Thesis offer

ENSM is looking for its future doctoral student to respond to the offer of a thesis on the history of the merchant navy for October 2024. This offer follows the adoption in December 2023 of the ENSM’s Contract of Objectives and Performance (COP).

Objective 4 of axis 4 of this COP formalized the desire to publish a research thesis on the history of merchant navy officer training in France.

The ENSM was created by decree on September 28, 2010, to replace the Écoles Nationales de la Marine Marchande (ENMM), themselves heirs to the hydrographic schools created under Colbert. Although very recent, this school is the current culmination of the long history of maritime training, which dates back to antiquity and really began to take shape at the end of the 16th century.

The history of maritime training has already been the subject of a number of publications[1], but remains to be explored, in particular the training schools for merchant navy officers.

The early development of this training has been well studied[2]. However, a number of questions remain unanswered: did the story begin in 1571, at the behest of Charles IX? What were the motivations behind the creation of this school? Was it created ex nihilo? What have been the school’s major developments since its creation? Why did it evolve in this way? There is no shortage of questions, and this list is by no means exhaustive.

A thesis on this history is therefore eagerly awaited. This research will revisit the history of the “Hydros”, but will focus primarily on the period from 1786 – the date of the decree which modified the recruitment of teachers and standardized teaching methods – to the end of the 1960s – when, by decree of June 30, 1965, the body of Merchant Navy teachers became that of “maritime education teachers”.

Among other things, the research will have to answer the question of the challenges of maritime education, the need for trained sailors, their numbers and, of course, their quality. The evolution of techniques and ships has inevitably influenced the type of training and graduation. We’re talking here not only about geographical developments, but also about the academic quality of these courses and the people trained. This will inevitably lead us to reflect on civilian, military and religious teaching staff. This work will be part of a social history – the prosopography of teachers, students and engineers trained at the “Hydros” – a history of education and vocational training, a history of techniques – hydrographic and oceanographic innovations – a maritime and port history, but also an administrative history, as the State plays an essential role in the evolution of the “Hydros”, which depend on the Ministry of the Navy. This history cannot be written without situating maritime training in relation to the general transformation of technical and vocational training.

f1/ The proceedings of the symposium organized in October 2011 at ENSM on “La formation des Marins…au gré des Marées” have not been published. Short versions of the talks appeared in the Revue maritime (over two issues) in May and September 2012. See also Guy Boistel and Olivier Sauzereau (dir.), Entre Ciel et Mer. Observatoires pour l’enseignement de l’astronomie, des sciences maritimes et le service de l’heure, en France et en Europe, de la fin du XVIIe au début du XXe siècle : institutions, pratiques et cultures, dossier des Cahiers François Viete, série II, n°8-9, 2016.

2/ Michel Vergé-Franceschi, Marine et éducation sous l’Ancien Eégime, Paris, Éditions du CNRS, 1991.

The ENSM has no archives of its own, so the research will be based mainly on the holdings of the Archives nationales, the Service Historique de la Défense, and departmental and municipal archives corresponding to the locations where the Hydrography Schools were established – the Royal Order of August 7, 1825 set the number of Hydrography Schools at 44.

Broadly speaking, the work will follow the following timetable: in the first year, the researcher should have delimited his or her corpus of sources and begun to analyse them. The second year will focus on analyzing and exploiting the corpus. The third year will be devoted to writing the thesis, the detailed outline of which will have been presented to the thesis committee during the second year.

We are looking for a future doctoral student who will be responsible for carrying out the research described above, within the 3-year timeframe of the contract, which will contribute to completing and shedding new light on research into the history of merchant navy officer training in France.

The doctoral student will also be expected to lead an annual conference for ENSM students and staff on a theme chosen in connection with his/her work.

• Holder of a BAC + 5 degree: research Master’s in history, if possible with experience in maritime history and/or education.
• Proficiency in word processing, data management and statistical analysis.
• Good knowledge of archives.
• Good organizational skills (rigor, autonomy, initiative), ability to summarize, project management skills.
• Group leadership, teamwork and interpersonal skills will be essential for the successful completion of this project.

CV, cover letter, transcripts and summary of Master’s thesis to be sent to Ms Carole CHRISTEN (carole.christen@univ-lehavre.fr), and Mr Guillaume Lasbleiz (guillaume.lasbleiz@supmaritime.fr).