Galani Katerina
University of Oxford
Type: Dissertations

British maritime presence in the Mediterranean at the end of the ‘long 18^th century’ has long suffered from neglect, as historians have merely assumed that the French and Napoleonic Wars disrupted trade and curtailed British shipping. This thesis challenges these assumptions by providing quantitative and qualitative evidence of the successful adaptation of British shipping to the precarious conditions in the Mediterranean. The study is based on a combination of underutilised British and Mediterranean archives to construct a multi-faceted picture of British activity by covering all sea routes across the Mediterranean and examining free traders alongside the members of the monopolistic Levant Company.

The analysis of the data provides a detail description of British activity, which grew despite the upheaval. A number of indicators corroborate this finding: the volume of traffic, the size of the fleet engaged in the Mediterranean and its deployment, all increased substantially during wartime. Rather than an impediment, war acted as a catalyst. Two main reasons for this are discussed. Firstly, the need of the Royal Navy to transport victuals, stores and troops created a new, lucrative shipping market for British shipowners. Secondly, the changes brought about by war had a dynamic effect on the organisation of shipping. In response to the conditions of wartime, the British adopted flexible business strategies to mitigate economic warfare and ensure their profitability, a process which had far reaching consequences paving the way for the modernization of shipping in the 19th century.