The Cinderella of the Transport World: The Historiography of the British Coastal Trade
This final chapter evaluates the historiography of the British coastal trade as it stood when first published in 1996. It highlights the lack of academic research into coastal shipping, offers suggestions for the scholarly neglect of the subject, and outlines the current knowledge of the economics and overall impact of the coastal trade in relation to the modernisation of Britain. It highlights articles discussing the impact of canal and rail construction, the impact of both World Wars, and the multifaceted role of Coastal Shipping in an industrialised Britain. It concludes that without coastal shipping, coal and foodstuffs would have been much more difficult to distribute around Britain and industrialisation and urbanisation would have struggled to progress as a result. It echoes the call of previous chapters for further research into the British coastal shipping, to better understand the sector and its importance to maritime Britain.