Trading in War: London's Maritime World in the Age of Cook and Nelson

by Margarette Lincoln

A vivid account of the forgotten citizens of maritime London who sustained Britain during the Revolutionary Wars

In the half-century before the Battle of Trafalgar the port of London became the commercial nexus of a global empire and launch pad of Britain’s military campaigns in North America and Napoleonic Europe. The unruly riverside parishes east of the Tower seethed with life, a crowded, cosmopolitan, and incendiary mix of sailors, soldiers, traders, and the network of ordinary citizens that served them. Harnessing little-known archival and archaeological sources, Lincoln recovers a forgotten maritime world. Her gripping narrative highlights the pervasive impact of war, which brought violence, smuggling, pilfering from ships on the river, and a susceptibility to subversive political ideas. It also commemorates the working maritime shipwrights and those who built London’s first docks, wives who coped while husbands were at sea, and early trade unions. This meticulously researched work reveals the lives of ordinary Londoners behind the unstoppable rise of Britain’s sea power and its eventual defeat of Napoleon.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, British Literature, 18th Century, London, 19th Century

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2018

About the author

Margarette Lincoln was director of research and collections and, from 2001, deputy director of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. She is now a visiting fellow at Goldsmiths, University of London.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Port of London has always been significant, but in the fifty or so years before the Battle of Trafalgar, it grew and grew in importance becoming the commercial hub of what was rapidly becoming a global empire. The docks were east of the Tower of London and centred in the Parishes of Rotherhithe, Deptford, Greenwich and Wapping. Other parishes around supplied materials and people into the riverside shipwrights and victualler that kept the vast machine that was the Navy, fed.

On top of all the industry, there was a seething mass of humanity, dockers, sailors, shipwrights, traders, cooks, crooks and Navy wives who lived in the area. This place was changing rapidly as it expanded to meet the demands of the crown. The dynamics though meant that it was a place that brought in people who had a different view on the rule of law. Not only were there criminals and thieves but with a revolution in the air over the channel in France, then there was an undercurrent of subversion and open challenges to the authority of the monarch.

It is a vivid story of life in the London docks. Just some of the details that Lincoln has uncovered in the excellent social history are quite staggering. For example, bakers made 6500kg of biscuits a day to keep the navy supplied, a constant supply of livestock that was being slaughtered for food for the ships. Women who took over from their late husbands and continued to supply the navy for years after. Most campaigns could not have been undertaken without the tonnes of material that flowed into the docks and headed out onto the world’s oceans and as the area became more important more businesses appeared to ensure that they could become suppliers to the docks and shipbuilders. There were chemical factories producing sulphuric acid in huge vats, as well as a never-ending stream of felled trees to build the ships being launched fairly frequently.

If you have any interest in the history of London, maritime events or social history then I can highly recommend this. This is crammed with detail, the narrative takes you from musings on the political changes of the time to personal stories of the people that lived, worked, sailed from the port right up to global events that affected the ebb and flow of life in the area. I liked the way that the chapters are split into broad themes. Lincoln writes with clarity, ensuring that this really complex story of London does not read like an academic text.

[Irwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trading in War: London’s Maritime World in the Age of Cook and Nelson
By Margarette Lincoln
Yale University, 2018, ISBN 978-0-300-22748-2, US $35.00 / £27.00

Trading in War begins with a walking tour through Deptford, Wapping, Shadwell, and other mid-eighteenth-century London districts situated along the Thames River. The pubs and ale-houses people frequented, the churches where they worshipped, and the types of housing where they lived are described in great detail. So, too, are the crowds of ships on the river and the various businesses concerned with building, repairing, and servicing those vessels.

Before the American colonies revolted, the East India Company utilized most of the warehouses and vendors aligned with the shipbuilding industry. Voyages of exploration, beginning with the first of Cook’s Pacific journeys in 1768, were all fitted out at Deptford Yard. Innovations and experimentation were ongoing in the effort to make ships last longer and improve sailors’ diet and health.

