In the eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the maritime and social histories of the South-West of England were inextricably linked. The chapters in this volume cover important topics such as: Weymouth as a packet station; Morwellham’s trade and shipping in the nineteenth century; education provision in Plymouth for the mercantile marine; the status and position of ship’s engineers; the story of the Magic – a Westcountry schooner in the Mediterranean; the account books of the Batten Castle, a small home-trading vessel; the rise of Ilfracombe as a seaside resort.