Sewing a Safety Net: Scarborough's Maritime Community, 1747-1765

Open Access

Abstract

From 1747 to 1765 Scarborough created a safety net to keep its maritime dependents from becoming impoverished. A web of kinship connections that permitted sailors to move between land and sea as well as between maritime roles as they aged; the employment of maritime servants; the extensive hiring of elderly seamen; the use of the Seamen's Sixpence after legislative reform in 1747 to develop locally operated seamen's hospitals for the benefit of sailors and their families; and strong community support of the hospitals worked together to provide a social safety net that was, by eighteenth century standards, robust and effective.