At the same time this quest for more scientific methods began to impact the shipwrights and other workers in the yards. These “reforms” meant more work for less pay and benefits, which were resisted by yard workers, and supported by their communities and radical politicians. Strikes and protests became frequent occurrences, especially during the wars with America and France when the shipwrights’ services were needed the most.

Efforts to recruit men as soldiers and sailors included capturing and forcing men into the Royal Navy. These often led to disturbances and even violent confrontations throughout the maritime districts. Sailors went into hiding during a “heavy press” and the river was clogged with fully-loaded ships that lacked crews to sail them.

Women and the poor were overburdened by the departure of these family breadwinners. Various social programs to assist these women were established and arrangements could be made for a sailor’s pay to be collected by a wife or mother. Still, these steps were often not enough since the funds were only available in London and pays were often late, so they went to workhouses or turned to crime to provide for their means. Expecting “crime” to have meant prostitution and pick pocketing, I was surprised to read of women involved in felonies. In 1776, “two women were caught red-handed in Golden Lane, Smithfield, stealing 300 lb of lead from some houses belonging to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital.”(106)

A woman named Mary Lacey dressed as a boy and ran away from home. A naval carpenter in Chatham took her on as his assistant, and she sailed with the fleet. After four years, “she left the navy and trained as a shipwright at Portsmouth dockyard, still dressed as a man.”(144)

Some women, despite laws to the contrary, took over an existing business on the deaths of their husbands. Ship chandler Michael Browne of Wapping died at his home in 1777. His widow immediately signaled her intention to run his business. She ran ads indicating she hoped for “the continuance and favors of all the friends and customers of her late husband.” (207)

Amazingly, in 1795, Frances Barnard took over the private shipyard her late husband had established in Deptford. She continued to be awarded contracts by the Navy Board and several merchants.

The history of shipping on the Thames always included problems with goods being smuggled ashore to avoid tariffs and thefts from cargoes still on ships, while being transported ashore, or from the warehouses where the goods were stored. Congestion on the river was another difficulty faced by the shippers and mercantile companies.

By the time of the war against the French Revolution, there was a push to build enclosed “wet docks” where ships could quickly be unloaded directly onto the docks instead of “lightered” into boats first. The dock complex would have many berths, freeing places on the river where the increasing number of vessels calling on London could anchor. Tariffs on goods were replaced by fees charged to the dock companies and recouped by berthing fees.

Each complex required large tracts of land that completely disrupted the affected communities. Local businesses were impacted by the decline of the population as housing and other structures were torn down where the docks would be built. Many “lightermen” who transported goods from ship to shore were no longer needed and cheaper labor could be used to unload ships at the docks. The West India Dock was opened in 1802 and others would follow in a constant upheaval of the maritime districts.

In presenting the information in this book, the author uses a variety of contemporary sources that are carefully indicated in the notes after the text. A wonderful sixteen-page inset of color paintings and maps illustrate the text. Many references and books for further reading are listed in the bibliography, which is followed by an extensive index.

My only criticism pertains to the main title. “Trading in War,” by itself, gives the impression that the effects on trade during the wars are covered. I had hoped to read about depredations by privateers, increases in insurance rates, and the need for ships to be convoyed for protection. If these three words were eliminated from the title, this omission would not mislead the reader. At the same time, the book jacket clearly indicates what the subject matter actually is and only those of us who often skip this information are led astray.

This is an excellent portrayal of the districts along the Thames and the many ways they formed the backbone of London’s establishment and growth as a world port. Many topics are covered, but the use of various individuals’ stories makes it easy to understand and remember them.

Anyone interested in a glimpse of waterfront life during these war years, the development of London and the Port of London, and those wanting to know more about shipbuilding or the Royal Navy will all be happy they read this wonderful book.

[Kate]

Wolfson History Prize shortlist 2019