Warships for a Global Empire: Shipbuidling and the Maritime Registry in Spain, America and the Philippines during the Long Eighteenth Century (1670-1834)

Abstract

Abstract
The purpose of the present article is to outline the industrial policies developed by the Spanish Monarchy for the production of warships during the long Eighteenth century (1670-1834), in Spain, America and the Philippines. Its main hypothesis is that an important element to complete our understanding of the administrative systems of Spanish naval shipbuilding is the relationship between the State, the entrepreneurs dedicated to this aspect of the armaments industry, and the specialised workforce recruited through the registry of maritime professions known as Matrícula de Mar. This line of argumentation intersects with the historiographical debate dedicated to understand the State-building process of imperial Spain through the two main administrative methods employed in its armaments industries (private contracting and direct state administration). The Matrícula de Mar allowed the Spanish crown to create new militarised corporations of shipbuilding workers and, from the last third of the Eighteenth century it followed a consistent policy of concentrating the shipbuilding contracts on small-scale entrepreneurs belonging to these corporations. This had important implications for the meaning of the alternative between private contracting and direct state administration. The article also details the peculiarities of shipbuilding administration in Spanish America and Asia, through the expansion of the Matrícula de Mar.