The impact of technological advances on the environment has become an essential topic in academic
research and contemporary discourse. The maritime transport industry hasattracted plenty of
attention, yet, the link between technological innovation in shipping and the rise of environmental
and health-related issues among its workers isstill largely unexplored in historical terms.
PollSTEAM proposesan innovative approach to maritime studies by adopting an environmental
perspective on the transition from sail to steam in shipping since the mid-19th century.Rethinking
technological change in terms of environment and labour will reframe and readdress a recent
research object of maritime history from an original angle, sensitive to contemporary
environmentalist and healthcare solicitations.
PollSTEAM’s objective is to examine how the advent of steam shipping altered European maritime
societies from an environmental perspective. Two specific research subjects will be targeted:
waterfronts and seafarers in Genoa and Liverpool between 1830s and 1920. Firstly, I will analyse
how the adoption of steam technology affected the natural and anthropic environment of port cities,
especially on the changing relationship between port and city, where a constant detachment is
observed. Port cities were materially transformed by the increasing presence of steamships, not
only in terms of space but also of environmental impact. I will investigate how the city-port
relationships were modified, especially the role of institutions, public opinion and urban
society. Secondly, steamships are regarded as working environments. I intend to trace the emergence
of environmentalist and health-related discourses among seafarers and to assess steam pollution’s
health impact on them, which can be confronted with data on mortality and morbidity in the age of
sail to reconceptualise with medical data the notion of steamships as deadly workplaces.
