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Abstract
For more than a century and a half, apprenticeship was of fundamental importance to the recruitment and training of British seafarers. From the introduction of compulsory apprenticeship in 1703, through the removal of compulsion in 1850 and up to the outbreak of the First World War, tens of thousands of boys and young men served apprenticeships on British ships, making up a substantial proportion of the maritime labour force. Apprenticeship in the merchant shipping industry has received little attention and the whole question of maritime training remains under-researched. This article opens by revisiting the debates of the 1840s over the Navigation Laws and argues that shipowners’ attitudes to apprenticeship were ambivalent. It provides a survey of the decline and evolution of apprenticeship in the six decades following the repeal of the Navigation Laws, highlighting the unevenness of its decline and the existence of countervailing factors in some sectors. Finally, it examines the widespread concerns over the quality and skill of British seafarers and the impact of apprenticeship on recruitment to the Royal Navy.
Notes
1 The author would like to thank the anonymous peer reviewers for their useful comments.
2 Dunlop, English Apprenticeship and Child Labour, 50.
3 Humphries, ‘English Apprenticeship’, 73.
4 Horn, ‘Pauper Apprenticeship’; Rule, ‘The Smacksmen of the North Sea’; Wilcox, ‘Role of Apprenticed Labour’; Wilcox, ‘Apprenticed Labour in the English Fishing Industry’.
5 See, for example, Jones, The Cape Horn Breed; Bisset Sail Ho!; Hayes, Hull Down; Whitfield, Fifty Thrilling Years at Sea.
6 Thomas, The Right Kind of Boy.
7 Thomas, ‘The Old Poor Law and Maritime Apprenticeship’; Withall, ‘“And since that time has never been heard of . . .”’; Burton, ‘Apprenticeship’; Burton, ‘“A Man Cannot Make a Sailor without Education”’.
8 Kennerley, ‘Writing the History of Merchant Seafarer Education, Training and Welfare’.
9 Quoted in Lane, Apprenticeship in England, 241.
10 Davis, Rise of the English Shipping Industry, 118; Loades, ‘The English Maritime Community’, 9–12; Burwash, English Merchant Shipping 1460–1540, 6–70; Thomas, Right Kind of Boy, 31; An Act for the Increase of Seamen (2 & 3 Anne, c.6).
11 5 & 6 William IV, c. 19; Davies, Belief in the Sea, 41; Burton, ‘Apprenticeship Regulation’, 35.
12 7 & 8 Victoria c. 112.
13 Lindsay, Letters on the Navigation Laws, 43.
14 Select Committee of the House of Lords on the Policy and Operation of the Navigation Laws (BPP 1847, XX), qq 5,392–8.
15 S. C. Lords on Navigation Laws (1847), qq 6,497–8, 6,507.
16 S. C. Lords on Navigation Laws (1847), q. 2,000.
17 Brassey, The British Navy, 60.
18 S. C. Lords on Navigation Laws (1847), qq 4,555–7; 5,459; Select Committee on the state and condition of the Commercial Marine of the Country (BPP 1844, VIII), q. 1,833; Jones, ‘Community and Organization’, 35–66.
19 S. C. Lords on Navigation Laws (1847), q. 3,891.
20 S. C. on Commercial Marine (1844), q. 833.
21 S. C. Lords on Navigation Laws (1847), q. 5,459.
22 S. C. Lords on Navigation Laws (1847), qq 5,405, 6,503–4.
23 S. C. Lords on Navigation Laws (1847), q. 3,893.
24 Select Committee to inquire into the state of Merchant Shipping (BPP 1860, XIII), q. 2,614.
25 S. C. Lords on Navigation Laws (1847), q. 3,892.
26 S. C. on Commercial Marine (1844), q. 832.
27 S. C. on Merchant Shipping (1860), q. 2,601–2.
28 Select Committee of the House of Commons to inquire into the Policy and Operation of the Navigation Laws (BPP 1847, X), q. 5,045.
