Bermuda’s maritime economy which included fishing, whaling, ship and boat building, the overseas carrying trade, smuggling and privateering, dominated the island for most of the 18th century.
The chief activity involved shipbuilding and Bermuda sloops had many advantages: they were fast, durable and small enough to navigate the shallowest of bays and coastlines. After the demise of the Somers Islands Company in 1684, Bermuda’s fleet increased dramatically as part of a significant British expansion. From the middle of the 17th century, when the Protectorate under Oliver Cromwell was established, there was a large-scale investment in the British maritime fleet and a legal infrastructure was put in place to protect it from overseas competition, especially Dutch. Thus Bermuda’s developing maritime economy benefited indirectly from legislation that protected British trade in British colonial possessions.
The economy developed, however, in a dangerous Atlantic World.
For much of the 18th century Britain was at war with various powerful kingdoms. The War of the Spanish Succession, which started in 1701, ended the Dutch threat to British interests and France, with its monarch Louis IV dedicated to colonial expansion in the Americas, became the dominant enemy. Wars between France and Britain continued until 1815. Spain also built up its own naval fleet, becoming the second largest naval power by the end of the 18th century.
The effect of the maritime economy on Bermuda’s population was profound. A large proportion of its men, in a society that enjoyed a female numerical predominance, was involved. So frequently were they away from the island that the House of Assembly was often without a quorum, much to the irritation of the governors of the island.
Bermudians sometimes protected their trade as it they were a sovereign power, deciding who would be their trading partners regardless of what nation was at war with the mother country. For example, during the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763), when Great Britain and France fought for control of North America, Bermudians engaged in trade with France’s colonial possessions.
The American War of Independence made a great difference to Bermuda’s maritime economy. Ports were either closed or taxes to enter them raised and much of the Caribbean Basin became less open to entrepreneurial mariners. For a time privateering continued to fill the gap but this too came to an end by the close of the 18th century. The economy declined further after the end of the War of 1812.
Then the Industrial Revolution threatened Bermuda’s maritime enterprise with the development of steam power and iron-hulled ships. By the time of the US Civil War in 1861, even the shipbuilding element was negligible.
If there was a carrying trade, it was in the transportation to US markets of the products of a new economy – agriculture.
Bermuda Architectural Heritage Series: Pembroke published in Bermuda in 2017
Available from the Bermuda National Trust www.bnt.bm
