The Secret of Smugglers Cove: Illicit trade networks in the maritime worlds of the long eighteenth century

我提出的研究是关于18世纪漫长的海上走私网络的性质、组成和功能。世界两端的走私者在多大程度上相互联系？走私者之间是如何传播商业、地理、政治和行动信息的？谁是推动和连接非法市场的关键角色？为了回答这些问题，我计划收集一个新的、大量的走私者及其社会和商业关系的数据集，并用它来分析非法贸易网络。我将使用专门构建的软件（如Gephi）和网络理论中开发的方法，将这种抽象分析与对档案资源的定性探索结合起来，揭示将国际走私经济联系在一起的隐藏联系和知识。我为我的博士研究提出的方法源于我在研究澳大利亚殖民地走私的荣誉论文时使用的网络测绘方法。我发现，虽然在殖民地因走私而被起诉的大多数人都是工人阶级，但他们参与的行动似乎超出了他们的经济能力。仔细一看，这些走私者似乎与某些富有的商人有联系，这些商人本身也有联系，在同一个董事会任职，共用商业场所，并嫁入彼此的家庭。我将这些关系形象化，手工绘制出相关人员之间的联络点，发现许多看似无关的走私事件实际上都围绕着商业精英中的某些团体。我希望在我的博士学习中进一步扩展这种方法，将映射过程发展成为基于网络理论和社会科学技术的正式网络分析。在1+3项目中，第一年的硕士培训将为我提供开展这项研究所需的知识和技能。非法贸易触及地球的每一个角落，在加勒比海走私的水手和商人也在伦敦、开普敦、悉尼和广州走私。在漫长的18世纪，非法贸易是无拘无束的，而且是真正全球化的：遗憾的是，我的博士研究不能做到这一点。然而，我不愿意在我的历史舞台上强加地理限制。高度流动的行动者所拥有的国际相互联系的程度在严格的领土历史中丢失了。相反，我建议将研究范围界定为社会范围，而不是地理范围，其边界由走私者网络的范围决定。从结构上讲，这将使我能够仔细研究特定网络作为比较案例研究，同时收集数据，以便在全球范围内对这些网络进行更大规模的分析。这些数据也为未来的合作项目提供了潜力。我在全球范围内发现的走私者之间的社会和商业联系，很可能反映在我研究之外的其他走私者之间的类似联系上。例如，在与大学或博物馆合作开发的公共网站上发布我的数据，可以为其他研究人员提供机会，在我的研究中的非法贸易网络和他们自己的研究之间找到“桥梁”，从而增加他们分析的广度和背景。这些研究人员也可以被邀请为这个项目提供他们自己的数据，目的是建立一个可公开访问的相互关联的全球走私网络地图，不仅对进一步研究非法贸易有用，而且对更广泛的地方、社会、经济历史有用，无论是在学术界还是在学术界之外。

The research I propose concerns the nature, composition, and function of maritime smuggling networks in the long eighteenth century. To what extent were smugglers on opposite sides of the world connected to each other? How was commercial, geographic, political, and operational information disseminated between smugglers? Who were the key actors driving and connecting illicit markets? To answer these questions, I plan to gather a new and substantial dataset of smugglers and their social and commercial entanglements and use this to analyse networks of illicit trade. I will use purpose built software (such as Gephi) and methods developed in network theory, marrying this abstracted analysis with a qualitative exploration of archival sources to uncover the hidden connections and knowledges that held the international smuggling economy together. The methodology I propose for my doctoral study stems from the network mapping methods I employed while researching my honours dissertation on smuggling in colonial Australia. I had discovered that though most people prosecuted for smuggling in the colony were working class men, the operations they were implicated in seemed beyond their financial capabilities. On closer examination, these smugglers appeared to be connected to certain wealthy businessmen, who were themselves interconnected, serving on the same boards, sharing commercial premises, and marrying into one another's families. I visualised these relationships, mapping out by hand the points of contact between the people involved, and found that many seemingly unrelated smuggling incidents were in fact grouped around certain parties within the mercantile elite. I hope to expand this methodology further in my doctoral study, developing the mapping process into a formal network analysis built on network theory and social science techniques. The initial year of masters training in these methods included in the 1+3 studentship will be crucial in equipping me with the knowledge and skills required to conduct this research.Illicit trade touched every corner of the earth, and the same class of mariners and merchants who smuggled in the Caribbean also smuggled in London, Cape Town, Sydney, and Canton. Illicit trade in the long eighteenth century was fetterless and truly global: my doctoral research, sadly, cannot be. However, I am loathe to impose a geographical constraint on my historical stage. The extent of the international interconnection held by the highly mobile actors at play is lost in a rigidly territorial history. Instead, I propose a research scope defined socially rather than geographically, with bounds dictated by the extent of smugglers' networks. Structurally, this will allow me to closely investigate specific networks as comparative case studies whilst gathering data for a larger-scale analysis of these networks in their global context. This data also holds the potential for future collaborative projects. The social and commercial links I uncover between smugglers around the globe are likely to be reflected in similar connections to other smugglers outside my research. Publishing my data, for example on a public website developed in partnership with a university or museum, could provide an opportunity for other researchers to find 'bridges' between networks of illicit trade in my research and their own, adding breadth and context to their analyses. These researchers could also be invited to contribute their own data to this project with the goal of building a publicly accessible map of interconnected global smuggling networks, useful not only for further research on illicit trade but also for local, social, economic histories more broadly, both inside and outside the academy.