Organisations of Maritime Transporters in the Low Countries, 1400-1800

Abstract

"Analysis of the spatial structure of the maritime transport sector in the Low Countries in the early modern period has revealed fundamental differences in the 'origin' of communities of maritime transporters, in the functions of urban and rural maritime transport communities and in the spatial evolution of the so-called 'reservoir of shipmasters' providing carrier services to the Low Countries' international trade. Essential for the development of the spatial structure of the maritime transport sector in the Low Countries were changes in urban maritime trade networks on the one hand, and changes in regional (land-based) economies on the other hand. Both entailed a process of specialisation in the transport sector, which created the necessary conditions for the emergence of professional (or specialised) urban and rural maritime transport communities. This paper examines local and regional differences in the organisational forms of shipmasters in the Low Countries, and addresses the question to what extent the spatial structure of the maritime transport sector as a whole might have been influenced by urban and rural organisations of shipmasters. It will be shown that shipmasters institutions for collective action provided a framework for knowledge acquisition and exchange that had a significant influence on the size and scope of maritime transportation services provided by the institutions members. It will be substantiated that urban and rural maritime shipmasters associations could have a positive effect when collective action supported an increase in the benefits of competitive advantage, and a negative effect, when collective action aggravated lock-in. The source base of this paper consists of (1) archives of skippers guilds and mutual insurance boxes (or: compacten) in the Low Countries and (2) serial data sources about maritime transportation in the Low Countries. The first type of sources will be used to execute a comparative analysis of the organisational structure of shipmasters' guilds and 'compacten'. The second type of sources will support a descriptive analysis of informal organisations of maritime transporters."