This preliminary analysis of shipowning and investment in the Port of Sydney, Nova Scotia, 1820–1914, aims to extend the methodology employed by the Atlantic Canada Shipping Project (ACSP), 1976–1982, to Sydney in an attempt to test the primary sources and the validity of the approach in a detailed port case study. Findings show a rebound of investments in the decade and a half before the outbreak of the First World War which was significantly different than elsewhere in Atlantic Canada. The large peaks at the beginning of the twentieth century, coupled with the chronology of Sydney’s industrialization, suggests great potential for the continued use of ACSP methodology in this study. This note also identifies for the first time the major shipowner of the port, Thomas Dickson Archibald of the Archibald Firm, as well as the direction of future research of Sydney and this important Atlantic Canadian family in maritime history.
Cape Breton University. Beaton Institute. B&G files.
2.
Cape Breton University. Beaton Institute. MG 12. Personal Papers, 1625–1998.
3.
Cape Breton University. Beaton Institute. MG 14. Business and Corporate Bodies, 1798–1997.
4.
Cape Breton University. Beaton Institute. PAM files.
5.
Cape Breton University. Beaton Institute. Reports.
6.
Memorial University of Newfoundland. Maritime History Archive. Board of Trade 99. Agreements and Accounts of Crew, 1863–.
7.
Memorial University of Newfoundland. Maritime History Archive. Board of Trade 99. Crew Agreements.
8.
Memorial University of Newfoundland. Maritime History Archive. Board of Trade 107. Sydney Ship Registries, 1820–1854.
9.
Memorial University of Newfoundland. Maritime History Archive. Board of Trade 108. Sydney Ship Registries, 1855–1899.
10.
Memorial University of Newfoundland. Maritime History Archive. Board of Trade 110. Ship Registries, 1899–.
11.
AlexanderDavid, ‘The Port of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, 1840–1889’, in KeithMatthewsGeraldPanting, eds., Ships and Shipbuilding in the North Atlantic Region (St. John’s, 1978), 77–103.
12.
AlexanderDavidOmmerRosemary, eds., Volumes Not Values: Canadian Sailing Ships and World Trades (St. John’s, 1979).
13.
BroezeFrank, ed., Maritime History at the Crossroads: A Critical Review of Recent Historiography, Research in Maritime History No. 9 (St. John’s, 1995).
14.
BrookesAlan, ‘The Golden Age and the Exodus: The Case of Canning, Kings County’, Acadiensis, 11, No. 1 (1981), 57–82.
15.
BrownRobert Craig, Canada’s National Policy, 1883–1900 (Princeton, NJ, 1964).
16.
CandowJames E., ed. Industry and Society in Nova Scotia: An Illustrated History (Halifax, Nova Scotia, 2001).
17.
DaviesPeter N., ‘Commentary: On the Methodology and Results of the Atlantic Canadian Shipping Project’, in FischerLewis R.SagerEric W., eds., Merchant Shipping and Economic Development in Atlantic Canada (St. John’s, 1982), 55–60.
18.
DonovanKenneth, ed., Cape Breton at 200: Historical Essays in Honour of the Island’s Bicentennial, 1785–1985 (Sydney, Nova Scotia, 1985), 183–202.
19.
DonovanKenneth, ed., The Island: New Perspectives on Cape Breton’s History, 1713–1990 (Fredericton, 1990).
20.
EarleMichael, ‘Coal in the History of Nova Scotia’, in CandowJames E., ed., Industry and Society in Nova Scotia: An Illustrated History (Halifax, Nova Scotia, 2001), 57–79.
21.
FarrellDavid, ‘Keeping The Local Economy Afloat: Canadian Pacific Navigation and Shipowning in Victoria, 1883–1901’, The Northern Mariner/Le Marin du nord, 6, No. 1 (1996), 35–44.
22.
FayleC. Ernest, A Short History of the World’s Shipping Industry (London, 2005 [1934]).
23.
FischerLewis R., ‘The Port of Prince Edward Island, 1840–1889: A Preliminary Analysis’, in MatthewsKeithGeraldPanting eds., Ships and Shipbuilding in the North Atlantic Region (St. John’s, 1978), 41–70.
