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Ports and Their Functions: Some Reflections About Preindustrial Logistics

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The Urban Logistic Network

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Economic History ((PEHS))

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Abstract

Based on an example of iron deliveries from Russia to Great Britain around the mid-eighteenth century, Scheltjens describes the various functions of ports and their role as providers of manpower during the continental and maritime stages of the iron supply route. The chapter uses the insights gained from this example for a brief discussion of the main characteristics of preindustrial logistics, paying attention mostly to the organisation of long-distance commodity chains, the people involved in ‘manning’ these chains and the ways in which the chain unfolded in space and time.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    www.soundtoll.nl, record 362633, 10 September 1764. More information about the Danish Sound Toll Registers and the electronic database based upon these registers can be found in Scheltjens and Veluwenkamp (2012) and Scheltjens, Veluwenkamp, and Van der Woude (2018).

  2. 2.

    www.soundtoll.nl, record 444772, 23 June 1757; record 430239, 2 August 1757; record 517537, 14 September 1760; record 521620, 28 November 1760; record 377554, 26 May 1763; record 385231, 1 August 1763; record 348439, 21 July 1764; record 362633, 10 September 1764; record 388656, 10 May 1765; record 381415, 27 July 1765; record 436661, 2 October 1766; record 317356, 6 August 1768; record 330175, 25 October 1768; record 1741595, 16 September 1771; record 1744728, 10 December 1771. Longbottom’s name was spelled differently in several registrations (6× Longbottom; 3× Longbottam; 1× Langbothen, Langbottam, Longbothan, Langbothom, Longbotam, Longbotton). Such variation has two causes: misspelling in the original registers, or misreading and/or typing errors during the process of data entry in the electronic database. His registered domicile varied as well (Scarborough, London, Whitby). The latter was not an uncommon phenomenon in the Danish Sound toll registers (and other sources of preindustrial maritime shipping), and is perhaps explained best as the result of variation in the customs officers’ registration practices (Scheltjens, 2015a).

  3. 3.

    As early as 1954, the French historian Portal (1954) pointed towards the historical interest of Kafengauz’s detailed descriptive account of Demidov’s ‘iron caravans’, and provided an abridged account that is quite similar to the one in this section.

  4. 4.

    Stuckenberg (1841) notices that he had possessed lists of commodities passing at Vyshny Volochek since 1737, which—unfortunately—he had lost. The rise noticed by Stuckenberg is also reflected in the increasing size of the ‘iron caravans’ of the Demidov company (Kafengauz, 1949, p. 418).

  5. 5.

    Cf. www.soundtoll.nl, record 348439, 21 July 1764 and record 362633, 10 September 1764.

  6. 6.

    www.soundtoll.nl.

  7. 7.

    A question that requires further analysis in this context is that of the wages for the workforce employed during the various stages between the Ural Mountains and St. Petersburg. Were they paid for the distance covered, or for the number of days worked? Either case presupposes a radically different relation to the factor ‘time’.

  8. 8.

    One noteworthy exception is Rönnbäck (2018).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

    Werner Scheltjens

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  1. Werner Scheltjens
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Correspondence to Werner Scheltjens .

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  1. Department of Management, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Venice, Italy

    Giovanni Favero

  2. Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines, Universite de Bretagne Occidentale, Brest, France

    Michael-W. Serruys

  3. Faculty of Economics, Hosei University, Tokyo, Japan

    Miki Sugiura

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Scheltjens, W. (2019). Ports and Their Functions: Some Reflections About Preindustrial Logistics. In: Favero, G., Serruys, MW., Sugiura, M. (eds) The Urban Logistic Network. Palgrave Studies in Economic History. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27599-0_11

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