Greenwich Maritime Institute, University of Greenwich are offering three new short courses for 2014:
The following new course are available to book –
Tuesday 3rd June 2014: China’s Seaborne Trade and Martime Defence in the Current Era This one-day course will investigate China’s rapid growth in seaborne trade of all types and the impact upon global maritime business. It will also examine the recent history of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (the PLAN) in the light of American and Chinese concerns.
Wednesday 4th June 2014: The Glorious Revolution of 1688: The Last Invasion of Britain? This one-day course will focus on 1688 when the Dutch, under William III mounted the most useful invasion of Britain since the Normans in 1066. At the same time as the Royal Navy was becoming one of the most powerful in Western Europe, how was it that the Dutch Fleet could land unopposed with more than 40,000 troops? Was the Royal Navy split by conflict or was it the just the weather, the wind in the wrong direction, stopping the Royal Navy from sailing in time to intercept the Dutch, and why were there so many British officers aboard the Dutch fleet? This course will explore and explain one of the greatest humiliations the Royal Navy suffered and explain how it ended up co-operating with the Dutch against the French less than a year later.
Friday 6th June 2014: Britain’s Oldest True Police Force: Policing the River Thames This course tells the tale of protecting life and property and preventing crime from the foundation of the Marine Police in 1798. Now known as the Metropolitan Police Service Marine Policing Unit (MPU), it inspired Robert Peel’s creation of ‘The Met’ in 1829, and was incorporated into it ten years later. In 1798 there were more than 30,000 workers in the docks handling merchandise from across the world, and magistrate Patrick Coquhoun, one of the founders, along with Master Mariner John Harriott, believed a third of them were criminals or on the game in some way. Like the ‘Peelers’ thirty years later, they initially got a hostile reception but quickly gained support from businesses who stood to benefit. This support meant that the Marine Police were salaried officers, unlike the contemporary Bow Street Runners. The idea of getting the beneficiaries to fund a force for their own protection took root and developed into the modern system of funding police, but also has resonance today in the growth of Private Maritime Security Companies in response to threats from pirates. Today, the MPU is still based on the site of its original headquarters at Wapping, and is responsible for 47 miles of the river Thames and 250 miles of canals, lakes and inland waterways within the capital. They are now supported in their rescue duties by RNLI lifeboats, a London Fire Brigade fire boat, and Coastguard services.
For further information see http://http://www2.gre.ac.uk/about/schools/gmi/study/short-courses/programmes
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