Nineteenth-Century MARITIME MENTAL HEALTH ON THE HUMBER

Seafarers’ mental health is a subject much discussed within the shipping industry in the present day, but the industry toll on seafarers of the past has been largely neglected by historians. As maritime industry was a main employer for the Humber region during the nineteenth century, this article aims to stimulate discussion around industry-related mental health issues through the qualitative exploration of the patient records of the De La Pole Asylum in Kingston upon Hull, along with coroner records and media sensationalism of crime and mental ill health of mariners. At a time when the concentration of socio-economic problems in port towns was often blamed on the immorality visible in mariner lifestyles, this article encourages the reader to question whether the unique working environment of the seafarer created a susceptibility to mental illness, causing lasting repercussions for families and the wider port community.