This thesis is an examination of the history of Salter Bros Ltd and the firms connected with it. Founded in 1858, it became not only one of the most important businesses associated with the recent history of the Upper Thames, but also a significant employer in Oxford. The study takes a thematic approach, which involves examining the five main areas of the firm’s commercial activities, which were: providing services for the sport of rowing (chapter 1), boat-building (chapter 2), boat-letting (chapter 3), passenger boat operating (chapter 4) and property development (chapter 5). This thesis draws on the firm’s archive, which has previously been unavailable to scholars. The mainly quantitative data from the archive is contextualised by reference to wider qualitative sources, although there is not always much comparative information to draw on. Finally, it focuses on the evolution of the workforce, which shows how the business managed to survive both the impact of the industrialisation of Oxford in the twentieth century and some of the challenges associated with family firms (chapter 6). By examining the areas shown above, the work sheds light on our understanding of (1) the socio-economic context of Oxford and the Thames, (2) the development of different forms of water-based leisure, and (3) how a family firm overcame some of the classic weaknesses of such businesses. Chapter 1 analyses the contribution that the firm made to the sport of rowing. The family moved to a riverside tavern in the mid-1830s and this resulted in heavy involvement with the rowing scene. They made a successful transition from professional oarsmen to successful racing boat-builders, which led to John and Stephen Salter moving to Oxford to start their own business in 1858. By exploiting the strong local rowing scene they built their firm up to be the market leader in the 1860s. Supplying craft for the Oxford and Cambridge (university) boat race was important for helping the business gain worldwide fame and, although Salters’ lost the ascendency in the 1870s, it provided a wide range of services for the sport until the second half of the twentieth century. It then slowly became divorced from the rowing scene and, despite a brief renaissance in the 1970s, the company finally bowed out of racing boat construction at the end of the 1980s. Chapter 2 explores the development of the boat-building side of the business. The firm was a major producer of craft and it was especially busy in the late 1920s and late 1970s, when new products helped to stimulate demand. By examining four areas of expertise (steel manufacturing, motorised boats, corporation craft and fibreglass construction) it becomes clear that the business was relatively slow to embrace new technology. Yet although it was not particularly innovative, Salters’ successfully exploited a number of emerging markets, like supplying craft for council-run boating lakes from the 1920s onwards. After a period of decline in the 1960s, the firm’s boat-building department was briefly revived by the introduction of fibreglass construction in the following decade, although this brought to an end skilled craftsmanship in the industry. Salters’ had to be flexible in order to survive, as is shown by the contract work it took on during the two World Wars, but in the second half of the twentieth century the firm’s focus moved away from boat-building towards providing leisure services. Chapter 3 examines the nature and timing of the rise of pleasure boating on the Thames and Salters’ role in promoting it. The railway destroyed much of the carrying trade on the river, but the waterway gained a new lease of life by the rise of leisure activities on it. Different types of boating were popular at different times and certain waterside locations were busier than others, but it is possible to discern short-term peaks in pleasure boating on the Upper Thames, as a whole, in the early 1890s and either side of the First World War (although the river became busier still after the Second World War). There were many factors contributing to the rise of leisure on the waterway, but Salters’ helped to popularise ‘the Thames trip’ between London and Oxford, which was linked to the growth of camping. The firm’s fortunes were also closely tied to the local market and by the late 1880s it had one of the largest fleets of rental craft in the country. Salters’ had to diversify according to changing fashions in pleasure boating, but after the 1920s there was a slow reduction in the number of craft it operated, until it stopped boat-letting altogether in the early 1990s – although this side of the business was revived a decade later, albeit on a smaller scale. Chapter 4 explores the firm’s involvement with passenger services on the waterway. The long-distance steamboat trips took much longer to become established on the Upper Thames, because of the logistical problems caused by having to pass through locks. Salters’ was the first business to make a success of running between Oxford and Kingston and it did this by forging a close association with the railway, which opened up the river to the day-trip market, and by building up its fleet to establish a monopoly over the long-distance journey. The service had to overcome many challenges, but one of the most serious problems it faced was the growth in pleasure boating after the Second World War. Although passenger numbers on the steamers peaked in the 1970s, general traffic on the river also reached record levels, which caused significant delays and forced the firm to end the through-service between Oxford and Kingston. Furthermore, by catering for the growing demand for shorter round trips Salters’ was drawn into direct competition with other companies that were already focused on this market. By the end of the twentieth century, the firm was no longer dominating the waterway and it was