Editorial

Abstract

A colleague once related to me his experience of the education system in the third quarter of the twentieth century. ‘One consistent element from early years to university,’ he maintained, ‘was chanting. My first memory of school is reciting as a class the times tables, with the nines being a particular favourite of mine – “one nine is nine, two nines are 18, three nines are 27” etc.’ ‘As we moved through the system,’ he continued, ‘we were obliged to learn Latin by endlessly repeating “amo, amas, amat . . . amamus, amatis, amant”. And then, in the 1960s, came university and a course in Economics provided by a Marxist lecturer who insisted that the group recite aloud 10 times every class: “the state intervenes in the interests of the capitalist class”.’ Although learning by rote is now largely out of favour, those who, like my colleague, acquired knowledge and understanding from such a mechanical educational device will be well prepared for the contents of this issue of the International Journal of Maritime History. Readers well versed in quantitative methods rooted in well-practised times tables will be equipped to appreciate Fernando Mouta’s statistical analysis of the character, volume and value of the slave trade with the Spanish Caribbean in the early seventeenth century. On the other hand, failure to grasp the essentials of Latin grammar delivered by chanting in school days long ago might render readers at a disadvantage when interpreting the meanings of habeas corpus, hostis humani generis, jus gentium, mare clausum, mare liberum and other concepts deployed in eighteenth-century piracy trials. Such tribunals, as Joseph Gibbs’ comprehensive analysis demonstrates, were generally brief and often culminated in severe sentences. Convened by the state to implement its laws, these hearings might be interpreted as an intervention in the workings of the maritime realm designed to favour a particular class or interest group, as per the university-level mantra of the 1960s. That contention is open to debate. Nevertheless, it is indisputable that states have long since played highly significant roles in sea-reliant business across the globe. This is evident throughout this issue of the IJMH, in which government regulation, national policies and state investment are discussed in articles relating to military defence, overseas migration, ocean pollution, exploration, ice-breaking, herring extraction, shipbuilding and port infrastructure in places as diverse as Tuscany, Australia, the North Atlantic, Hudson’s Bay, Sweden, Scotland, Croatia and Oman. Given the broad scope of this volume, there is something here for anyone interested in the maritime past, even those whose knowledge – though not necessarily their understanding – was developed through chanting at all levels of the educational system.