ABSTRACT
The most important body of information lies in the form of the East India Office books which proved invaluable as indicators of patterns of Lascar recruitment and treatment. Amongst those of Eastern origin, Lascars have been commonplace visitors to Western seaports, the Danes being the first nation to crew Europe-bound ships with these seamen. There has been a persistent tendency in the scholarship to concentrate on the Lascars’ distressed circumstances and the reaction of the Establishment in terms of the creation of the Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor. The India Office Library Records reveal frequent complaints regarding the suitability of the Lascars as seafarers were ignored, as were those levied against the ghat serangs for failure to provide the required quotas of seamen. The chapter offers a glimpse into the treatment, recruitment and experience of those Eastern seamen stranded in the port of London in the period 1780-1830.