heavily reliant on income from both its home city of Oxford and private parties. Chapter 5 examines the extent and significance of the property the firm came to occupy. Salters’ acquired many new properties in order to expand the business and the firm’s success also enabled it to accumulate residential accommodation, which was part of the employment package offered to its staff, as well as being a source of rental income. The commercial sites were useful for preventing competitors from encroaching on the firm’s territory, whilst they were also subsequently used for further development. Most importantly, the property was a reservoir of capital that Salters’ relied upon in times of financial hardship. Chapter 6 focuses on how the workforce evolved in the twentieth century, which sheds light on how the business survived both the industrialisation of Oxford and some of the challenges associated with family firms. Salters’ went from being an employer with a highly skilled and local workforce to one that had fewer specialised craftsmen and which recruited mainly from outside the city. This was symptomatic of the city’s employment market that had been transformed by the motor industry in the interwar period, as well as the firm’s greater focus on its passenger boats, which was connected with it. Salters’ had to be flexible to accommodate the changes, but it was unable to compete with the high wages offered in the car factories and a shortage of local labour meant that it not only struggled to retain employees, particularly its skilled craftsmen, but standards of discipline also deteriorated. Nevertheless, the impact of wage competition was mitigated by the firm’s paternalism and the considerable appeal of working on the passenger boats. The latter offered an enjoyable lifestyle that was very different from the working environment of other waterway communities. The Salter family also played an important part in the survival of their company.

This thesis presents a first archaeological introduction to the study of Byzantine ports, harbours and other coastal installations in the region of Thessaly. Thessaly not only constitutes an ideal region to gain equal information for the Early- to the Late Byzantine periods, but also to compare independent regional and imperial central building activities. However, in particular Thessaly’s maritime connectivity has never been studied in detail before. As such, a first step into a terra incognita, the thesis is divided into two main sections: In order to conceptualize the study of harbour sites, the thesis first sets up a framework for the definition, understanding and interpretation of the physical features of harbours and their function and purpose. Taking into account influencing environmental conditions, such as natural, economic, social and political components, this helps to determine an accurate hierarchical model and to illustrate the interrelationship between different types and forms of harbour sites. Subsequently, comprehensive archaeological investigations around the island of Skiathos and other harbour sites in Thessaly, executed in 2012 and 2013, are set against this theoretical groundwork. In contrast to the common approach of regional studies, where a first general overview is followed by individual detailed case-studies, the opposite methodology is undertaken in order to achieve a systematic study of the Thessalian harbours and the complexity of their network system. Consequently, the collection of data starts from the analysis of a distinct area of a region and continues with the broader regional picture of primary ports, secondary harbours and staple markets. Functioning as an important junction of the Aegean shipping lanes and being involved in regional as well as supra-regional trade and port networks, focus is therefore primarily dedicated to the island of Skiathos. A joint survey project in cooperation with the Greek Ephorate for Underwater Antiquities (EEA), the 13th Greek Ephorate for Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities and the 7th Greek Ephorate for Byzantine Antiquities was initiated by the author in 2012. A number of sites, including harbour installations and other coastal infrastructures, have been detected, documented and subsequently verified by geophysical prospections, using a Sub-bottom profiler and Side-Scan Sonar, in 2013. These have allowed to draw a clear historical picture of architectural developments, port networks and changes in the socio-economic connectivity of the area. Followed by a close investigation of further harbour sites throughout the entire region of Thessaly during two field seasons between 2012 and 2013, the detailed picture gained from the Skiathos survey project is brought to a wider context. This comparison finally allows an overall picture of the history and architectural developments of harbour structures and associated coastal sites, as well as general conclusions concerning the hierarchy and port network in the region during the Early to Late Byzantine periods. This has allowed a comprehensive understanding of the growth, use and decline of various ports, harbours and staple markets within Thessaly and has important repercussions for our understanding of wider social and economic changes that were occurring during these periods, such as the rise of the church as a powerful economic institution or the increasing activities of private entrepreneurs. In this way the submerged maritime heritage of Thessaly has provided a rich new resource with which to understand the cultural dynamics of the region as it emerged from its peripheral location to comprising major ports within the Roman maritime network and to stand out of the heart of the commercial route ways to and from Constantinople, as well as being part of the emergent networks of the western maritime states at the end of the period, such as Venice.

