The period 1870-1930 saw the continued rise and precipitous decline of the British coastal trade. Coastal shipping had been a crucial component in industrialization, transporting low-value, high-bulk goods such as coal, corn, bricks and slates which were essential to the growth of towns and industry. In the early nineteenth century its volume increased steadily as the economy expanded, and specialization led to an increased movement of goods from lowcost areas to centres of consumption. The coastal trade continued to expand until the First World War and in many ways was at its zenith just before that conflict. However, the Great War brought an abrupt end to this long period of expansion. In the 1920s, although there was growth from the very low wartime levels, the prewar volume of activity was never achieved, and the interwar period saw the British coastal trade stagnate. This chapter will oudine and explain the trends in each of these three sub-periods. In so doing the role and economics of the coastal ship will become apparent.

Apogee, 1870-1914

The period 1870-1914 saw the British coastal trade at an apogee. This high point can be demonstrated in a variety of ways. The number and tonnage of ships with cargoes entering the harbours of the UK in the coasting trade rose continuously between 1870 and 1913. A dense network of coastal lines had developed which linked virtually all major ports with regular, fast and scheduled services. The coastal collier was moving an increasing quantity of coal from the producing regions, especially the North East of England and South Wales, to the consuming areas, particularly London and the South East. In addition, the screw collier took on die competition offered by the railways and from the 1890s regained the lion's share of the coal trade to London, carrying more than the railway companies each year save two from then until the First World War. In the last years of the nineteenth century and the early years of the twentieth, the coaster was performing about as much work as the railway system as a whole if measured in ton-miles. Finally, the coaster was extensively used for passenger traffic, both as a means of business and pleasure travel, and increasingly in the last decade or so of the nineteenth century as part of the nascent mass leisure industry.