Hugh Murphy

Lewis Johnman

International Maritime Economic History Association

This work studies the history of two major Scottish shipbuilding firms based on the River Clyde - Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company and Lithgows Limited. It traces each firm's origin, success, decline, and collapse, and places the events into the historical context of maritime Britain. The aim is to enhance the academic understanding of the cause and effect of the decline of the British shipbuilding industry, delving beyond the factors of poor industrial relations, international market conditions, and entrepreneurial failure in search of further answers. As a private company, Lithgows Limited provides useful insights into company management outside of state control. The authors base their analysis on the catalogued volumes of Scotts and Lithgows records, though due to the large number of gaps in the data, they also conducted interviews with major players in each company from the post-war period. Public, business, and banking records also provide supplementary material. The book is separated into eight chapters, plus a concluding ninth, an appendix listing ships built by Scott Lithgow Limited between 1970-1987, and a select bibliography.

Déjà Vu All Over Again! : the Rise and Fall of a Shipbuilding Company

Scott Lithgow

John Holt

John Holt (1841-1915) was a successful British merchant who made several voyages to West Africa during his lifetime to establish business and trade in the era of British Imperialism. His diaries are presented in two accounts; the first, from 1862-1872, documents his life as a merchant on the West African island of Fernando Po, initially working for James Lynslager and eventually purchasing the trade company and expanding it significantly. Holt's own vessel, Maria, and his affiliation with the African Steam Ship Company, made his maritime trade activities particularly succssful. The second account records his voyage in the Maria from Liverpool to Fernando Po in 1869-1872, and documents his trade relationships across West Africa. The volume is rounded out by diary entries from the ten-day voyage of the Peep O'Day along the Krou coast, and concludes with John Holt's family tree. This volume presents a comprehensive account of Holt's life as a means of preserving history and adding to the field of study of mercantile livliehoods and shipping trade industries under British imperialism. It also seeks to celebrate the individual accomplishments made in John Holt's career.

International Maritime Economic History Association

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