Globalizing Labour? Indian Seafarers and World Shipping, c. 1870–1945

The Mobilities of Ships and Shipped Mobilities

“…Indeed, in this respect, the "experiences" associated with lives at sea have long been interrogated by scholars of the Royal and merchant navies (see Davies 2013). 'New' maritime history in particular has examined how seafaring and oceanic mobilities were affected by categories of gender, class and race (for example, see Balachandran 2012, Bolster 1998, Steel 2011. By considering maritime lives on shore as well as at sea, maritime studies have raised questions of (im)mobilities, albeit without using such terms (Land 2007, Creighton andNorling 1996).…”

Southampton to Durban on the Union Castle Line: An Imperial Shipping Company and the limits of globality c. 1900–39

“…Yet for all the impressiveness of this work, Miller is surprisingly unreflective in relation to this central concept of globalisation. He does not seriously engage either with scholars like G. Balachandaran who point out the social and political limitations and exclusions which marked globalisation in the maritime world, 5 or with those, most notably represented by Fred Cooper, who question the very coherence of the notion itself. 6 While I would not go quite as far as Cooper in completely denying the value of theories of globalisation, we would do well to take seriously his rigorous critique of the lack of precision with which the term is frequently used.…”

“…Yet for all the impressiveness of this work, Miller is surprisingly unreflective in relation to this central concept of globalization. He does not seriously engage either with scholars who point out the social and political limitations and exclusions which marked globalization in the maritime world, 5 or with those who question the very coherence of the notion itself. 6 There are two key components of Miller's analysis of concern here.…”

The First Precariat?

“…Known as "lascars" and representing one-sixth of the British maritime labor force by 1904, these coolies of the sea were governed by "lascar articles," a contract of extended duration (i.e., one or two years covering several voyages as opposed to the normal single-voyage agreements) and at one-third to one-fifth the pay of European or American seafarers. 17 Moreover, although they had been considered essential since the early seventeenth century to complete crews on ships returning to Britain, the lascar agreements (drawing on precedent dating to the Navigation Acts) carefully circumscribed both any extended residency or employment outside the Indian Ocean trade. Finally, in addition to formal regulation, a lascar's movements were hampered from the beginning by fealty and indebtedness to the subcontractor or gang boss, known as the serang, who hired him.…”