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UID:pretalx-wha-annual-meeting-korea-2026-3N7AGV@pretalx.com
DTSTART;TZID=KST:20260625T093000
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DESCRIPTION:The global circulation of trading vessels in the late age of sa
 il depended on a host of technological and environmental pre-conditions.  
 One was ballast\, a heavy\, dense material placed in the hull of ships to 
 ensure stability against the lateral force of wind and wave. In most regio
 ns\, some mixture of stone\, gravel or sand served this function and elabo
 rate mechanisms emerged to supply and safely dispose of discarded ballast 
 to protect harbours and navigation channels.  In many long-distance trades
 \, mariners sought alternatives in commercial goods that could also perfor
 m the ballast function\, frequently referred to as saleable ballast.  The 
 East India Companies\, for example\, frequently shipped saltpetre and cowr
 y shells to Europe rather than the “dead freight” of stone ballast.  A
  somewhat distinctive trade in iron ballast\, referred to as kentledge\, e
 merged in England in the seventeenth century for East Indiamen sailing to 
 Indian Ocean ports. While the intention was to sell iron bars on arrival i
 n south Asia\, over time the East India Company came to rely on kentledge 
 as a ballast that circulated through the complete voyage cycle\, travellin
 g from England to Asia and back again.  In the early eighteenth century\, 
 the British Navy similarly adopted kentledge as an important ballast mater
 ial\; by the end of the century\, other world navies began to carry kentle
 dge as well. This paper explores the emergence of kentledge as an importan
 t long-distance trade and naval technology\, and considers its virtual abs
 ence from the historiography of global commodity trades and naval expansio
 n.  Rather than fully displacing stone ballast\, or offering a saleable ba
 llast as may have been the original intention\, kentledge emerged as an im
 portant\, complementary technology that compressed the space needed for st
 one ballast with important implications for trade and naval practice.
DTSTAMP:20260412T140202Z
LOCATION:Room 208 (Seats 40)
SUMMARY:Kentledge: Iron Ballast in the Late Age of Sail\, 1700-1800 - Matth
 ew Evenden
URL:https://pretalx.com/wha-annual-meeting-korea-2026/talk/3N7AGV/
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