IMEHA2012 – 6th Congress of Maritime History, 2-6th July 2012, Ghent

It is now four years since the Greenwich Maritime Institute hosted the 5th International Congress of Maritime History and the baton has now been passed on the University of Ghent who are hosting the 6th congress in the series.
The delegation representing the GMI is formed of Professor Sarah Palmer, Chris Ware, Victoria Carolan, Richard Bateman, Gina Balta and myself, as well as various other graduates, colleagues and friends.
Over 300 maritime historians are expected to arrive throughout the duration of the conference and it kicked off with a wonderful welcome reception last night at the Ghent Museum.
Today the conference is in full swing with papers already presented on: Marine resources and environmental sustainability; British imperialism and the transformation of violence at sea; Nordic Shipping from 1960; Adapting trade to warfare 1700-2000; Ports and Cities in the Atlantic World; to name just a few and emphasise the variety of papers included.
This afternoon we are looking forward to Victoria Carolan presenting ‘A Girl in Every Port: Maritime Comedy Films 1900-1960’ and Martin Wilcox on ‘A record of abortive and devoid of achievement? The British distant-water fishery and the White Fish Authority, 1951-1981’.
Tomorrow we look forward to participating in another day of the conference, in Antwerp.

To see more information please see the congress websitre: http://www.imeha2012.ugent.be/

Suzanne Louail, Ghent