The postal service had, and still has today, a large number of backward and forward linkages with many parts of the economy. The transportation sector also plays a central role, with historical links to the delivery of the mail ranged from stage coaches to railway post offices to the establishment of air mail. Oceanic shipping was no exception and the emergence of regular intercontinental voyages was strongly linked to the demand for regular communication between the continents.
The Royal Mail Steam Packet Company (RMSPC), the subject of Robert E. Forrester's book, was the private response to this demand between Britain and South America. The book covers the firm's entire lifetime, 1840 to 1965, tracking the rise and eventual fall of liner shipping from the initial growth of postal packet contracts to the changes brought by the rise of the shipping container. The author proceeds chronologically, devoting roughly one chapter to each decade of operations. The author weaves together financial results, developments in company strategy and management, information about the RMSPC's fleet, and technical developments in shipping and infrastructure. Each of these chapters also provides the contemporary economic backdrop as it describes the economic and political developments in South America, focused in particular on their relevance for trade between Britain and that continent.
The company operated in other regions at times, but the book focuses on the South American routes. The RMSPC served other routes via subsidiaries and deals with other firms, so the exclusion of most other routes is understandable. The omission of connections with the West Indies is, however, more questionable. From the company's inception its ships served ports located in that part of the world, often using them as intermediate stops on routes to and from South America. This combination of routes also shaped the RMSPC's financial accounts, which did not distinguish between results from the South American and other routes. The book's focus may reflect the author's personal history: he was a deck officer on RMSPC line ships to South America for ten years in the 1950s and 1960s. This first-hand experience at sea shines through in the more technical and practical descriptions of the company's operations. The book also reflects particular understanding of the importance of port infrastructure.
Given the relevance of information transmission for the rise of the company, however, there is a curious absence of material on technical developments in this area. The communication between the company and its fleet of ships is never really discussed. Submarine ocean cables reached South America soon after the successful transatlantic link between Britain and the United States was laid in 1866, and Marconi's wireless telegraph three decades later enabled direct communication with ships at sea. Both clearly had to have affected the firm's operations, but are not discussed.
The book takes a descriptive rather than an analytical approach. It chronicles one company's operations rather than drawing out a structural, long-term analysis of trends in the shipping business. The author competently identifies major changes, including the decline of the postal contract, the rise of refrigeration and migration, the emergence of shipping conglomerates and, finally, the impact of the two World Wars. However, the author presents the company's reactions to whatever is happening in a particular decade rather than giving a more encompassing perspective on how these trends shaped the company's development in general.
This central focus on the RMSPC's operations is also reflected in the source material underlying the book. The author uses archival records exclusively drawn from company sources. He does not include material from related organisations such as the Post Office, Admiralty, Foreign Office, or the company's banks and competitors. Similarly, the book pays only limited attention to foreign competition, although this focus on Britain does reinforce the importance the author assigns to shipping for Britain's commercial ties and success in South America.
The book's central theme may interest primarily a narrow audience of maritime and business historians. But it contains a wealth of information for researchers in other areas. One example is the company's fleet list in the appendix, which provides data on technical progress in shipping over more than a century. More generally, the author provides a valuable contribution illuminating the inner workings of a particular sector that is closely linked to the rise of international trade.
