The Development of Shipping 1800–1939

Abstract

As we have already seen, an industrial country needs an efficient system of transport to convey raw materials to the factories and finished products to market. In the nineteenth century Britain’s economy stimulated the development of roads, canals and railways for internal transport. The import and export of goods, however, depended on ships and, predictably, the period 1800–1939 saw the gradual improvement of shipbuilding and design. This trend involved a change from wood to iron and steel as the main shipbuilding material, the adoption of steamships instead of sailing ships, and the production of sophisticated marine engines.