GREENWICH MARITIME INSTITUTE

10TH ANNUAL REPORT

2007 – 2008 ACADEMIC YEAR

The Advisory Committee

The Members of the Advisory Committee in September 2007 were: Rear Admiral Nick Wilkinson (Chair), Commander Tim Ash, Mr Philip Belcher, Mr Ronald Bradbeer, Professor Alastair Couper, Mr Michael Everard, Commodore Ian Gibb, Mr Allan Graveson, Mr Gwyn Hughes, Dr Karl Laubstein, Dr Margarette Lincoln, Captain Rodger MacDonald, Commander Mike Mason, Mr Alan Peake, Mr Gwyn Prosser MP, Commander Michael Ranken, Mr Keith Read CBE, Professor Nicholas Rodger.

The Advisory Committee met in November 2007 and in May 2008.

Staffing

Full-time staff were the Director, Professor Sarah Palmer, the Assistant Director, Dr Minghua Zhao, Dr Martin Wilcox – Leverhulme Research Fellow, Mr James Davey – Leverhulme Research Assistant and Miss Suzanne Bowles, Administrator. Professor Roger Knight led the Leverhulme Research Project, ‘Sustaining the Empire: War, the Navy and the Contractor State’.  Part-time teaching staff were Mr Michael Codner, RUSI, Professor Alastair Couper, Dr Roger Morriss, Mr Christopher Ware, Mr John Whiteley, Business School, and Dr Lee Willett, RUSI. Dr Selina Goulbourne and Mr Edward Phillips, of the Department of Law, taught Public Shipping Law. Miss Emma Crowley, Library & Information Services, and Dr Li Zhou of the Business School contributed to research methods teaching.

Professor Sarah Palmer taught three of the MA in Maritime History courses, while Dr Minghua Zhao, in addition to acting as Student Personal Tutor, taught three of the Maritime Policy courses. Dr Zhao and Professors Couper, Knight and Palmer supervised MPhil and PhD students.

Louise de La Fayette, international lawyer and diplomat, was appointed Visiting Professor in February 2008. Professor Gordon Cook and Miss Patricia Crimmin continued as Honorary Research Associates. The GMI also benefited from the support of Dr David Hilling MBE, Research Adviser.

Dr David Williams, University of Leicester, and Dr Hance Smith, University of Cardiff, served as External Examiners.

Postgraduate Programmes

Eleven part-time postgraduate students continued into their second year of taught courses. The 2007 - 2008 intake consisted of fourteen students studying full-time and four part-time. In addition there were thirteen students registered for MPhil/PhD degrees. The total postgraduate membership of the GMI, including MA students completing dissertations and research students, was fifty-nine. As in the past most were mature, several combining their studies with senior posts in the maritime or governmental sectors. British students predominated but the group included students from Bulgaria, China, Georgia, Ghana, Greece, India, Ireland, Italy, Nigeria, Pakistan, Spain and the United Arab Emirates.

Several students benefited from the exemptions allowed for certain GMI courses by the   Chartered Institute of Shipbrokers in achieving CIS qualifications.

Visiting lectures were given by Professor Steven Haines, Royal Holloway College, London; Dr David Hilling MBE, GMI; Commander Mike Mason, Centre for Defence & International Security Studies; Mr Felipe Poleo, Mr Richard Scott, and Dr Stig Tenold, Norwegian School of Business Administration and Management, Bergen.

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 Term Two 2008 those who contributed were: Mr Tom Allan, UK Permanent Representative to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO); Mr Mark Brownrigg, Chamber of Shipping; Mr Peter Dymond, Marine and Coastguard Agency; Mr Michael Everard CBE, formerly of F.T. Everard & Sons; Mr Nigel Gooding, Marine and Fisheries Agency; Mr Michael Grey, Lloyd’s List; Mr Rossen Karavatchev, International Transport Workers Federation; Canon Kenneth Peters, Mission to Seafarers; Mr Keith Read, IMarEST; Mr John Taverner, Lloyd’s Register of Shipping; Mr David Whitehead, British Ports Association.

GMI students, led by Dr Minghua Zhao and Mr John Whiteley, made visits to the Baltic Exchange, Lloyd’s of London and to the Port of London Authority.

The Case Studies in Maritime History course enables students to hear established scholars speak about their research methodology. Those who contributed were Professor John Armstrong, Thames Valley University; Professor Peter Davies, University of Liverpool, Miss Patricia Crimmin, GMI; Dr Roy Fenton; Dr Maria Fusaro, University of Exeter; Professor Richard Harding, University of Westminster; Dr Adrian Jarvis, Merseyside Maritime Museum; Dr Alston Kennerley, University of Plymouth; Dr John McAleer, National Maritime Museum; Dr Peter Nash; Dr Roland Pietsch, Queen Mary London; Dr Clive Wilkinson, University of East Anglia; Dr Martin Wilcox, GMI.  

The GMI wishes to record its thanks to all these individuals and institutions for their generous support and assistance.

Recruitment initiatives included visits by Dr Minghua Zhao to higher education institutions in the People’ Republic of China, as also 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, History Today, Mariner’s Mirror, IMO News and Ship Management and Tanker Operator. The GMI website was also redesigned to reflect the full range of GMI activities.

Awards

The Marine Society & Sea Cadets Prize, for Outstanding Achievement in Maritime History, was awarded to Mr Jonathan Wise and presented to him at its Annual Court. The GMI wishes to record its thanks.

GMI research student Mr William Moses was awarded the MBE for services to Business and to the Dover Counselling Centre in Kent.

Gifts

The GMI and the University Library benefited from gifts by Mr Bamigbola Adelayo, Mr Michael Clark, Mr William Gibbons, Mr Roger Owen, Professor Sarah Palmer, Professor Glyn Williams and the publishers I.B.Taurus.

Research and Enterprise

Professor Roger Knight, Dr Martin Wilcox and Mr James Davey completed the second year of research on the Leverhulme Trust project- ‘Sustaining the Empire: War, the Navy and the ‘Contractor State’, 1793-1815’. Dr Douglas Hamilton, University of Hull, Mr John McAleer, National Maritime Museum and Professor Sarah Palmer served on the Project Advisory Committee, which met regularly. The project also benefited from the advice and support of Miss Patricia Crimmin, Dr Roger Morriss and Mr Ken Cozens.

The University if Greenwich Research and Enterprise Fund has awarded funding to Dr Minghua Zhao and Dr Ulli Kleih of the Natural Resources Institute for a pilot study of 'China's Role in Global Fisheries Trade and Labour Implications'.

Conference and Seminars

In June 2008, the GMI organised IMEHA2008, the 5^th International Congress of Maritime History, a five-day event attended by 315 scholars from thirty-four different countries across the world. In addition to 216 paper presentations, keynote lectures were given by Dr David Williams, Rear Admiral Alan Massey, Professor Gopalan Balachandran, Professor Nicholas Rodger and Professor Lewis Fischer. Sponsors and supporters included the British Academy, the Royal Navy, the Economic History Society, the National Maritime Museum and Lloyd’s List. The GMI wishes to record its gratitude to these organisations, as also to the University of Greenwich, for such valuable support.

The GMI continued the series of Public Research Seminars on themes related to its research and teaching interests. The speakers and their subjects were: Dr Philip Belcher, Honourable Company of Master Mariners, 'Applying the Collision Regulations or why people just don't follow the rules'; Christopher Lee, Independent Scholar, 'Has Britain ceased to be a maritime nation?', John Whiteley, University of Greenwich, 'Starting a tourist business in Sydney Harbour - challenges and opportunities'; Frederick Naumann, Sartori & Berger GMbH & Co, 'The contribution of cruise tourism to port city economics - chances and challenges for cruise destinations'; James Davey, GMI 'The repatriation of Spanish soldiers from Denmark, 1808: a study in government, logistics and the consequences of maritime superiority'; Professor William Ritchie, University of Aberdeen, 'Theory and reality of oil pollution over a 30-year period in Shetland (with reference to the Braer oil spill in 1993 and the lifetime operation of the Sullum Voe Oil Terminal and Port)'.

External Links

In December 2007, a Memorandum of Understanding between the GMI and the National Centre for Maritime Policy Research, Bahria University, Pakistan was signed by the University Vice-Chancellor, Baroness Tessa Blackstone, and the Rector of Bahria University, Vice Admiral (Rtd) Farooq Rashid, in the presence of the High Commissioner of Pakistan.

In association with the University of Westminster and London Metropolitan University, the GMI founded the London Universities Law and Maritime Policy Group (LUMLPG) and in May 2008, supported by a grant from the Univeristy, the GMI became the host organisation for the administration of the Greenwich Forum.

The GMI welcomed staff and students from the Business College of Athens. It remained a member of Maritime London and supported the SeaVision UK campaign.

GMI Student and Graduate Activities

Past and present students and staff attended the GMI Annual Dinner in April, at which Captain Richard Woodman was the Guest of Honour.

Publications in 2007-2008 by GMI graduates included Tito Benady 'Trade and Contraband in Gibraltar in the 18th and 19th centuries' in Vassalo & D'Angelo, Anglo-Saxons in the Mediterranean; Victoria Carolan, WW1 At Sea; Ken Cozens & Derek Morris, 'Researching London Ancestors before 1841' in Family History July 2008; Byrne McLeod, 'The Crews of Captain Herbert Huntingdon Brown: A Bluenose Skipper out of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, 1843-92' Mariners Mirror, Volume 94; Terry Tarrant (ed.), Bislington People 1900-2000.

Additional Staff Activities

Professor Alastair Couper took part in a debate on 'The Impacts of Climatic Change on the Maritime Industries', held at the World Maritime University, Malmo, in June and completed his book Sailors and Traders, a Maritime History of the Pacific Peoples to be published by the University of Hawaii Press in January 2009.

James Davey gave a paper titles 'The repatriation of Spanish Soldiers from Denmark 1808: a study in government, logistics and the consequences of maritime supremacy' at the GMI Research Seminar and at the 5th International Congress of Maritime History. He completed the first three chapters of his doctoral thesis, undertook research on communication times in the 18th and 19th century Europe, and began investigating the idea of a British 'informal empire' in the Baltic States at the turn of the 19th century.

Professor Louise de La Fayette joined the GMI in February 2008. In ther role as Adviser on International Law and Policy for the Advisory Committee on Protection of the Seas (ACOPS), se was a delegate at a number of meetings  of meetings of the International Maritime Organization and to the United Nations Working Group on Marine Biodiversity beyond National Jurisdiction, April-May 2008. She was a commentator, for the Seminar on Arctic Issues, Chatham House, in February and in March chaired the Seminar on Maritime Boundary Delimitation, International Law Association, British Branch.

Professor Roger Knight served on the Council of the Navy Records Society, was in the Advisory Board of the Centre for Imperial and Maritime Studies at the National Maritime Museum and was a member of the British Commission for Maritime History. He was also a member of the editorial boards of the Mariner's Mirror and The Journal for Maritime Research. He continued to lead the Leverhulme-funded 'Sustaining the Empire' project, giving a paper at the 5th International Congress of Maritime History on 'The political economy of victualling the Navy, 1793-1815'. In November 2007 he gave the Society for Nautical Research's 2008 Annual Lecture at the Royal Society of Antiquaries in November 2007. This was published in the Mariner's Mirror, entitled 'Politics and Trust in victualling the Navy, 1793-1815' (vol. 94, May 2008, pp.133-149). He also published 'Apoyo logistico britanico a los bloqueos navales y operaciones anfibas, 1793-1815' in Agustin Guimera and Jose Nunes, Guerra Naval en la Revolucion y el Imperio (Madrid, 2008) pp.99-119, the proceedings of the Ferrol conference of July 2007.

Professor Sarah Palmer continued to serve as a Trustee of National Museums Liverpool.  She was Chair of the British Commission for Maritime History. She was a Vice-President of the Marine Society & Sea Cadets. She was a member of the Chamber of Shipping ‘Sea Vision UK’ core group and of the Greenwich Forum. She was Chair of the University of Greenwich Research Ethics Committee. She served on the editorial boards of the International Journal of Maritime History, The Mariner’s Mirror, the Journal for Maritime Research, The Great Circle and Northern Mariner. In October 2007 she gave a paper ‘British shipping from the late 19^th century to the present’ at a University of Oslo workshop on International Merchant Shipping in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: the comparative dimension and in November spoke at the River Medway Business Users Association Annual Dinner on ‘Kent and the Sea’. Her article on the same topic appeared in Archaeologia Cantiana, Volume CXXVIII, in Spring 2008. She also spoke on ‘Teaching Maritime Policy and Maritime Management’ at the 2^nd International Maritime Conference, Karachi, Pakistan, in February. She was appointed Honorary Research Fellow of the National Centre for Maritime Policy Research, Bahria University, Pakistan.

Dr Martin Wilcox spoke at the 41^st Exeter Maritime History Conference in September on ‘ “This great complex concern”: Victualling the Royal Navy on the East Indies Station, 1783-1815’ and on ‘Naval victualling and mercantile Ports, 1793-1815’’ at the Port Projects Workshop at Hull in October.  He gave a paper on ‘Adaptation and decline: apprenticed labour in the British mercantile marine, 1850-1939’, at the British Commission for Maritime History seminar in February 2008 and delivered two papers at the 5th International Congress of Maritime History in June: ‘ “The want of sufficient Men”: Labour recruitment and training in the British fisheries, 1750-1939.’ and ‘Victualling the Royal Navy on distant stations, 1793-1815’. He also completed work on his book, Fishing and Fishermen: A Guide for Family Historians, to be published by Pen & Sword in March 2009.

Dr Minghua Zhao continued to serve as a core member in the University's China Working Group as a senior advisor in the Chinese Students and Scholars Association (UG), and as an Honorary Visiting Professor in Beijing Normal Univeristy and in Nanyang University, China. She was invited to attend the 2008 Shenzhen International Maritime Forum on Seafarers Development in April in Shenzhen, and her paper 'Recruitment of the Chinese Seafarers for Foreign Ships: Main Actors, Their Roles and Relationships' was being published in the Forum's Collection of Theses (Beijing: People's Transportation Press). In June 2008, she presented two papers 'Rapid Increase in Global Trade Fisheries Products and Labour Implications' and 'Fighting Winds and Waves' to the 5th International Congress of Martime History. Then in early July she participated in the 16th Annual Conference of the International Employment Relations, in Nimegen, the Netherlands, where she spoke on 'Globalisation and Diversification of Labour at Sea: a case from the world shipping industry' as was elected as Vice-Chair (Asia) of the International Emplyment Relations Association.

Doctoral Awards

PhD Maritime Studies:

Award of Masters Degrees

The following dissertations were submitted by students awarded the degree of MBA in Maritime Management:

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

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

* Awarded the degree with distinction