First Published in 2005. This book arose in conversation with some very good friends of the British merchant seaman who were regretting their inability to put into his hands any comprehensive one-volume history of the shipping industry.

This book outlines the story of shipping as a business and describes the way in which, at each period of the world's history, merchant ships were owned and operated. It provides information on the relations between ship-owners and governments, and the conditions of life and work afloat.

The object of this book, the first of a three-volume history, is to show how seaborne trade was affected during the war by naval operations and by conditions having their origin in the naval situation. It is not concerned with the achievements of the Royal and Merchant Navies but rather with the result of those achievements. The early months of the war are covered in this volume when the German attack on commerce was carried out mainly by surface cruisers such as Emden, Karlsruhe and others and by armed merchant vessels such as Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse. The force of this attack was effectively broken at the Battle of the Falklands in December 1914, though the last of the original raiders was not accounted for till April 1915. Appendices provide tables of shipping losses of combatants and neutrals and statistics of cargoes and costs, of imports and exports. Part of the British official history set for World War I.

The object of this book, the second of a three-volume history, is to show how seaborne trade was affected during the war by naval operations and by conditions having their origin in the naval situation. It is not concerned with the achievements of the Royal and Merchant Navies but rather with the result of those achievements. The early months of the war are covered in this volume when the German attack on commerce was carried out mainly by surface cruisers such as Emden, Karlsruhe and others and by armed merchant vessels such as Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse. The force of this attack was effectively broken at the Battle of the Falklands in December 1914, though the last of the original raiders was not accounted for till April 1915. Appendices provide tables of shipping losses of combatants and neutrals and statistics of cargoes and costs, of imports and exports. Part of the British official history set for World War I.

The object of this book, the thrid of a three-volume history, is to show how seaborne trade was affected during the war by naval operations and by conditions having their origin in the naval situation. It is not concerned with the achievements of the Royal and Merchant Navies but rather with the result of those achievements. The early months of the war are covered in this volume when the German attack on commerce was carried out mainly by surface cruisers such as Emden, Karlsruhe and others and by armed merchant vessels such as Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse. The force of this attack was effectively broken at the Battle of the Falklands in December 1914, though the last of the original raiders was not accounted for till April 1915. Appendices provide tables of shipping losses of combatants and neutrals and statistics of cargoes and costs, of imports and exports. Part of the British official history set for World War I.