Paul Blickle is a PhD candidate at the LMU Munich. He received his BA (2017) and MA (2020) in history from the University of Heidelberg and spent a year abroad at the University of Durham and Yale University each. Since 2021, Paul has been working as a research assistant to Roland Wenzlhuemer. From September 2022 to September 2023, he is acting-managing editor of the review journal sehepunkte. Paul’s research interests include maritime history, port cities and steam power in the 19th century.

The global history of ballast in the 19th century

Paul’s dissertation investigates the global history of ship’s ballast in the 19th century (on ships, in ports, shipyards and markets). Ballast — commercially useless makeweight — served to stabilise ships on the high seas and thus enabled global connection at sea. At the same time, its absence or presence could have considerable dis:connective effects in that the universal need for ballast disrupted the transfer of goods from ship to shore, illegal ballast-dumping silted harbours and estuaries, and the (non)availability of ballast affected shipping routes and trade-patterns.