GREENWICH MARITIME INSTITUTE

SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT

2003 – 2004

The Advisory Committee

The Members of the Advisory Committee in September 2003 were: Rear Admiral Nick Wilkinson, Mr Mark Brownrigg, Professor Alastair Couper, Mr Jeff Drake, Commodore Ian Gibb, Dr Karl Laubstein, Dr Margarette Lincoln, Captain Rodger MacDonald, Commander Mike Mason, Mr Brian Orrell, Mr Alan Peake, Mr Gwyn Prosser MP, Mr Nigel Pryke, Commander Michael Ranken, Mr Keith Read CBE, Professor Nicholas Rodger, Ms Olwen Williams.

Mr Mark Brownrigg and Mr Nigel Pryke resigned from the Advisory Committee before the May meeting. The GMI wishes to record its thanks for their assistance and support.  

The Advisory Committee met in November 2003 and May 2004.  At the May meeting Dr Minghua Zhao gave a presentation on her research interests. 

Staffing

In September 2003, Dr Reza Mirmiran resigned as Assistant Director to join London Metropolitan University. He continued at the GMI on a part-time basis, teaching four courses. Dr Minghua Zhao joined the GMI as the new Assistant Director in May. The other part-time teaching staff were Visiting Professors Alastair Couper and Roger Knight, Ms Susan Hawker, Commander Mike Mason, Dr Roger Morriss, Dr Hugh Murphy and Dr Hedley Willmott. The Director, Professor Sarah Palmer, taught one of the Maritime Policy courses and two of the Maritime History courses.

Professor Gordon Cook joined the GMI as Honorary Research Associate and the  GMI also benefited from the continued support of Miss Patricia Crimmin and Dr David Hilling. Mrs Sara Macalister was GMI Administrator from September to May 2004 and was replaced by Miss Suzanne Bowles in August. Mr Christopher Ware acted as Temporary Administrator in the intervening period.

In July, Professor Jane Samson, University of Alberta, was attached to the GMI as Honorary Visiting Research Fellow. 

Postgraduate Programmes

Five  part-time postgraduate students continued into their second year of taught courses. The 2003-2004 intake consisted of thirteen students studying full-time and four part-time. These included four students registered for the MBA in Maritime Management, taught for the first time.  In addition there were eight students registered for MPhil/PhD degrees. The total postgraduate membership of the GMI, including those completing dissertations, was fifty-two. Most were mature, several combining their studies with senior posts in the maritime or governmental sector. British students predominated, but the group included students from China, Colombia, Finland, Ghana, Greece, India, Indonesia, Japan, Liberia, the Philippines, Taiwan,  the United Arab Emirates,  the United States and Venezuela. 

Visiting lectures were given by Commander Steven Haines, Royal Holloway College, London; Professor Elena Frangakis-Syrett,  Queens College USA;  Dr David Hilling, GMI; Dr Lewis Johnman, University of Westminster; Mr Chris Ware, GMI.

The Case Studies in Maritime Policy course gives students a chance to have first-hand accounts of policy-making issues from experts within the field. In 2004 those who contributed were: Mr Tom Allan, UK Permanent Representative to International Maritime Organisation (IMO); Mr John Astbury, Marine and Coastguard Agency; Mr Mark Brownrigg, Chamber of Shipping; Mr Michael Everard CBE, F.T. Everard & Sons Ltd; Mr Michael Grey, Lloyd’s List; Mr Rossen Karavatchev, International Transport Workers Federation;  Mr Roger Lankester, Friends of the Earth International; Mr John Taverner, Lloyd’s Register of Shipping; Mr David Whitehead, British Ports Association.

The GMI wishes to record its appreciation and also thanks the IMO for allowing students to attend a Sub-Committee Session.

The Case Studies in Maritime History course enables students to hear established scholars talk about their research methodology. Among those who contributed were Miss Patricia Crimmin, GMI; Professor Peter Davies, University of Liverpool; Dr Sheryllynne Haggerty, Brunel University;  Dr Douglas Hamilton, National Maritime Museum; Professor Richard Harding, University of Westminster; Dr Adrian Jarvis, Merseyside Maritime Museum; Dr Alston Kennerley, University of Plymouth;  Professor Andrew Lambert, King’s College London; Mr Chris Ware, GMI; Professor Glyn Williams, Queen Mary London.

The GMI wishes to record its thanks for their help.

Professor Bernard Gardner, University of Cardiff, continued to serve as External Examiner. Professor John Armstrong, Thames Valley University, completed his term as External Examiner and was replaced by Dr David Williams, University of Leicester.

Recruitment initiatives for the September 2004 intake included mail-outs to British and overseas universities, to a number of professional organisations within the industry, to the IMO, to Embassies and High Commissions, to local libraries, and to appropriate voluntary societies. The GMI advertised in BBC History, the NUMAST Telegraph, Parliamentary Maritime Review, SeaTrade, Seaways and the University’s Alumni Magazine, Meantime.

The GMI continued its annual series of open research seminars on themes related to its interests.   The speakers and subjects were Dr Peter Marlow, Cardiff University, Casualties in dry bulk shipping; Professor Crosbie Smith, University of Kent, Work and  waste: the moral economy of the ocean steamship in the mid 19^th century; Professor

Richard Goss, formerly of Cardiff University, Political Economy and Sea Transport, Commander Mike Mason, Ministry of Defence, Issues in Homeland Defence, Professor Ed Galea, University of Greenwich, Simulating ship evacuation under fire conditions. In July at an additional Summer Seminar, Professor Jane Samson, Honorary Visiting Research Fellow, presented a paper on her research on missionary activity in the Pacific.