29 S. C. on Commercial Marine (1844), q. 502.
30 S. C. Commons on Navigation Laws (1847), qq 4,958, 4,993–4, 5,205.
31 S. C. Lords on Navigation Laws (1847), qq 7,521, 7,524.
32 S. C. Lords on Navigation Laws (1847), q. 8,365.
33 S. C. Lords on Navigation Laws (1847), qq 8,174, 8,210–1, 8,226.
34 S. C. Commons on Navigation Laws (1847), qq 4,586-7.
35 S. C. Lords on Navigation Laws (1847), q. 5,962.
36 Harle, The Total Repeal of the Navigation Laws, 13–15.
37 Burton, ‘Apprenticeship Regulation’, 32.
38 Palmer, ‘The British Shipping Industry’, 98.
39 Return of the Number of Apprentices Registered from 1835 to 1860 (BPP 1861, LVII).
40 Burton, ‘Counting Seafarers’, 305–20; Wilcox, ‘Apprenticed Labour in the English Fishing Industry’, 259.
41 Burton, ‘Apprenticeship Regulation’, 46.
42 Report of the Committee appointed by the Board of Trade to inquire into the Supply and Training of Boy Seamen for the Mercantile Marine (BPP 1907, LXXV), qq 7,058–61, 8,672–5, 8,862–70.
43 Royal Commission on Unseaworthy Ships: final report (BPP 1874, XXXIV), q. 15,177.
44 Committee of the Board of Trade to Inquire into Certain Questions affecting the Mercantile Marine (BPP 1903, LXII), q. 16,687–8.
45 See Wilcox, ‘Role of Apprenticed Labour’.
46 Jones, ‘Community and Organization’, 35–66.
47 Committee on Boy Seamen (1907), 1; Foulke, ‘Life in the Dying World of Sail’, 114–15; Graham, ‘The Ascendancy of the Sailing Ship’, 74–88.
48 R. C. Unseaworthy Ships (1873), q. 7,649.
49 Mitchell, British Historical Statistics, 421; Lubbock, The Last of the Windjammers, 116–17.
50 Board of Trade Committee to inquire into Manning of British Merchant Ships (BPP 1896, XL–XLI), qq 13,688–90.
51 Davis, Rise of the English Shipping Industry, 117–21.
52 See for example S. C. Lords on Navigation Laws (1847), qq 5,951–2; S. C. Commons on Navigation Laws (1847), q. 5,012.
53 Burton, ‘Apprenticeship Regulation’, 46.
54 See Kennerley, ‘Aspirant Navigator Training’, 41–76.
55 Report on Boy Seamen, Mins of Ev. (BPP 1907, LXXV), q. 1,235; Ritson, ‘With Ritson’s Fleet’, 140–2; Vyvyan, ‘Under Indentures’, 162–7.
56 Bullen, The Men of the Merchant Service, 224.
57 Weiburt, Deep Sea Sailors, 226.
58 S. C. Merchant Seamen Bill (1878), q. 2,312.
59 S. C. Merchant Seamen Bill (1878), qq 2,232–5, 2,243.
60 Devon Heritage Centre, DSR/EXE/10/2. Register of Apprentices Indentures, Port of Exeter, 1855–85.
61 The National Archives, Kew: BT 150/41–50. Board of Trade Registers of Apprentices.
62 Williams, ‘Quality, Skill and Supply’, 41–58.
63 Ryder and Graves, A Letter on the National Dangers, 4.
64 S. C. on Merchant Shipping (1860), q. 1,932.
65 Royal Commission on Unseaworthy Ships: Preliminary report (BPP 1873, 36), appendix XXXVII.
66 See for example ‘Octopus’, How Ships are Lost, and Why So Difficult to Man them with Seamen (London, 1875); Gilmore, A Naval Reserve of the Future.
67 Committee on Manning (1896), q. 5,598.
68 Committee on Mercantile Marine (1903), q. 58.
69 S. C. on Merchant Shipping (1860), appendices 4 and 10; R. C. Unseaworthy Ships (1873), appendix XIX.
70 R. C. Unseaworthy Ships (1873), q. 8,461; S. C. Merchant Seamen Bill (1878), q. 1,860.
71 R. C. Unseaworthy Ships (1874), q. 13,198–9.
72 Committee on Mercantile Marine (1903), q.16,725.
73 Crutchley, ‘National Methods’; Royal United Services Institution, Loss of Life, 50–1; Wilson, ‘Merchant Service’, 76.
74 R. C. Unseaworthy Ships (1873), q. 10,023.
75 See for example S. C. on Merchant Shipping (1860), qq. 814–5; Report on Supply of British Seamen, Number of Foreigners on British Merchant Ships and on Crimping (BPP 1886, LIX), 3–4.
