This fourth volume of Peter Laister's work illustrates further examples of china and crockery used on board British merchant ships. It gives brief historical details of the companies themselves, and the trades in which they were involved. Information about identifying patterns of china and details of the manufacturers are included. It also covers the difficulty of identification of china that is only marked with a monogram, initials or a house flag. A total of 59 companies are dealt with individually, and in total some 254 companies are mentioned in the comprehensive index. These companies traded to all parts of the world.