To understand the labour market for seamen in the Southern Netherlands (Belgium from 1830) from the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries, we should ask about government's attitude toward maritime affairs, as well as about the size of the merchant fleet and the navy, the area of recruitment, working conditions, wages and opportunities for promotion.

Size of the Mercantile Marine and Navy

By and large maritime affairs have not been one of government's priorities for the past 500 years for various reasons. Primarily, the extension of a maritime tradition depends on geopolitics. The reduced coastal strip along the North Sea from Dunkirk to Heist, and the fact that only artificial harbours were possible - vessels could only make port at high tide - are two obvious explanations. A second aspect involves the international balance of power. Spanish military strategy required that Dunkirk and Ostend, which were only significant as fishing harbours, be used for naval fleets as well. War and trade, however, do not always coexist well, and the merchant marine became the first victim. There was also Antwerp, which had only become a true port in the fifteenth century. In the last quarter of the sixteenth century direct access to the sea was severed by the Dutch, and the Eighty Years’ War further disturbed the growth of the harbour.

Antwerp then slumbered until the Napoleonic era. When Napoleon wanted Antwerp to become a military bulwark, a British blockade ended this brief commercial expansion. While during the Dutch period shipowners from the Netherlands dominated, it is notable that Antwerp still developed a merchant fleet.

In Belgium, industry and trade were given absolute priority by 1830. The success of the industrial revolution was vital to the young nation. Since many shipowners moved to the North with ships and crew, the merchant fleet had declined. To stimulate the investment in the fleet, government offered some modest subsidies, but indifference, lack of insight and limited expertise led to poor results. Shipowning remained of minor concern to firms in the Southern Netherlands. The famous Delia Faille concern in Antwerp was typical in the sixteenth century: it owned only two vessels, and only for a brief period. Otherwise, it was content with just one share in a ship. Profits on commercial and financial transactions appeared preferable and less risky.