Workers in the World: Indian Seafarers, c. 1870s-1940s
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5007/1984-9222.2020.e76076Abstract
The expansion of British merchant shipping in the age of steam was stimulated by the employment of crews from the Indian subcontinent. Among the lowest paid in the industry, Indian seafarers were pioneering international workers who made up nearly a third of the British maritime workforce in 1937. Labelled generically as 'lascars', their employment on contracts resembling indenture reinforced their status as 'coolies', promoted the deskilling of maritime work, and instituted racialized work hierarchies in merchant shipping, which endure to this day within and beyond the industry. This article presents a brief account of the living and working conditions of subcontinental seafarers, explores the attitude of the British unions to their employment, and highlights their crucial contribution to the expansion of British imperial shipping and more generally to the maritime dimension of British imperial power.
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