A History of the British Merchant Navy: Omnibus edition

NEPTUNE’S TRIDENT

By the 19th century, Great Britain truly ruled the waves. But where did the journey to dominance began?

Starting in 1500, the narrative begins with emergence of the Tudor navy during the Elizabethan period when England defied the might of the Spanish Empire on the world stage.

It continues through to the Act of Union in 1707 when Great Britain was created and the point when the naval and mercantile sea-services parted company.

Providing an overview of the 18th century merchant navy and it analyses the conflicts during the Seven Years War and ends with an account of the slave trade until its abolition in 1807.


BRITANNIA’S REALM

The end of the seven years’ war marked the beginning of a new era for Britain’s merchant marine.

New markets opened in the Americas, in India and in China.

But it was not long before British maritime dominance would undergo its greatest challenges.

The American War of Independence created a new enemy who had unprecedented knowledge of British trade routes.

In 'Britannia’s Realm', he has demonstrated how it was often British state power that followed trade rather than the reverse.


MASTERS UNDER GOD

1815, Napoleon is smashed on the soils of Belgium, and for a century, the British Navy and Mercantile Marine rule the waves.

Europe is entering the age of enlightenment, and the once strong trade ties amongst the British Empire begin to strain.
The East India Company loses its monopoly on India and enters a trade war with China.

Peace-time brings with it the fruits of conquest and Britain’s ‘savage wars of peace’ embroil Burma and South Africa.

The Crimean and Boer Wars broadcast Britain’s ability to convey its rule to distant theatres – while crushing rebellions in the West Indies and Sri Lanka.

And the United States is ensnared in bloody Civil War giving Britain an unrivalled hold on the Atlantic and its colonies in the Americas.

Meanwhile, Britain’s industrial revolution ushers a new force which ‘defies nature by proceeding against wind, waves and tide’ without the aid of sail – the age of the steamship has arrived.


MORE DAYS MORE DOLLARS

By the end of the nineteenth century almost every British family had a member serving in merchant ships. All this was achieved against a ceaseless struggle against the malice of the German U-Boat which brought Britain close to surrender. Only the dogged courage of an almost defenceless merchant navy avoided this catastrophe.

FIDDLER’S GREEN

“The ‘whale’ that had defeated the ‘elephants’ of Napoleonic France, Imperial and Nazi Germany was to be killed from within.”

Plunged into depression after a brief, post-war boom, the ships and men of the British Merchant Navy found themselves called upon to repeat their sacrifice to the menace of German hostility within twenty years of the end of the 'war to end all wars'.

For over three years, until the Royal Navy bettered the German U-Boat, the Merchant Navy maintained the supply of food, raw materials and the sinews of war against appalling odds until victory ushered in a new age of peace and prosperity.

It was not to last for long.

Within a generation the Merchant Navy had all but vanished, its companies wound up, its men and women cast aside, its loss to the nation yet to be appreciated in one of the quietest yet most fundamental changes to affect this country at the end of the millennium.

‘Richard Woodman reminds us of the importance of merchant ships and our debts to the seafarers – men and women – who manned them.’ - HRH Princess Anne
‘If Neptune’s Trident sets the standard for what is to follow - we can at least rest assured that there is a series that truly does justice to our proud merchant maritime past’ Nautilus UK Telegraph
‘Richard Woodman tells many a good tale in this first v