[71] ... the legal and regulatory framework within which shipping companies conducted their business had evolved over the previous two centuries to afford a relatively high degree of security to investors. [R. Craig and R. Jarvis, Liverpool Registry of Merchant Ships (Manchester, 1967); and Simon Ville, 'The Growth of Specialization in English Shipowning, 1750-1850,' Economic History Review, XLVI (1993), 702-722.] This encouraged shipowners to co-operate in the provision of the key resources - capital, expertise and information - necessary to their expensive and complex ventures. Regular co-operation between investors enhanced the trust between - and reputation of - the individuals concerned, such bonds evolving into mercantile networks which thrived in the commercial communities of British ports in the mid-19th century. When the business environment changed both to facilitate and to require growth in shipping services, these relationships formed the platform on which were