In der 175-jährigen Geschichte der Technischen Universität Chemnitz nimmt die Technische Mechanik im Kanon der technikwissenschaftlichen Disziplinen eine exponierte Stellung ein, zählt sie doch zu jenen Grundlagenfächern, die bereits nach Gründung der Königlichen Gewerbschule im Jahre 1836 auf dem Lehrplan standen und im Fortgang der Schulentwicklung stete Ausformung und Bereicherung erfuhren. Getragen von einer Vielzahl von Lehrer- und Forscherpersönlichkeiten, die überwiegend auf langjährige praktische Erfahrungen in renommierten Betrieben und unterschiedlichen gesellschaftlichen Bereichen verweisen konnten, nahm das Fachgebiet bis zur Gegenwart eine bemerkenswerte Entwicklung. Heute stellt es einen wichtigen Eckpfeiler der Fachausbildung dar und wird nicht nur von den Studenten im Maschineningenieurwesen, sondern auch von zahlreichen tangierenden Disziplinen wahrgenommen. Erstmals wird diese historische Entwicklung aus verschiedenen Perspektiven zusammengefasst, indem sowohl die Entwicklung der Lehrinhalte als auch die Spezifik der jeweiligen Ausbildungsgegebenheiten eingehender beschrieben wird. Dabei finden Lehrende wie Lernende, aber auch Forschung und Entwicklung, wissenschaftliches Leben, internationale Zusammenarbeit und Publizistik gleichermaßen Berücksichtigung. Das Buch ist das Resultat langjähriger Forschungsarbeiten, die im Zusammenhang mit der Geschichte der Bildungseinrichtung und zu ausgewählten Themen der Wissenschaftsentwicklung unter der Obhut der Professur Wissenschafts-, Technik- und Hochschulgeschichte geleistet wurden, und als ein Beitrag zum Jubiläum »175 Jahre TU Chemnitz« zu verstehen. / During the 175 years history of the Technical University of Chemnitz technical mechanics has been one of the basic disciplines of the engineering sciences. From the Higher Vocational School`s foundation in 1836 it has been part of the curriculum and has experienced continuous enrichment and refinement. As a result of excellent work of a large number of academic researchers and teachers, most of them with a background at renowned industrial companies and in diverse social areas, this scientific field experienced a remarkable development. Today it represents an important cornerstone of the curriculum and is studied not only by mechanical engineering students but also by many others from neighboring disciplines. For the first time this historical development is presented from different perspectives, dealing in depth with the evolution of the different subjects taught and also with the specifics of the conditions of academic teaching. In this context, academic teachers and students, research and development, academic life, international cooperation as well as publications are dealt with. This book is the outcome of longstanding research pursued by the Chair of the History of Science, Technology and Higher Learning on selected topics of the history of science and academic education. It is a contribution to the 175th anniversary of the Technical University of Chemnitz.