The GMI wishes to thank these speakers and to record its gratitude to CP Ships and Lloyd’s List for their generous sponsorship of the series.

The Library

In addition to purchases and journal subscriptions funded by the University, the Library also benefited from donations by Professor Gordon Cook, Mrs Margaret Kaye, Mr Terry Lilley, Mr Gustav Milne, Professor Sarah Palmer, Professor Glyn Williams, Dr Hedley Willmott, the Dutch Maritime Network, the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis, and the Indian Maritime Foundation.

External Links

The GMI hosted a visit, organised by Professor Gordon Cook, Honorary Research Associate, by members of the British Medical Association History of Medicine Section.  Professor Sarah Palmer, Mr Christopher Ware and Professor Glyn Williams gave papers on the theme of maritime history.

The GMI wishes to record particular thanks to the Nautical Institute and The Marine Society, each of which gave a prize for outstanding achievement to a GMI student. In 2003-2004 these were awarded to Mr Jock Mawson and Mr Arthur Kilgore, both of whom achieved an overall mark of Distinction for their MA work.

Overseas visitors included Mr Ulf Bergring, Mr Peter Cozens, Captain Shahriar Mazhari,  Captain Kiran Mohite,  Professor Eugene Rasor,  Dr Malena Sivertsen and Commander S.P.Taneja.  The GMI also hosted a visit by staff and students

from the Business College of Athens. The GMI remained a member of Maritime London and of NEPTUNE, an association of maritime research institutes within the European Union.

Student Activities

Miss Emma Dunn made a presentation to the 12^th New Researchers in Maritime History Conference and also to the National Maritime Museum Staff Research Seminar. Mrs Joan Ryan also gave a paper to this seminar and at the First International Conference on the History of Transport, Traffic and Mobilityin Eindhoven, Netherlands. Mr Bob Forrester spoke at the Greenwich Humanities Research Conference and Miss Cathryn Pearce at the British Commission for Maritime History Seminar, King’s College London.

Staff Activities 

Professor Sarah Palmer continued to act as External Examiner at the University of Hull and as a Trustee of the National Museums Liverpool.  She was Chair of the British Commission for Maritime History. She served on The Marine Society Council. She was a member of the Chamber of Shipping ‘Sea Vision UK’ core group,  of The Greenwich Forum,  and  the Council of the Friends of the National Maritime Museum. She was Chair of the University of Greenwich Research Ethics Committee. She served on the editorial boards of the International Journal of Maritime History, Mariner’s Mirror, the Journal for Maritime Research, The Great Circle and Northern Mariner.

In October, with the support of the British Council, she visited India as the guest of the Indian Maritime Foundation, giving lectures and several presentations in Mumbai, Pune and New Delhi on the theme of ‘Today’s Maritime World in Historical Perspective’ .  In January she gave a paper to the joint Institute of Historical Research/National Maritime Museum seminar on the reform of the Port of London, in May she lectured on the ‘Old and New Life of the Thames’ for Adult Learners Week and in June she spoke on ‘Central Government and the 19^th century Port of London’ at the Fourth International Congress of Maritime History, Corfu, Greece.

Professor Alastair Couper continued to supervise GMI PhD students and to work on his study of Pacific island seafarers.

In February he contributed to the Survival International Conference on Pacific island people. He completed a chapter on ‘Seafarer Rights’ (book to be published by Oxford University Press). In June he gave the Colonel Stock Memorial Address on ‘Freedom of Navigation and Trade’ at the 105^th annual meeting of the Association of Port Health Authorities. 

Professor Roger Knight continued his research for a major biography of Nelson which will be published in June 2005.  He served as Vice-President of the Society for Nautical Research, Vice-President of the Navy Records Society and as a member of the British Commission for Maritime History. He continued as General Editor of the Journal for Maritime Research and served on the editorial boards of Mariner’s Mirror and American Neptune. He was also Consulting Editor of the forthcoming Oxford Encyclopaedia of Maritime History.  He published nine biographies in the New Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

Student Research

The following dissertations were submitted by students awarded the degree of MA in Maritime Policy:

Martin Garside,  The Evolution of the Present Safety Regime in the Dover Strait

Andreas Kontizas, The Economic Trends in the Shipbuilding Industry in the Second Half of the 20^th Century

* John P. (Jock) Mawson, Issues Arising from the Development in Design and Operation of Container Ships: the impact on the safe carriage of goods and crew

Francis K. Owoo, Flags of Convenience: a study of open

registry conditions with special reference to chemical tankers

Tao Zeng,  Shipping Industry Development in China since the 1980san

The following dissertations were submitted by students awarded the degree of MA in Maritime History:

Charles W. Consolvo, A Career in the Royal Navy in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars: Progress, Promotion and Interest. Based Upon a Sample of Officers

Patrick Fairplay, The Pacific Telegraph Cable 1902: technological, commercial and political effects

Ian Johnston,  TSMV Agamemnon: a ship of its time?

* Arthur Kilgore,  Strategic Controversy, Alliance-Building and the Admiralty: the bureaucratic origins of the Anglo-American Naval Alliance, 1934-1939

Terence Lilley, The Trent‘s  Affairs: activities of a British contract mail steamer

Janet Macdonald, Victualling the British Mediterranean Fleet, May 1803 to June 1804

Donald Parkin, The Geddes Report and its Impact on the North-East Shipbuilding Industry

Terrence E. Tarrant, St. Andrew’s Waterside Mission, 1864-1900

Brian Tracey, Lascar Seamen in the British Merchant Navy 1920-1950

Kenneth Wilcox, Quaker Shipowning in the Port of Shoreham c.1824 -1880

* Awarded the degree of MA with Distinction