Manning Britain’s merchant fleet: West African sailors Here sailors known as ‘donkeymen’ and ‘firemen’ shifted coal and fed the furnaces needed to create steam, the ‘stokers’ stoked the furnaces and the ‘greasers’ greased the machinery to propel the ship. Sailors were now required to work in extremely high temperatures in the engine rooms (stokeholds) deep inside the ship. Third, the development of steam ships required sailors to have different skills, not traditional sailing skills. Steam power also made sailings faster, and thereby shortened distances, enabling ships to sail more often and with increased speed. It meant more sailings were made between Britain (from Liverpool) and West Africa, because ships no longer had to rely on prevailing winds and tides. By the 1860s and 1870s, steam had begun to replace sail on British merchant ships trading with West Africa. Second, technological advances saw the gradual development and use of steam-powered ships. Imported African materials included timber, palm oil (used in the manufacture of soap at Port Sunlight on the Wirral, and candles), coffee, cocoa (for chocolate), rubber, precious minerals like gold and diamonds, as well as other important cargoes used to manufacture British goods. Africa was a huge continent with valuable raw materials which were needed by European powers to fuel the development of their manufacturing industries. The period of British colonial rule in Africa saw powerful European nations like Britain, France, Germany and others in competition with one another to impose political and economic control in the region. This trade was based on the import of non-slave goods from West Africa to Britain, and the export to West Africa of British and European manufactured goods, like cloth and alcohol. ![]() First, the abolition of the slave trade in Britain in 1807 saw trading in slaves replaced by what was called ‘legitimate trade’ between Africa and Europe. In the nineteenth century three significant factors led to the growth of Britain’s merchant shipping industry. West African and white British sailors carried important cargoes from colonial West Africa to Liverpool between the 1880s and the 1950s. ![]() Technological advances in steam gave Britain an advantage in terms of world trade and made it a world leader in steamship technology in the nineteenth century. Britain’s trade with the rest of the world, including its Empire, relied on merchant ships to transport goods and people. The emergence of Britain’s merchant shipping industryĪs an island, Britain relied on maritime activity to maintain its economic and political power.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |