Summary
Summary of The Old East Indiamen
Key ideas
Key idea 1
Ships connect seamanship and commerce
E. Keble Chatterton puts merchant sailing ships at the centre of a history of trade between Europe and Asia. The East Indiamen carried the English East India Company's goods, but their story reaches beyond what lay in their holds. Their construction, crews and voyages help explain why this trade mattered so much to Britain.
The book brings seamanship and commerce together: the business depended on ships, and the ships depended on people who knew how to sail them.
Key idea 2
Ocean trade depended on strong ships
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Key idea 3
Strength and capacity shaped the Indiaman
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Key idea 4
Life aboard depended on one another
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Key idea 5
Sea routes carried trade and influence
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Key idea 6
Merchant service called for courage
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Key idea 7
Changing trade left the Indiaman behind
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Key idea 8
Every cargo joined skill and risk
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The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
Read the rest freeWho it’s for
For readers who love sailing ships, naval and trade history, or the roots of the British Empire in Asia.
What this book is
The Old East Indiamen is a work of maritime history by E. Keble Chatterton, a British writer who spent his career on ships, sailing and the sea. It deals with the big merchant vessels that carried the trade of the English East India Company between Europe and Asia, in the age of sail.
The book gives you a picture of these ships and the world they worked in: how they were built and manned, what the long voyages were like, and why the trade mattered so much to Britain. It reads as a story of seamanship and commerce together. Let us begin with the Company and the ships it needed.
In this summary
- 1A trading company needed ocean shipsFree
- 2The Indiaman was a ship of its own kind
- 3Life aboard ran by rank and routine
- 4The sea routes shaped the trade
- 5Danger came from weather and from enemies
- 6The end of an era of sail
Key point 1 of 6
A trading company needed ocean ships
The East India Company began as a group of London merchants who wanted a share in the rich trade of the East. Spices, cloth, tea and other goods lay across oceans, and only strong ships could reach them. Chatterton treats the ships as the heart of the story, because without them the Company could not have lived.
The early voyages were risky ventures. Ships sailed from England around the southern tip of Africa and on to India and the Spice Islands, often taking many months. Storms, disease and rival powers were constant dangers.
This part of the story shows why the Company built up its own kind of vessel. The sea route was long, the cargoes were costly, and a lost ship could ruin investors. The ship became a tool of business as much as of travel.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Check yourself
Why did the builders of East Indiamen favour strength and capacity?
Right. “It had to carry heavy cargo, stores for a long voyage, passengers and guns for defence.”Not quite. “It had to carry heavy cargo, stores for a long voyage, passengers and guns for defence.”
How did regular sea routes help trade grow into imperial power?
Right. “Where ships went regularly, forts, trading posts and political influence tended to follow, and so the sea paths helped build an empire.”Not quite. “Where ships went regularly, forts, trading posts and political influence tended to follow, and so the sea paths helped build an empire.”
What does Chatterton's account of danger show about merchant service?
Right. “They show that the merchant service needed courage as well as skill, and that profit and risk always travelled together.”Not quite. “They show that the merchant service needed courage as well as skill, and that profit and risk always travelled together.”
Questions about The Old East Indiamen
What is The Old East Indiamen about?
It is a history of the large merchant sailing ships used by the English East India Company, covering their design, crews, routes and dangers, and how this sea trade helped Britain build influence in Asia.
What was an East Indiaman?
An East Indiaman was a big, strongly built merchant ship used in the East India Company's trade. It carried cargo and passengers on long voyages to India and the Far East, and was armed for defence.
Who was E. Keble Chatterton?
He was a British author who wrote widely on ships, sailing and naval history in the early twentieth century. He died in 1944 and was known for books written for general readers.
Is The Old East Indiamen hard to read?
No. The book follows one clear story, from the Company's first need for ships to the end of the age of sail. Each part takes one subject, such as the ships, the crews or the routes, and tells it through real voyages and people.
Why did the East India Company need its own ships?
Trade with Asia meant long, costly and risky voyages. Strong, well-armed ships were needed to carry valuable cargo safely over great distances and to guard against storms, pirates and rival powers.
