"Utterly Unfit for White Men": Foreign Labour Under Steam
Merchant shipping was among the first British industries to employ foreign labour. The use of Asian seamen went back to the earliest days of the East India Company, when the crews of homeward-bound vessels were seriously depleted through death and desertion. During the 18th century, most African seamen were slaves and were billeted as cooks, officers' servants or musicians (Bolster 1997, 32). The term "Lascar" was often used to denote "Oriental" or "Asiatic" sailors, and sometimes refers to Arabs and Africans. Foreign seamen were not enumerated as fully as white Anglo seafarers. The problem of tracking foreigners and imperial subjects working for British shipping companies is further discussed on this site at http://www.mun.ca/mha/mlc/seafarers/lascars/other-seafarers-other-histories.php.
The number of foreigners employed on British ships grew steadily as more steam ships were built for overseas trade. By the mid-19th century, the major steam-powered liners such as the Clan Line and the British India Steam Navigation Company were making upwards of three voyages a year between England and Asia. Travelling to colonies gave ship owners the freedom to replace higher paid unionized British seamen with cheap foreign labor. Indian lascars served as deck crew and worked in the engine room where they stoked and maintained fires. By 1881, the number of lascars working in the British merchant marine had doubled to 27, 911, or 12% of the whole. By 1914 the figure had risen to 21% (Burton 1985, 318).
More is becoming known about their lives at sea. Working conditions were inferior to those of western seamen. Many British engineers regarded non-Europeans, some of whom were former slaves, as more willing to accept discipline, and to work under harsh conditions, which were justified by racial stereotypes (Ewald 2000, 85). According to Captain Frank Bullen, the engine room was a "terrible place... utterly unfit for white men" (Bullen 1900, 327). Sometimes companies abandoned these men to save the cost of repatriating them. In fact, a foreign worker's major recourse for harsh treatment was jumping ship and yet a deserter paid a price by forfeiting his wages. Many men who claimed to be British colonial subjects exercised a presumed right to stay in Britain. They gravitated towards the western and northern ports that shipped coal to Aden or to home ports for tramp steamers: Cardiff, Liverpool and South Shields (Frost 1995; Tabili 1994). Some stayed and established communities. A small community of Chinese and Indian seamen grew in the East End of London (Visran 1986, 50). Other foreign seamen returned home to establish families with the money they had accumulated (Ewald 2000, 87).
