Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- “Introduction”
- “David Malcolm Williams: A Tribute from an Old Friend”
- “David M. Williams and the Writing of Modern Maritime History”
- Writings
- “Abolition and the Re-Deployment of the Slave Fleet, 1807-1811”
- “Liverpool Merchants and the Cotton Trade 1820-1850”
- “The Shipping of the North Atlantic Cotton Trade in the Mid- Nineteenth Century”
- “Merchanting in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century: The Liverpool Timber Trade”
- “James Silk Buckingham: Sailor, Explorer and Maritime Reformer”
- “State Regulation of Merchant Shipping 1839-1914: The Bulk Carrying Trades”
- “Customs Evasion, Colonial Preference and the British Tariff, 1829- 1842”
- “Bulk Passenger Freight Trades, 1750-1870”
- “Henry Mayhew and the British Seaman”
- “Mid-Victorian Attitudes to Seamen and Maritime Reform: The Society for Improving the Condition of Merchant Seamen, 1867”
- '“Advance Notes' and the Recruitment of Maritime Labour in Britain in the Nineteenth Century”
- “The Quality, Skill and Supply of Maritime Labour: Causes of Concern in Britain, 1850-1914”
- “David M. Williams: A Bibliography”
“The Quality, Skill and Supply of Maritime Labour: Causes of Concern in Britain, 1850-1914”
from Writings
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- “Introduction”
- “David Malcolm Williams: A Tribute from an Old Friend”
- “David M. Williams and the Writing of Modern Maritime History”
- Writings
- “Abolition and the Re-Deployment of the Slave Fleet, 1807-1811”
- “Liverpool Merchants and the Cotton Trade 1820-1850”
- “The Shipping of the North Atlantic Cotton Trade in the Mid- Nineteenth Century”
- “Merchanting in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century: The Liverpool Timber Trade”
- “James Silk Buckingham: Sailor, Explorer and Maritime Reformer”
- “State Regulation of Merchant Shipping 1839-1914: The Bulk Carrying Trades”
- “Customs Evasion, Colonial Preference and the British Tariff, 1829- 1842”
- “Bulk Passenger Freight Trades, 1750-1870”
- “Henry Mayhew and the British Seaman”
- “Mid-Victorian Attitudes to Seamen and Maritime Reform: The Society for Improving the Condition of Merchant Seamen, 1867”
- '“Advance Notes' and the Recruitment of Maritime Labour in Britain in the Nineteenth Century”
- “The Quality, Skill and Supply of Maritime Labour: Causes of Concern in Britain, 1850-1914”
- “David M. Williams: A Bibliography”
Summary
In a letter to the Times, Captain Robert Methven bemoaned in 1854 that “we have neither seamen or seamanship.” There could be no more succinct summary of both the issues and the prevailing opinion in the debate which was to obsess contemporaries for the next sixty years. From mid-century to the First World War, there was widespread concern over the quality, skill and supply of seamen in the British mercantile marine. Shipping interests - owners and masters - M.P.s and government officials all devoted much attention to the issue. So too did Royal Navy officers and parties interested in Imperial defence, for the merchant navy was seen as a source for recruitment and a wartime reserve.
The growth of concern was first visible in the late 1840s; thereafter the matter became a regular subject for discussion, investigation and the advocacy of remedial proposals. Because the issue was regarded as central to the operation and progress of British shipping, it featured in almost every official enquiry into the mercantile marine, but a list of those which addressed themselves particularly to the quality and supply of seamen illustrates the extent, regularity and high level of concern with what came to be known as the “manning question.” Commencing with a set of consular reports on seamen published in 1847-1848 (an exercise repeated in 1869-1870), government considered the matter again in two Commissions on manning the Royal Navy in 1852 and 1859. The Board of Trade reviewed labour in the mercantile marine in 1872 and produced a special report on the supply of British seamen in 1886. A Select Committee of 1878 examined the Merchant Seamen's Bill then before parliament. The Royal Commission on Unseaworthy Ships featured seamen in its reports of 1873 and 1874 as did the Select Committee on Saving Life at Sea of 1887. In 1894 the Royal Commission on Labour included seamen in its purview and Board of Trade Committees in 1896, 1903 and 1907, respectively, enquired into manning levels, the mercantile marine and the supply and training of boy seamen.
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- Merchants and MarinersSelected Maritime Writings Of David M. Williams, pp. 273 - 292Publisher: Liverpool University PressPrint publication year: 2000