This talk does not seek to make the bulk carrier sexy, but does aim to show that these vessels have an essential role in world trade. With a deadweight of 400,000 tons, the fifty or so Valemax ore carriers are the largest dry cargo ships yet built. Yet in concept they are no different from the ‘John Bowes’ of 1851. The talk will show how this screw collier begat the steam tramp, which begat the motor tramp, and finally the modern bulk carrier. It will also explain the huge significance these ships have for international trade, for industry, for globalisation and indeed the whole modern economy.

Biography: Roy Fenton’s major research interest is in cargo-carrying steamers and motor ships, their construction and operation. In 2005 he was awarded a PhD for his thesis on the transition from sail to steam in the British coastal bulk trades, which established the importance of the east coast coal trade in opening up this sector to steam ships. As well as a number of papers in Mariners’ Mirror, he is the author of some 30 books on cargo ships and the companies that ran them.

Speaker: Dr Roy Fenton, Independent Researcher and Fellow of the British Commission for Maritime History