The Secret of Smugglers Cove: Illicit trade networks in the maritime worlds of the long eighteenth century

The research I propose concerns the nature, composition, and function of maritime smuggling networks in the long eighteenth century. To what extent were smugglers on opposite sides of the world connected to each other? How was commercial, geographic, political, and operational information disseminated between smugglers? Who were the key actors driving and connecting illicit markets? To answer these questions, I plan to gather a new and substantial dataset of smugglers and their social and commercial entanglements and use this to analyse networks of illicit trade. I will use purpose built software (such as Gephi) and methods developed in network theory, marrying this abstracted analysis with a qualitative exploration of archival sources to uncover the hidden connections and knowledges that held the international smuggling economy together.

The methodology I propose for my doctoral study stems from the network mapping methods I employed while researching my honours dissertation on smuggling in colonial Australia. I had discovered that though most people prosecuted for smuggling in the colony were working class men, the operations they were implicated in seemed beyond their financial capabilities. On closer examination, these smugglers appeared to be connected to certain wealthy businessmen, who were themselves interconnected, serving on the same boards, sharing commercial premises, and marrying into one another's families. I visualised these relationships, mapping out by hand the points of contact between the people involved, and found that many seemingly unrelated smuggling incidents were in fact grouped around certain parties within the mercantile elite. I hope to expand this methodology further in my doctoral study, developing the mapping process into a formal network analysis built on network theory and social science techniques. The initial year of masters training in these methods included in the 1+3 studentship will be crucial in equipping me with the knowledge and skills required to conduct this research.

Illicit trade touched every corner of the earth, and the same class of mariners and merchants who smuggled in the Caribbean also smuggled in London, Cape Town, Sydney, and Canton. Illicit trade in the long eighteenth century was fetterless and truly global: my doctoral research, sadly, cannot be. However, I am loathe to impose a geographical constraint on my historical stage. The extent of the international interconnection held by the highly mobile actors at play is lost in a rigidly territorial history. Instead, I propose a research scope defined socially rather than geographically, with bounds dictated by the extent of smugglers' networks. Structurally, this will allow me to closely investigate specific networks as comparative case studies whilst gathering data for a larger-scale analysis of these networks in their global context.

This data also holds the potential for future collaborative projects. The social and commercial links I uncover between smugglers around the globe are likely to be reflected in similar connections to other smugglers outside my research. Publishing my data, for example on a public website developed in partnership with a university or museum, could provide an opportunity for other researchers to find 'bridges' between networks of illicit trade in my research and their own, adding breadth and context to their analyses. These researchers could also be invited to contribute their own data to this project with the goal of building a publicly accessible map of interconnected global smuggling networks, useful not only for further research on illicit trade but also for local, social, economic histories more broadly, both inside and outside the academy.