Rules for the More Uniform Masting and Sparring of Merchant Ships ... to Which is Appended ... the Scale of Victualling Recommended by the Liverpool Ship-Owners' Association

Liverpool: Wareing Webb, [1843?]. First Edition. Stitched as issued.. Very good; small 19th century stamp on the last page; marginal snag to last leaf (no loss).. 8vo, 16 pp.

Chapman was chair of the Liverpool ship registry. A remarkable pamphlet that serves to mark the change in British overseas commerce. Chapman states that ship owners and captains had, until recently, been accustomed to what he describes as a Baltic and "coasting trade" and were now experiencing an adjustment by the rapid expansion in the deep water foreign trade. The waning of the overseas companies and opening of the China trade now necessitated better ships and skills. He goes on to directly address the fallacy that increasing the square rigging of a ship would thereby increase speed and then to the rigging and masting itself. A versatile and compelling read.