24.
FischerLewis R., ‘An Engine, Yet Moderate: James Peake, Entrepreneurial Behaviour, and the Shipping Industry of Nineteenth Century Prince Edward Island’, in FischerLewis R.SagerEric W., eds., The Enterprising Canadians: Entrepreneurs and Economic Development in Eastern Canada, 1820–1914 (St. John’s, 1979), 97–118.
25.
FischerLewis R., ‘The Great Mud Hole Fleet: The Voyages and Productivity of the Sailing Vessels of Saint John, 1863–1912’, in AlexanderDavidRosemaryOmmer, eds., Volumes Not Values: Canadian Sailing Ships and World Trades (St. John’s, 1979), 117–55.
26.
FischerLewis R., ‘Maritime Transport and the Integration of the North Atlantic Economy, 1850–1914’, in FischerWolframMcInnisR. MarvinSchneiderJürgen, eds., The Emergence of a World Economy, 1500–1914 (Weisbaden, 1986), 519–44.
27.
FischerLewis R., ‘The Enterprising Canadians: A Critical Evaluation of Maritime and Naval History in Canada since 1975’, in BroezeFrank ed., Maritime History at the Crossroads: A Critical Review of Recent Historiography, Research in Maritime History No. 9 (St. John’s, 1995), 31–52.
28.
FischerLewis R., ‘Are We in Danger of Being Left with Our Journals and Not Much Else? The Future of Maritime History’, Mariner’s Mirror97:1 (February2011), 366-81.
29.
FischerLewis R.NordvikHelge W., ‘Myth and Reality in Baltic Shipping: The Timber Trade to Britain, 1863–1908’, Scandinavian Journal of History, 12, No. 2 (1987), 99–116.
30.
FischerLewis R.NordvikHelge W. ‘Floating Capital: Investment in the Canadian and Norwegian Merchant Marines in Comparative Perspective, 1850–1914’, Scandinavian-Canadian Studies, III (1988), 17–42.
31.
FischerLewis R.PantingGerald E., ‘Harbour and Metropolis: The Shipping Industry of Saint John and the Urban Economy, 1820–1914’, in FischerLewis R.SagerEric W., eds., Merchant Shipping and Economic Development in Atlantic Canada (St. John’s, 1982), 137–55.
32.
FischerLewis R.PantingGerald E., eds., Change and Adaptation in Maritime History: The North Atlantic Fleets in the Nineteenth Century (St. John’s, 1985).
33.
FischerLewis R.PantingGerald E., ‘Island-Hopping: The Voyages of Canadian Deep-Sea Trading Vessels to the West Indies, 1863–1890’, Journal of Caribbean History, 21, No. 1 (1987), 19–42.
34.
FischerLewis R.PantingGerald E., ‘Maritime History in Canada: The Social and Economic Dimensions’, in HattendorfJohn B., ed., Ubi Sumis? The State of Naval and Maritime History (Providence, RI, 1994), 59–77.
35.
FischerLewis R.SagerEric W., eds., The Enterprising Canadians: Entrepreneurs and Economic Development in Eastern Canada, 1820–1914 (St. John’s, 1979).
36.
FischerLewis R.SagerEric W., ‘An Approach to the Quantitative Analysis of British Shipping Records’, Business History, XXII, No. 2 (1980), 135–51.
37.
FischerLewis R.SagerEric W., eds., Merchant Shipping and Economic Development in Atlantic Canada (St. John’s, 1982).
38.
FischerWolframSagerEric W.OmmerRosemary E. ‘The Shipping Industry and Regional Economic Development in Atlantic Canada, 1871–1891: Saint John as a Case Study’, in FischerLewis R.SagerEric W., eds., Merchant Shipping and Economic Development in Atlantic Canada (St. John’s, 1982), 33–53.
39.
FischerWolframMcInnisR. MarvinSchneiderJürgen, eds., The Emergence of a World Economy, 1500–1914 (Weisbaden, 1986).
40.
ForbesErnest R., ‘The Origins of the Maritime Rights Movement’, Acadiensis, 5, No. 1 (1975), 54–66.
