Ship Registers and Enrollments of New Orleans, Louisiana: 1851-1860
Written by Survey of Federal Archives (U.S.)
406 pages, about 8 hours of reading
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About this book
This work by Survey of Federal Archives (U.S.) offers readers a unique literary experience. The narrative explores themes of ship registers.
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Themes, characters and key ideas in Ship Registers and Enrollments of New Orleans, Louisiana: 1851-1860, written by Chaptra AI.
- about 20 hours
- advanced
- Informative
- Historical
- Factual
This volume is a meticulous compilation of official ship registers and enrollments for the port of New Orleans, Louisiana, covering the decade from 1851 to 1860. Published by the Survey of Federal Archives, it serves as an invaluable primary source document, detailing vessels, their characteristics, owners, masters, and dates of registration. The book offers a statistical and factual snapshot of maritime commerce in a pivotal Southern port just prior to the American Civil War, providing foundational data for economic historians, maritime researchers, and genealogists. Its purpose is to present raw historical data, enabling deep insights into the antebellum economy and shipping industry without offering narrative interpretation.
“Example entry: 'Ship: Sea Serpent, Type: Brig, Tonnage: 250, Master: John Smith, Owner: Mercantile & Co., Date: 1855-07-20, Port of Registry: New Orleans'”
Key themes
- Maritime Commerce and Trade
- The central 'theme' explored by the book is the sheer volume and diversity of maritime commerce flowing through the port of New Orleans. The data provides a quantitative basis for understanding the port's role as a gateway for goods, particularly from the Mississippi River basin, to national and international markets. It details the types of vessels involved, their capacities, and the frequency of their registration, all indicative of a bustling trade economy.
- Economic Development of Antebellum New Orleans
- The register provides direct evidence for the economic vitality and growth of New Orleans in the decade leading up to the Civil War. By tracking new registrations and enrollments, researchers can infer periods of expansion, the emergence of new shipping lines, and the overall health of the city's commercial sector, which was heavily reliant on its port as the primary outlet for vast agricultural production.
- Pre-Civil War Southern Economy and Society
- This register offers a granular view into a critical component of the Southern economy before the Civil War. New Orleans was the largest city in the South and its primary port, making its maritime activity a strong indicator of the region's economic strength, its reliance on slave-produced commodities (though not explicitly detailed in the register, implied by the historical context of Southern trade), and its connections to broader national and international markets.
Worth discussing
What insights can be gleaned from the raw data about the economic priorities and trade networks of New Orleans in the decade before the Civil War?
Chapter-by-chapter breakdowns, character arcs and the full thematic analysis come with a free account.
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