The evolution of English Shipping Capacity and Shipboard Communities from the early 15th Century to Drake's circumnavigation (1577)

16世纪的最后25年见证了很多事情：德雷克的环球航行(1577-158年)和西班牙无敌舰队(1588年)的失败。难怪这一次被视为英国作为一个海上强国发展的关键。在大众的想象中，也是在这个时候，皇家海军崛起为一支强大的力量，帮助创建了英国的贸易帝国，这是一种根植于历史纪律的看法。例如，历史学家J·劳顿教授在1880年10月写道：“王国的财富、安全和力量主要依赖于海军。”事后看来，很容易理解为什么19世纪的历史学家对皇家海军在英国成长为世界贸易强国的过程中所扮演的角色充满信心。当时，劳顿写道，皇家海军还沉浸在纳尔逊时代的光辉岁月中，英国军舰已经征服了中国和印度。有趣的是，劳顿没有提到英国商船队。在写到皇家海军作为一个机构已有300多年的历史，大部分海军和商业航运已经分离的时候，很容易理解为什么他忽视了商船队在英国崛起为全球强国中所起的作用。然而，值得考虑的是，在1588年，参与西班牙无敌舰队失败的大多数英国船只都是私人拥有的商船，由渴望战利品和家庭的水手驾驶。缺乏对英国商船舰队及其船员演变的研究令人震惊，因为尽管在文献中商船和水手的空间很小，但他们的工作生活不能完全与海军活动分开。英国君主依靠商船和航海来实现他们的军事和政治目的。在百年战争中取得著名胜利的英国军队主要是由英国商船运送到法国的。即使在都铎王朝统治下的皇家海军，商船仍然在海军行动中发挥着巨大的作用。今天，由于全球经济衰退，我们更加敏锐地意识到，商船通过向海外市场出口制成品创造财富，以及反过来进口西方所依赖的产品，在创造财富方面发挥着至关重要的作用。该项目所涵盖的时期显示了这一发展情况。在这里调查的时间范围开始时(1400年)，英国托运人倾向于短途和商业风险较低的沿海航程。在这个项目的时间框架结束时，德雷克已经开始了他的环球航行，沃尔特·罗利即将在罗阿诺克岛上安置英国的第一批殖民地定居者。为什么会取得这么大的成就？通过将提供船只数量数据的海军记录与记录海上贸易的海关账目和港口账簿相结合，并将其与船只考古证据相关联，该项目将显著增加关于是什么因素使英国崛起为全球海洋强国的持续辩论。它还将涵盖较长的时间段，从而揭示海洋发展的轨迹。这个项目的论点是，只有在英国从中世纪政体过渡到早期现代国家的过程中，通过调查英国海上能力的演变，并了解在其中工作的人的生活，才能充分认识她作为全球海上强国(包括海军和商业)的崛起。为了寻求了解英国商船队在这段时间内的演变，该项目有两个核心目标：1.通过对英国商船队在海上活动和野心的关键变化时期(公元1400-1577.2)进行全面的定量和定性评估，转变我们对英国海上能力演变的理解。在同一时期对船上社区进行人口普查，这也见证了社会的变化。

The last quarter of the sixteenth century witnessed much: Drake's circumnavigation (1577-8) and the defeat of the Spanish Armada (1588). No wonder this time is seen as pivotal in England's growth as a maritime power. In the popular imagination it is also the time when the Royal Navy emerged as a potent force that helped created Britain's trade empire, a perception embedded into the historical discipline. For example, in October 1880 Professor J. Laughton, historian, wrote that 'it is on the navy that the wealth, safety and strength of kingdom chiefly depend.' With hindsight it is easy to see why nineteenth century historians felt supremely confident of the Royal Navy's role in Britain's growth as a world trading power. At the time Laughton wrote the Royal Navy was still basking in the glory days of Nelson and British warships had subjugated China and India. Interestingly, and notably, Laughton made no reference to the English merchant fleet. Writing at a time when the Royal Navy as an institution was over three hundred years old, and for the most part naval and commercial shipping had become separated, it is easy to see why he overlooked the role the merchant fleet played in the rise of England as a global power. Yet, is worth considering that in 1588 most of the English ships involved in the defeat of the Spanish Armada were privately owned merchant ships manned by seamen eager for booty and fame.The lack of research on the evolution of England's merchant fleet, and the men who manned it, is staggering because while merchant ships and seamen are afforded little space in the literature their working lives cannot be separated wholly from naval activity. English monarchs relied on merchant seamen and shipping to achieve their martial and political aims. English armies that won famous victories during the Hundred Years War were largely carried to France in English merchant ships. Even when the Royal Navy existed under the Tudors merchant ships still played an enormous role in naval operations. Today because of the global recession we are more acutely aware of the vital role played by merchant shipping in wealth creation by exporting manufactured goods to overseas markets and, conversely, for the importation of products the West is reliant on. The period covered by this project charts this development. At the start of the time-frame under investigation here (1400) English shippers tended to favour short and less commercially risky coastal voyages. At the end of this project's time-frame Drake had begun his circumnavigation and Walter Raleigh was close to planting England's first colonial settlers on Roanoke Island. How was so much achieved? By combining naval records, which provide quantitative data on ships, with customs accounts and port books recording maritime trade, and correlating and connecting this with evidence from ship archaeology this project will add significantly to the continuing debate on what factors enabled England's rise as a global maritime power. It will also cover a long time period, thereby revealing the trajectory of maritime developments. It is the contention of this project that only by investigating the evolution of English maritime capacity, and understanding the lives of the men who worked within it, over the period of England's transition from a medieval polity to an early modern state can her rise as a global maritime power (both naval and commercial) be fully appreciated. In seeking to understand the evolution of the English merchant fleet over this time the project has two central aims:1. To transform our understanding of the evolution of English maritime capacity through a comprehensive quantitative and qualitative assessment of the English merchant fleet over a period of crucial change in seaborne activity and ambition, c.1400-c.1577.2. To undertake a prosopographical investigation of ship-board communities over this same period, which also witnessed social change.