‘I Espied a Chinaman’: Chinese Sailors and the Fracturing of the Nineteenth Century Pacific Maritime Labour Force

The influx of Chinese sailors into the Pacific maritime labour force during the nineteenth

century created a crisis for shipboard workers that forced sailors to reevaluate and alter the way they perceived themselves and their labour. As a result, the maritime labour community started to fracture and disintegrate. Sailors, once tolerant and accepting, became

intolerant and abusive towards Chinese mariners and refused to serve with them aboard ships and denied them membership in maritime unions. Ultimately, racial segregation harmed seamen by pitting sailors against each other, allowing employers to exploit

worker divisiveness.