ABSTRACT
This chapter explains about the common Chinese seamen who began to circumnavigate the globe en masse in the 1780s aboard ships of all nations. In the 1780s and after, other foreign records begin to show Chinese sailors aboard their ships. Two French frigates that were in the lower delta in 1787 also took in six Chinese seamen each, to replenish their crews, before they set out for Manila. In a report dated December 13, 1792, the Dutch in Canton mentioned that some Chinese passengers from Batavia had arrived safely in China from one of the Dutch ships. The Princess Amelia carried fifteen Chinese passengers from the UK to China in 1815. The 380 Chinese passengers who were repatriated aboard the Princess Amelia in 1816–1817 represents much more than simply a passage to China. Chinese passengers were sometimes allowed aboard the Dutch East India Company ships traveling between Macao and Batavia.
