East Indian Sailors

[The Chapman]

The word 'lascar' refers to sailors from East of the Cape of Good Hope, and typically from India or the East Indies. The number of Indians on British ships was so high that this 'problem' was addressed in Acts as early as 1660; there were evidently stipulations that crews of British ships be at least 75% 'British', or something like that, whatever 'British' means. I'll have to read through the Acts in my spare time.

This is an interesting insight into staffing practices of the time. It's obvious that loss of crew was a serious issue, likely due to death, desertion, etc. It certainly explains the Navy's insistence on the right of impressment, and their habit of treating the world's seaways as a sort of floating union hall, occupied by workers who can't say 'no'.

The 'lascars' also presented a problem in the Isles. Merchants filled their decimated crews through either convenience of hiring or financial reasons with Indians and other lascars, which, when they arrived at ports in the Isles, weren't hired back on due either to legal restriction or owner apathy. This left relatively large numbers of more or less penniless 'foreigners' wandering around, trying to sign on to crews or otherwise find their way back home. They fell through the wide cracks of the parish charity system, as they obviously didn't originate or live in any parish at all; and were reduced to beggary in a very short while. I'm still looking into how this was handled, but I'm sure the authorities dealt with it with their typical humanity and understanding.