The Use of Coal in Maritime Transport and Maritime Station Networks: Routes, Stores and Companies, Circa 1850–1930

When analysing a late nineteenth-century map, it is striking to observe the complex network of routes and coaling stations established across all oceans and continents. When steamships replaced the old sailing ships in maritime transport, fixed and permanent routes began to be established, and with the opening of the Suez Canal (1869) and subsequently of the Panama Canal (1914), the large shipping routes spanning the whole world were completed. There is little doubt that these routes played an important role in fostering trade during the first globalisation between the mid-nineteenth century and the early twentieth century. Indeed, maritime transport played an essential role in international trade once ships were able to use mineral coal as fuel (North, 1958; Ville, 1990, p. 1) (W.S. Jevons described it as “the mainspring of modern material civilisation” (Jevons, 1865, p. vii)). Similarly, the supply of coal was a key factor in the economy of countries with access to the sea until it was gradually replaced by oil. In the same way, companies that controlled the distribution of coal played a decisive role during the colonial expansion (Miège, 1975, p. 5).