a strip of shoreline that extended from Grado (present-day Italy) to Savudrija (now Croatia). Apart from a few relevant cases, it had hardly been touched by the capitalist system of production. In this context, fisheries sometimes represented a significant source of wealth and employment for the populations of the local maritime communities. The women involved in fisheries were mainly factory labourers, fishmongers and owners of fishing boats. Their marginality (or marginalities) can be understood as ‘structural’ and a ‘social role’, and was articulated on different levels. Nevertheless, it seems necessary to go beyond the mere recognition of their liminality and, more generally, the traditional binarism characterizing gender studies in maritime contexts.
{"title":"Fringers: Women in Fishery in Trieste’s Maritime District, 1885–1923","authors":"Erica Mezzoli","doi":"10.1177/08438714231197545","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08438714231197545","url":null,"abstract":"This article aims to highlight the characteristics of women’s labour participation in fisheries in the communities of the maritime periphery of the city port of Trieste. In the period in question, Trieste’s Maritime District was a strip of shoreline that extended from Grado (present-day Italy) to Savudrija (now Croatia). Apart from a few relevant cases, it had hardly been touched by the capitalist system of production. In this context, fisheries sometimes represented a significant source of wealth and employment for the populations of the local maritime communities. The women involved in fisheries were mainly factory labourers, fishmongers and owners of fishing boats. Their marginality (or marginalities) can be understood as ‘structural’ and a ‘social role’, and was articulated on different levels. Nevertheless, it seems necessary to go beyond the mere recognition of their liminality and, more generally, the traditional binarism characterizing gender studies in maritime contexts.","PeriodicalId":43870,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Maritime History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41511235","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-30DOI: 10.1177/08438714231197762
A. Sørensen
In this article, the author describes how the creation of the Danish maritime museums in 1915 and 2013 – both generously funded by maritime foundations and actors – was perceived by the shipping industry as initiatives that would help market the industry in the eyes of the public. He argues more generally that national maritime museums constitute focal points for disseminating narratives that legitimate maritime activities and establish these activities as symbols of national identities. It is suggested that maritime historians, curators and scholars reflect on the relationship between maritime industry actors and museum exhibition narratives, and consider the interests and capital that potentially underpin museums’ and curators’ decisions.
{"title":"Shipping legitimacy and identity: The Danish Maritime Museum, 1915 and 2013","authors":"A. Sørensen","doi":"10.1177/08438714231197762","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08438714231197762","url":null,"abstract":"In this article, the author describes how the creation of the Danish maritime museums in 1915 and 2013 – both generously funded by maritime foundations and actors – was perceived by the shipping industry as initiatives that would help market the industry in the eyes of the public. He argues more generally that national maritime museums constitute focal points for disseminating narratives that legitimate maritime activities and establish these activities as symbols of national identities. It is suggested that maritime historians, curators and scholars reflect on the relationship between maritime industry actors and museum exhibition narratives, and consider the interests and capital that potentially underpin museums’ and curators’ decisions.","PeriodicalId":43870,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Maritime History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-08-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42640420","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-29DOI: 10.1177/08438714231198614
Olivia L Thomas
Nineteenth century whaling voyages commonly lasted several years, as the vessels and crews would not return to their home port until the holds were full of whale oil. Sailors with wives and families at home would be separated from their loved ones until their job at sea was done. This extended separation led many whaling wives to join their husbands on board. On the musty, cramped ships that would be their homes for several years, some whaling wives brought their children along, some were pregnant when they boarded and some conceived at sea. Ideally, a pregnant whaling wife would be put ashore in the later stages of her pregnancy to avoid giving birth on board the dirty, pitching, male-dominated whaling ship, but such relief was not always possible. Nineteenth century childbirth was shifting from female-dominated midwifery to male-dominated medical obstetrics. This change was marked by new training in midwifery, the invention of new obstetric equipment, and sometimes, more positive obstetric outcomes. Even on land, at the best of times, childbirth was still a potentially dangerous and devastating experience. This paper compares typical childbirth conditions, strategies and outcomes of the nineteenth century with those faced by whaling wives at sea.
{"title":"Whaling and wailing: Childbirth at sea on nineteenth-century whaling voyages","authors":"Olivia L Thomas","doi":"10.1177/08438714231198614","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08438714231198614","url":null,"abstract":"Nineteenth century whaling voyages commonly lasted several years, as the vessels and crews would not return to their home port until the holds were full of whale oil. Sailors with wives and families at home would be separated from their loved ones until their job at sea was done. This extended separation led many whaling wives to join their husbands on board. On the musty, cramped ships that would be their homes for several years, some whaling wives brought their children along, some were pregnant when they boarded and some conceived at sea. Ideally, a pregnant whaling wife would be put ashore in the later stages of her pregnancy to avoid giving birth on board the dirty, pitching, male-dominated whaling ship, but such relief was not always possible. Nineteenth century childbirth was shifting from female-dominated midwifery to male-dominated medical obstetrics. This change was marked by new training in midwifery, the invention of new obstetric equipment, and sometimes, more positive obstetric outcomes. Even on land, at the best of times, childbirth was still a potentially dangerous and devastating experience. This paper compares typical childbirth conditions, strategies and outcomes of the nineteenth century with those faced by whaling wives at sea.","PeriodicalId":43870,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Maritime History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-08-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44556984","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}