- Men who went to sea for a few years when young and spent the rest of their lives on land, albeit working on rivers, or in harbors and dockyards.
- Seasonal fishermen who identified with a different occupational title (miners, shopkeepers).
- Women in coastal areas, who were both engaged with and distanced from the maritime.
- Sailor-autobiographers and sailor-pamphleteers who had a foot in both worlds, speaking fluent “Jack Tar” but also fluent “Chartist.”
- Like the coast itself, the outer limits of coastal history are incremental and shaded in both directions.
- “How far does the coast extend inland?” is a research question, not a matter of definition. If we think of coasts as cultural spaces as well as material environments, the answer will vary in different countries and historical eras.
- Many people who come to coastal history will begin with a sense of puzzlement over where their project does fit; successful coastal projects are likely to be exactly the ones that could fall “either way.”
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