1982 first edition hardcover with 301 pages in good condition. Dust jacket has slight wear around edges.

Solomon traces the course of a controversy which stretched over a period of nearly thirty years and which not only involved shipper, shipowners, merchants and governments but had a impact in all four of the colonies which became the Union of South Africa, both before and after Union and in England itself. With the sure and skillful touch of the trained historian he unravels for us a fascinating account of the clashes of conflicting interests, the complicated negotiations, the plots and counterplots and the roles played by various governments at a time when shipping was England's business and the movement of goods to and from her ports, at a reasonable cost, was of vital interest to her colonies, especially South Africa.