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236 Reviews Parergon 21.2 (2004) Scammell, G. V., Seafaring, Sailors and Trade 1450-1750: Studies in British and European Maritime and Imperial History (Variorum Collected Studies), Aldershot, Ashgate, 2003; hardback; pp. viii, 322; RRP £55; ISBN 0860788970. Professor Scammell is one of the doyens of maritime history. Most of his earlier articles have already been collected together, and this collection, while including two early articles, is primarily of articles published in the last decade, mainly in slightly out-of-the way journals. Some, like no. VIII ‘The Great Age of Discovery’, are slight works put together for a particular public occasion. A majority of them reflect his interest in the growth of the British Empire, particularly in Asia. Scammell has a fluent and entertaining pen, interspersing analytical points with interesting examples of particular people. His description of shipboard life and the lot of the seafarer make clear at what cost the glories of empire were won, and how rarely the sailor in an English ship could be termed an English sailor. Many of these pieces, such as the paper on the English Chartered Trading companies and the paper on mutiny, although they do not contain novel research work, are valuable summaries of historical investigation on the subject. The paper on British smuggling to Iberian America, which is a substantial piece of work, has several useful insights, even if the present writer would take issue with the statement that Rye was ‘a small Sussex haven, clear of prying official eyes’(VI, p. 137). This, however, is typical of Scammell’s style of writing. His work is empirical, neither set in a theoretical context nor arguing a particular explanatory case, neither approving nor disputing interpretations such as that of Immanuel Wallerstein, entering into no debate. Even papers like that called ‘After da Gama’, which is a broad survey of the economic interactions of east and west and reflects on and attempts to balance out the effects of European penetration, offers its conclusions as unassailable. Probably contentious claims, such as that ‘Such activities, often backed by indigenous capital or undertaken in partnership with indigenous merchants, by no means destroyed or even undermined those of local entrepreneurs, who might indeed profit from the new dispensation’ (XII, p. 523), are mere statements. Scammell does not appear to see historical writing as in any sense a debate over interpretations, or a field in which differing views may have equal validity. Inevitably, perhaps, he therefore draws his secondary material from a limited number of favoured fellow scholars, mostly those whose works have been published by Oxford or Cambridge. Works published in India such as S. Reviews 237 Parergon 21.2 (2004) Arasaratnam’s Merchants, Companies and Commerce on the Coromandel Coast or works published in the USA such as H. Furber’s Rival Empires of Trade in the Orient are not referred to. It is surprising to find discussion of Bristol without reference to the work of David Harris Sacks, discussion of Scottish piracy without reference to David Ditchburn. The footnotes therefore provide an interesting insight into the sources upon which Scammell principally relies in these mostly descriptive essays.The records of the High Court ofAdmiralty are a major source and they are undoubtedly invaluable if tricky to interpret. A little more discussion of their reliability, particularly when they appear to be the source for claims about customs and perquisites or earnings, might be helpful. Then there are the Hakluyt Society volumes, and other printed accounts of sea voyages. He cites with some frequency works such as Francesco Carletti’s My Voyage around the World. This is a delightful and entertaining account but belongs to a genre of adventure stories whose audience liked their accounts well spiced. The tale Scammell uses of the confrontation on a ship from Japan to Macao has an element of ben trovato for example. His use of the enigmatic Pedro Nùnez in a section on spying serves his purpose, but passes over the ink spilt (let alone the fictional reworking) of his career. Teachers at various levels will find the individual essays useful as a short introduction to the subjects, particularly where longer reading lists may...

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