Conclusion

The conclusion highlights the main findings of the ten essays relating to the key questions concerning the transformations in maritime professions between c. 1850 and 1950. What were the implications of the great changes in the shipping industry in terms of payment, recruitment, status, skills, career prospects or gender relations? How did relations between employees in ‘old’ and ‘new’ jobs develop over time? To what extent and in what ways did employees in ‘new’ or ‘old’ jobs experience a process of professionalization ? And what was the effect of changes on board on social arrangements ashore in terms of residential patterns or the establishment of training facilities? By way of a coda, the conclusion gives a brief survey of technological, political and institutional changes in recent decades, plus their impact on maritime professions, and suggests several lines of inquiry for future research.