76 Committee on Manning (1896), q. 15.
77 R. C. Unseaworthy Ships (1873), appendix XXXVII.
78 Lindsay, Manning the Royal Navy, 82.
79 R. C. Unseaworthy Ships (1874), qq 15,177–81.
80 R. C. Unseaworthy Ships (1874), q. 15,236.
81 R. C. Unseaworthy Ships (1873), qq 17,188, 17,155–8, 18,414–7 and appendix XXXVII.
82 Bullen, Men of the Merchant Service, 224–9.
83 Committee on Boy Seamen (1907), 5.
84 Committee on Mercantile Marine (1903), qq 20,736–7.
85 R. C. Unseaworthy Ships (1873), appendix XXXVII.
86 R. C. Unseaworthy Ships (1874), xiv; Committee on Mercantile Marine (1903), evidence of F. T. Bullen; Grey, Suggestions.
87 Hansard, HC Deb 30 July 1872, vol. 213, cc 118–53.
88 Williams, ‘Quality, Skill and Supply’, 290.
89 R. C. Unseaworthy Ships (1873), appendix XXXVII.
90 Committee on Boy Seamen (1907), q. 8,818.
91 Wilson, Stormy Voyage, 20–1; Committee on Mercantile Marine (1903), qq 5,378–9; Committee on Boy Seamen (1907), q. 11,166.
92 Committee on Boy Seamen (1907), q. 10,999.
93 Dixon, ‘Seamen and the Law’, 267; Committee on Boy Seamen (1907), 4.
94 Simon, ‘Master and Servant’, 192–8; Steinfeld, Contract, Coercion and Free Labor, 80–1.
95 Wilcox, ‘Role of Apprenticed Labour’, 184.
96 Report of the Sea Fishing Trade Committee on Relations between Owners, Masters and Men (BPP 1882, XVII), appendix 31.
97 Committee on Mercantile Marine (1903), q. 8,703 and appendix N.
98 Committee on Boy Seamen (1907), 6.
99 Committee on Boy Seamen (1907), appendix K; Committee on Mercantile Marine (1903), evidence of Cuthbert Laws.
100 Committee on Mercantile Marine (1903), qq 21,506–7; Committee on Boy Seamen (1907), 5.
101 Committee on Mercantile Marine (1903), qq 21,526; Saluppo, ‘Strikebreaking and Anti-Unionism’, 570–96.
102 Wilson, ‘Merchant Service’.
103 Wilson, ‘Merchant Service’, 76; Grey, Suggestions; Committee on Boy Seamen (1907), 4; HC Deb 30 July 1872, vol. 213, cc 118–53.
104 Hansard, HL Deb 05 July 1906, vol. 160, cc 163–72.
105 Committee on Boy Seamen (1907), evidence of John Keay; Committee on Manning (1896), 6; National Maritime Museum (hereafter NMM): MYS/6/2. The Navy League: Seventeenth Annual Report (1912). I am grateful to Laura Burkinshaw for this reference.
106 Committee on Mercantile Marine (1903), appendix M15.
107 Committee on Boy Seamen (1907), q.9,557, Committee on Mercantile Marine (1903), qq 2, 118–19.
108 Committee on Boy Seamen (1907), 2.
109 Hansard, HL Deb 12 February 1908, vol. 184, cc 7–12.
110 Aldcroft, ‘The Depression in British Shipping’, 14–23.
111 Committee on Boy Seamen (1907), 4–5.
112 Committee on Boy Seamen (1907), 1–2.
113 Hansard, HC Deb 23 March 1908, vol. 186, c. 1082.
114 Jones, British Merchant Shipping, 131.
115 NMM: MYS/6/2. The Navy League: Seventeenth Annual Report (1912).
116 Jones, British Merchant Shipping, 135.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Martin Wilcox
Martin Wilcox is lecturer in history at the University of Hull. His research encompasses various aspects of modern British maritime history, including the Royal Navy in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the fishing industry, maritime labour and the history of ports.