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Durham E-Theses Durham E-Theses The emergence of examinations for British shipmasters and mates, 1830 - 1850 Vasey, Thomas Watson Cornforth How to cite: Vasey, Thomas Watson Cornforth (1980) The emergence of examinations for British shipmasters and mates, 1830 - 1850, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/7567/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 ABSTRACT The Emergence of Examinations for British Shipmasters and Mates, 1830 - 1850 Thomas Watson Cornforth Vasey This thesis is a study of the attempts made during the second quarter of the nineteenth century to establish licensing examinations for ships' officers in the British mercantile marine. The focus is upon analysing the various forces which obtained to determine the pattern and progress of the examination debate. This involved a thorough sifting and evaluation of evidence in support of the view that the emergence of a national system of compulsory examinations for British shipmasters and mates was a more complex process than has been hitherto argued. It considers in detail the events between 1830 - 1850 when increasing demands were made upon government to attend to the problem of British shipwrecks, a problem which was shown to be related to the incompetence of ships' officers. The thesis shows that the demands to establish standards of professional competency for shipmasters were rooted in precedents of examinations in the Royal Navy, the East India Company, foreign mercantile fleets, professional occupations ashore and in the universities. It analyses the constraints on government action such as the widespread dislike of state interference in private affairs, the intransigent opposition of many shipping interests, the chaotic and restrictive nature of shipping legislation and the lack of a clearly defined government agency competent to supervise effectively a system of shipmaster examinations. The study demonstrates that the emergence of compulsory examin• ations for masters and mates coincided with the establishment of the Board of Trade as the executive department of government responsible for shipping affairs. Consequently, the Board's activities on the examination front are delineated and analysed. Also charted is the rise and fall of the General Shipowners' Society, the core of opposition to examination reform. Additionally, shipmaster examin• ation reform is related to contemporary developments in the field of professional examinations. THE EMERGENCE OF EXAMINATIONS FOR BRITISH SHIPMASTERS AND MATES, 1830-1850 Thomas Watson Cornforth Vasey, M.Ed. (Graduate Society) A thesis presented to the School of Education of the University of Durham for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, January 1980 The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. 17 M/,/' 1984 11 SUMMARY OF CONTENTS Page Title Page Summary of Contents 11 A List of Illustrations iii A List of Figures iv A List of Tables v A List of Appendices vi A List of Brief References viii Acknowledgements x Introduction Chapter I Examinations and the Shipping Interest : a question of perception 13 Chapter II Shipwreck, Shipmaster Competency and Examinations : an emerging response 46 Chapter III The Examination Campaign and the Political Process : an exercise in containment 73 Chapter IV A Regional Thrust to a National System 104 Chapter V Conflict, Consensus and Compromise the 1843 Select Committee on Shipwreck and the case for Shipmaster Examinations 137 Chapter VI The Murray Circular : a case of covert government intervention? 165 Chapter VII Steering with the Tide 203 Chapter VIII Compulsory Shipmaster Examinations vision and reality 24 2 Chapter IX Conclusion 279 Appendices 318 Bibliography •\ 11 A LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Plate I The 'Thames' frontispiece East Indiaman, 1424 tons between pages Plate II George Frederick Young, M.P, 35 and 36 Plate III Notice of the Suspension of a Shipmaster 85 and 86 Plate IV James Silk Buckingham, M.P. 100 and 101 Plate V Capt. Robert Fitzroy, R.N. 118 and 119 Plate VI An Early Nineteenth Century Collier 168 and 169 Plate VII Publication of Successful Candidates under the Voluntary Examination Scheme 198 and 199 Plate VIII An Extract from the Examination's Book, Newcastle Trinity House 214 and 215 Plate IX Henry Labouchere, M.P. 256 and 257 Plate X A Return of Masters and Mates awarded Certificates of Competency by the Liverpool Board of Examiners 266 and 267 iv A LIST OF FIGURES Page Fig. I Certificates of Competency awarded 1845/6 : number, class and awarding authority 210 Fig. II Certificates of Competency awarded 1845-1848 : patterns of development 216 Fig, III Certificates