41.
FrankDavid, ‘The Cape Breton Coal Industry and the Rise and Fall of the British Empire Steel Corporation’, Acadiensis, 7, No. 1 (1977), 1–34.
42.
GerrietsMarilyn, ‘The Impact of the General Mining Association on the Nova Scotia Coal Industry, 1826–1850’, Acadiensis, 22, No. 1 (1991), 54–8.
43.
HamreHarald, Skipsfarten i Stavanger i 1870-åra: en næringsøkonomisk undersøkelse (Stavanger, 1985).
44.
HornsbyStephen J., ‘An Historical Geography of Cape Breton Island in the Nineteenth Century’ (Unpublished PhD thesis, University of British Columbia, 1986).
45.
InwoodKris E., ‘The Industrial Growth of Atlantic Canada before the First World War: A Review of the Evidence and Its Interpretation’, Acadiensis, 21, No. 1 (1991), 132–55.
46.
IsserlisL., ‘Tramp Shipping Cargoes and Freights’, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, 101, No. 1 (1938), 304–417.
47.
JacksonElva E., North Sydney, Nova Scotia: Windows on the Past (Belleville, Ontario, 1982).
48.
JohnstonA. J. B., ‘Class Conflict and the Establishment of the Sydney Steel Industry, 1899–1904’, in KennethDonovan, ed., The Island: New Perspectives on Cape Breton’s History, 1713–1990 (Fredericton, 1990).
49.
JonesStephanie, ‘A Maritime History of the Port of Whitby, 1700–1914’ (Unpublished PhD thesis, University of London, 1982).
50.
KennerleyAlston, ‘A Northwest European Shipping, Communication and Servicing Hub: Falmouth for Orders, Repair and Supply, 1881–1935’, International Journal of Maritime History, 22, No. 1 (June 2010), 111–38.
51.
MacDonaldKenneth, Port Morien: Pages from the Past (Pictou, Nova Scotia, 1995).
52.
MacKinnonJ. G., Old Sydney: Sketches of the Town and Its People in Days Gone By (Sydney, Nova Scotia, 1989 [1918]).
53.
MartellJ. S. ‘Early Coal Mining in Nova Scotia’, Dalhousie Review, 25, No. 2 (1945), 156–72.
54.
MatthewsKeith, ‘The Shipping Industry of Atlantic Canada: Themes and Problems’, in MatthewsKeithPantingGerald, eds., Ships and Shipbuilding in the North Atlantic Region (St. John’s, 1978), 1–18.
55.
MatthewsKeithPantingGerald, eds., Ships and Shipbuilding in the North Atlantic Region (St. John’s, 1978).
56.
MillwardHugh, ‘The Development, Decline, and Revival of Mining on the Sydney Coalfield’, Canadian Geographer, 28 (1984), 180–5.
57.
MillwardHugh, ‘Mine Locations and the Sequence of Coal Exploitation on the Sydney Coalfield, 1720–1980’, in KennethDonovan, ed., Cape Breton at 200: Historical Essays in Honour of the Island’s Bicentennial, 1785–1985 (Sydney, Nova Scotia, 1985), 183–202.
58.
MinchintonWalter E., ‘Ports of Call in the Nineteenth Century’, in Les Grandes Escales (3 vols.) (Brussels, 1974), III, 10–19.
59.
MinchintonWalter E., ‘British Ports of Call in the Nineteenth Century’, Mariner’s Mirror, 62, No. 2 (1976), 146–57.
60.
MohammedSaif I.WilliamsonJeffrey G., ‘Freight Rates and Productivity Gains in British Tramp Shipping, 1869–1950’, Explorations in Economic History, 41, No. 2 (2004), 172–203.
61.
NordvikHelge W., ‘The Shipping Industries of the Scandinavian Countries, 1850–1914’, in FischerLewis R.SagerEric W.PantingGerald, eds., Change and Adaptation in Maritime History: The North Atlantic Fleets in the Nineteenth Century (St. John’s, 1985), 117–48.
62.
OmmerRosemary E., ‘The Decline of the Eastern Canadian Shipping Industry, 1880–1895’, Journal of Transport History, 5, No. 1 (1984), 25–44.
