Shipping and Commodity Flows in the Late Eighteenth-Century Baltic

Abstract

This study aims to present a comprehensive overall picture of the late 18th-century shipping and maritime trade in the Baltic Sea area. This is done by constructing systematic quantitative series of its volume and scope. Even its international importance is discussed. The principal data consists of the Sound Toll Records in their different incarnations, from the Sound Toll Tables to the modern online database (STRO). In addition, data on intra-Baltic shipping has been collected from the Swedish manuscript foreign trade statistics, newspapers published in Danzig, St. Petersburg, Lübeck and Copenhagen as well as from contemporary statistical publications. The Sound Toll Records (as well as most other sources referred to above) only register the numbers of ships, or voyages, while tonnages of ships were not recorded in the 18th century. On the other hand, detailed data about cargoes was collected and from this data the overall commodity volumes can be estimated. This has been done by applying so-called stowage ratios which tell us how much cargo (cubic metres per ton) different commodities required on board ships. The resulting estimates indicate that the commodity flows through the Sound grew very fast (c. 2% a year) from the 1750s to the beginning of the French Revolutionary Wars. The volumes of intra-Baltic cargoes (which amounted to about 2/5 of the former) also increased almost as quickly. Such growth rates were very rare in 18th-century Europe. Even compared to certain other important sectors of maritime trade these rates and/or volumes were high, clearly exceeding those of e.g. Far East and West Indian shipping.