Category:Ship Brokers

Background

A shipbroker is a middleman, ‘a conduit pipe connecting two other parties’, as one modern writer has described the role. But a broker was also an entrepreneur: shippers expected a deep understanding of market conditions so they could take full advantage of commercial opportunities, and they relied on their broker to negotiate the most favourable terms of contract. (E.J. Edward, Shipbrokers and the Law, Glasgow: Brown, Son & Ferguson, 1957, p.17; Nicholas Gaskell, ‘Shipbrokers as Intermediaries in English Law’, in K. Gronfors (ed.), Intermediaries in Shipping, Gothenburg Maritime Law Association, 1991, pp.43-113)

The core business of shipbroking lies in buying and selling vessels and negotiating charters. In the late 18th century, however, brokers were also involved in organising surveys and fitting out ships, arranging insurance on both vessel and cargo, finding convoys, obtaining export permits and navigation licences, and securing quarantine and customs clearances. They acted as forwarding agents. They provided shipping intelligence. They undertook commissions on behalf of ships’ captains, collecting debts and providing short-term finance to defray necessary expenses. They appeared in Admiralty prize courts to defend their clients’ interests. They acted as agents in the disposal of cargoes seized by privateers.

[This description is based on an analysis of the business activities of William Richards & Son, Richards & Fernie and Richards & Moore, and the operations of two Nantucket Quakers, Robert Calef and John Chuter, who operated a brokerage in London at this time. (Calef and Chuter Letterbook, 1783-1796, Rhodes House Library, Oxford, MSS. Brit. Emp. s.3)]

- Gary L. Sturgess, 11 March 2016