63.
OmmerRosemary E.FischerLewis R.SagerEric W., ‘The Data Base of the Atlantic Canada Shipping Project’, in FischerLewis R.SagerEric W., eds., Merchant Shipping and Economic Development in Atlantic Canada (St. John’s, 1982), 1–6.
64.
OmmerRosemary E.PantingGerald, eds., Working Men Who Got Wet (St. John’s, 1980).
65.
PantingGerry, ‘Cradle of Enterprise: Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, 1840–1889’, in FischerLewis R.SagerEric W., eds., The Enterprising Canadians: Entrepreneurs and Economic Development in Eastern Canada, 1820–1914 (St. John’s, 1979), 253–71.
66.
PantingGerry, ‘Shipping Investment in the Urban Centres of Nova Scotia’, in FischerLewis R.SagerEric W., eds., Merchant Shipping and Economic Development in Atlantic Canada (St. John’s, 1982), 123–36.
67.
RedikerMarcus, ‘The Common Seaman in the Histories of Capitalism and the Working Class’, International Journal of Maritime History, 1, No. 2 (1989), 337–57.
68.
RyanShannon, The Ice Hunters: A History of Newfoundland Sealing to 1914 (St. John’s, 1994).
69.
SagerEric W., ‘The Port of St. John’s, Newfoundland, 1840–1889: A Preliminary Analysis’, in MatthewsKeithGeraldPanting, eds., Ships and Shipbuilding in the North Atlantic Region (St. John’s, 1978), 19–40.
70.
SagerEric W., ‘The Merchants of Water Street and Capital Investment in Newfoundland’s Traditional Economy’, in FischerLewis R.SagerEric W., eds., The Enterprising Canadians: Entrepreneurs and Economic Development in Eastern Canada, 1820–1914 (St. John’s, 1979), 75–95.
71.
SagerEric W., Seafaring Labour: The Merchant Marine of Atlantic Canada, 1820–1914 (Montreal, 1989).
72.
SagerEric W., ‘Seafaring Labour in Maritime History and Working Class History’, International Journal of Maritime History, 2, No. 1 (1990), 259–74.
73.
SagerEric W.FischerLewis R., ‘Patterns of Investment in the Shipping Industries of Atlantic Canada, 1820–1900’, Acadiensis, IX, No. 1 (1979), 19–43.
74.
SagerEric W.FischerLewis R., ‘Atlantic Canada and the Age of Sail Revisited’, Canadian Historical Review, LXIII, No. 2 (1982), 125–50. Reprinted in McCallaDouglas ed., Perspectives on Canadian Economic History (Toronto, 1987), 97–117.
75.
SagerEric W.FischerLewis R., Shipping and Shipbuilding in Atlantic Canada, 1820–1914, Historical Booklet No. 42 (Ottawa, 1986).
76.
SagerEric W.FischerLewis R.OmmerRosemary E., ‘Landward and Seaward Opportunities in Canada’s Age of Sail’, in FischerLewis R.SagerEric W., eds., Merchant Shipping and Economic Development in Atlantic Canada (St. John’s, 1982), 7–31.
77.
SagerEric W., with PantingGerald E., Maritime Capital: The Shipping Industry in Atlantic Canada, 1820–1914 (Montreal, 1990).
78.
SchwartzmanDavid, ‘Mergers in the Nova Scotia Coal Fields: A History of the Dominion Coal Company, 1893–1940’(Unpublished PhD thesis, University of California, 1953).
79.
ThorntonPatricia A., ‘The Problem of Out-Migration from Atlantic Canada, 1871–1921: A New Look’, Acadiensis, 15, No. 1 (1985), 3–34.
80.
WallaceFrederick William, Wooden Ships and Iron Men: The Story of the Square-rigged Merchant Marine of British North America, the Ships, Their Builders and Owners, and the Men Who Sailed Them (London, 1973 [1924]).
81.
WilliamsDavid M., ‘Humankind and the Sea: The Changing Relationship since the Mid-Eighteenth Century’, International Journal of Maritime History, 22, No. 1 (2010), 1–14.
