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

我提出的研究涉及漫长的18世纪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？商业、地理、政治和业务信息如何在走私者之间传播？谁是推动和连接非法市场的关键行为者？为了回答这些问题，我计划收集关于走私者及其社会和商业纠葛的新的、实质性的数据集，并用它来分析非法贸易网络。我将使用专门设计的软件(如Gephi)和网络理论中开发的方法，将这种抽象的分析与对档案来源的定性探索结合起来，以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关于殖民时期澳大利亚走私的荣誉论文时使用的网络地图方法。我发现，尽管在殖民地因走私而被起诉的大多数人都是工人阶级，但他们卷入的行动似乎超出了他们的经济能力。仔细观察，这些走私者似乎与某些富商有关联，这些富商本身也是相互联系的，在同一个董事会任职，共享商业场所，并与其他家庭通婚。我想象了这些关系，手绘出了涉案人员之间的接触点，发现许多看似无关的走私事件实际上是围绕着商业精英中的某些群体。我希望在我的博士学习中进一步扩展这一方法，将映射过程发展成基于网络理论和社会科学技术的正式网络分析。在1+3奖学金中包括的这些方法的最初一年的硕士培训对于我掌握进行这项研究所需的知识和技能至关重要。非法贸易遍及地球的每一个角落，同一类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，而且是真正的全球性的：遗憾的是，我的博士研究不可能做到这一点。然而，我不愿在我的历史舞台上强加地理上的限制。在僵化的领土历史中，高度流动的演员所持有的国际相互联系的程度已经消失。相反，我建议从社会上而不是地理上定义一个研究范围，范围由走私者网络的范围决定。在结构上，这将使我能够密切调查作为比较案例研究的特定网络，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。我发现的全球走私者之间的社会和商业联系，很可能会反映在我研究之外的其他走私者的类似联系中。例如，在与一所大学或博物馆合作开发的公共网站上公布我的数据，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与他们自己的研究之间找到“桥梁”，为他们的分析增加广度和背景。还可以邀请这些研究人员为这一项目贡献自己的数据，目的是建立一张相互关联的全球走私网络的公开地图，不仅有助于进一步研究非法贸易，而且有助于更广泛地研究学院内外的地方、社会和经济史。

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.