of Competency awarded 1845-1848 : contribution by each Board 218 Fig. IV Certificates of Competency awarded 1845-1850 : patterns of development 312 Fig. V Certificates of Competency awarded 1845-1850 : contribution by each Board 313 Fig. VI Change in the percentage distribution of Certificates of Competency awarded between 1849 and 1850 314 V A LIST OF TABLES Page Table I U.K. Shipping,1830 size and structure 22 Table II Ships and Tonnage of the Commercial Marines of Europe and the United States, 1845/6 24 Table III Extent of Loss of Property and Lives at Sea, 1816-1818 and 1833-1835 75 Table IV 1843 Select Committee on Shipwrecks attendance of Members 140 Table V Extent and Cause of the Shipping Losses sustained by a Provincial Marine Insurance Company over a period of Three Years, the ships being primarily Foreign-going 144 Table VI Analysis of Consular Responses to the Murray Circular - Total Number of returns 55 174 Table VII Certificates of Competency awarded 1845/6; number, class and awarding authority 209 Table VIII Certificates of Competency awarded 1845-1848 : numbers and class 215 Table IX Certificates of Competency awarded 1845-1848 : numbers, class and awarding authority 217 Table X Total number of Certificates of Competency awarded 1845-1850; number, class and awarding authority 311 A LIST OF APPENDICES Page Appendix I Dramatis Personae 318 Appendix II Presidents and Vice-Presidents of the Board of Trade, 182 3-185 2 321 Appendix III Chief Permanent Officers of the Board of Trade, 1825-1865 322 Appendix IV Chairmen of the General Shipowners' Society, 1833-1852 323 Appendix V Extract from the Regulations for the Appointment of Commanders and Officers to the East India Company's Own Ships, 18 Mar. 1818 324 Appendix VI General Shipowners' Society membership regulations 326 Appendix VII A comparative statement of operational profitability between a British and a Prussian ship engaged on a three month voyage from Memel to Cork carrying identical cargoes, each ship being similarly insured 328 Appendix VIII Regulations obtaining in the French mercantile marine relating to the appointment of Shipmasters 329 Appendix IX Suggestions for constituting a Marine Board, by Mr, George Coleman 332 Appendix X Resolutions passed by a Sub-Committee, deputed by the Committees of the South Shields Mutual Insurance Associations, concerning the establishment of a Marine Board, 1837 337 Appendix XI Competencies required from officers of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company for appointment and promotion Appendix XII Copy of a letter from the Admiralty to Trinity House, London, 22 March 1844, relating to the examination of Masters and Mates in the British mercantile marine Appendix XIII Copy of a paper by the Head of the Hamburgh Navigation School on the examination of Masters and Mates Appendix XIV Abstract from a Return to an Order of the House of Commons, dated 13 March 1850 regarding the number and classes of certificates of competency awarded since the inception of the voluntary scheme of examinations for Masters and Mates & etc. Appendix XV Notice of Examinations of Masters and Mates, established in pursuance of The Mercantile Marine Act, 1850 vin A LIST OF BRIEF REFERENCES The place of publication is London unless otherwise stated Add.MSS. British Museum : Additional Manuscripts ADM. Public Record Office : Admiralty Papers Brown Lucy Brown, The Board of Trade and the Free-Trade Movement 1830-42, Oxford : Oxford Univ.Press, 1958 B. T. Public Record Office ,: Board of Trade Papers C. J. House of Common's Journals: Vols. LXXXV-CVIII, 1830-1852, primarily F.O. Public Record Office : Foreign Office Papers Hansard Hansard's Parliamentary Debates : Third Series; Vols. I-CXXII, 1830-1852, primarily I.O.R. Mar. India Office Library : East India Company's Miscellaneous Maritime Records Lindsay William S. Lindsay, History of Merchant Shipping and Ancient Commerce, 4 Vols, Sampson Low, Marston, Low, and Searle, 1874-6 Lubenow William C. Lubenow, The Politics of Government Growth. Early Victorian attitudes toward state intervention, 1833-1848, Newton Abbot : David & Charles, 1971 N.M. Nautical Magazine : 1832 - Prouty Roger Prouty, The Transformation of the Board of Trade 1830-1855. A study of administrative reorganisation in the heyday of laissez faire, Heinemann, 1957 P.P. Parliamentary Papers P.R.O. Public Record Office Roberts David Roberts, The Victorian Origins of the British Welfare State, New Haven : Yale Univ. Press, 1960 S.C. (1833) Report from the Select Committee appointed to inquire into the present state of Manufactures, Commerce, and Shipping, in the United Kingdom, 1833 (690) VI S.C.
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