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Safety at Sea during the Industrial Revolution

Author

Listed:
  • Kelly, Morgan

    (University College Dublin)

  • Gráda, Cormac Ó

    (University College)

  • Solar, Peter

    (VUB, Brussels)

Abstract

Shipping was central to the rise of the Atlantic economies, but an extremely hazardous activity: in the 1780s, roughly five per cent of British ships sailing in summer for the United States never returned. Against the widespread belief that shipping technology was stagnant before iron steamships, in this paper we demonstrate that between the 1780s and 1820s, a safety revolution occurred that saw shipping losses and insurance rates on oceanic routes almost halved thanks to steady improvements in shipbuilding and navigation. Iron reinforcing led to stronger vessels while navigation improved, not through chronometers which remained too expensive and unreliable for general use, but through radically improved charts, accessible manuals of basic navigational techniques, and improved shore-based navigational aids.

Suggested Citation

  • Kelly, Morgan & Gráda, Cormac Ó & Solar, Peter, 2019. "Safety at Sea during the Industrial Revolution," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 439, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    • Handle: RePEc:cge:wacage:439
    as

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    File URL: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/centres/cage/manage/publications/439-2019_o_grada.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    Cited by:

    1. Cormac Ó Gráda, 2019. "Economic History: «An Isthmus Joining Two Great Continents»?," Rivista di storia economica, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 1, pages 81-120.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    shipping; insurance; Industrial Revolution JEL Classification: N; N73; G22;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N73 - Economic History - - Economic History: Transport, International and Domestic Trade, Energy, and Other Services - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • G22 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Insurance; Insurance Companies; Actuarial Studies

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