Maritime disasters have long captured the public attention; by contrast, disease and injury in merchant seamen have been neglected. This is true both in the maritime industry and among historians. While neglect by British governments, shipowners and by the seamen themselves has been the norm, there have been times when it has been expedient to take action. This has only succeeded where there is a degree of consensus among the different parties in the industry, while the actions taken have been dependent on input from those with expertise in health risks and their management.

This episodic pattern of action has had an effect on the information available to anyone preparing a historical account. There are periods when concern about particular topics leads to a detailed archival record, but long spells when the record is limited or absent. In particular there are no long-term records of patterns of injury, illness or death of the sort available from public health and from military and naval medicine that would enable comparisons to be made between the health of seamen and other groups. Thus this book uses those times and events which are recorded as a series of vignettes from which to build up a picture of maritime health and its developments in the hundred years from 1860.