Early Nineteenth-Century Shipowning—A Chapter in Business Enterprise

Abstract

Until the close of the Civil War, shipowning was one of the principal forms of capital investment along our northern seaboard. Gradually, investors found other outlets for their surplus wealth in government funds, in bank and insurance stocks; in railroads, and in factories. Although its relative importance had declined, shipowning reached its peak on the eve of the Civil War. After that, it declined sharply.