Coal, Steam and Ships

Description

Crosbie Smith explores the trials and tribulations of first-generation Victorian mail steamship lines, their passengers, proprietors and the public. Eyewitness accounts show in rich detail how these enterprises engineered their ships, constructed empire-wide systems of steam navigation and won or lost public confidence in the process. Controlling recalcitrant elements within and around steamship systems, however, presented constant challenges to company managers as they attempted to build trust and confidence. Managers thus wrestled to control shipbuilding and marine engine-making, coal consumption, quality and supply, shipboard discipline, religious readings, relations with the Admiralty and government, anxious proprietors, and the media - especially following a disaster or accident. Emphasizing interconnections between maritime history, the history of engineering and Victorian thought, Smith's innovative history of early ocean steamships reveals the fraught uncertainties of Victorian life on the seas.

Subjects

Other Editions

• Coal, Steam and Ships: Engineering, Enterprise and Empire on the Nineteenth-Century SeasHardcoverCambridge University Press2018-08-16
• Coal, Steam and ShipsUniversity of Cambridge ESOL Examinations2018-01-01
• Coal, Steam and ShipsCambridge University Press2018-01-01