Sailing to Britain Education Pack

TARA 356 Garratt Lane London SW18 4ES tel: 020 8333 4457 www.tara-arts.com

Education Resource Packcreated by Helen Cadbury

Sailing to Britain

http://www.tara-arts.com


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TARA 356 Garratt Lane London SW18 4ES tel:020 8333 4457 www.tara-arts.com

ContentsIntroduction 3

Lascars - a brief introduction 4

Timeline 5

The Opium Trade 6

Why become a Lascar 7

On Board Ship 8

Jobs for Lascars on Board 9

Conditions for Lascars on Board 10

Lascars in London 11

Lascar Music 12

Lascars in Fiction 13

History Detectives 1 The Old Bailey Transcripts 14

History Detectives 2The Story Behind an Object 15

History Detectives 3Hunting for Clues in your Neighbourhood 16

Lascar Food 17

Mapping the World 18

Sailing to Britain - the story so far 19/20

Further Resources 21

Acknowledgements 22



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IntroductionTARA30 years of connecting cultures. Positioned between East and West, TARA champions creative diversity through the production, promotion and development of world class, cross-cultural theatre. Its artistic vision can best be summed up in the phrase: NO PASSPORTS

TARA is the ancient Irish seat of power - the Hill of Tara; a Buddhist goddess of Love and the Arts; in Urdu, a star in the sky.

Sailing to Britain is TARA’s major 3 year Arts and Heritage project for young people across the capital, leading to a performance in London 2012 on a boat sailing down the River Thames.

Young people, aged 14 to 22 years, from across London are researching the history of the Lascars, the forgotten Asian, African and foreign seamen who served on British ships. A diverse group of London’s young people are documenting the rich history of these forgotten migrants who made a huge contribution to life in London and the River Thames. Led by Project Director Jules Tipton, playwright Nicholas McInerny and archivists from the National Maritime Museum, they are creating an exhibition and devising new pieces of theatre. This arts and heritage project will celebrate London's sea-faring history, and bring to wider public attention the important role played by the Lascars.

Check out the blog for updates and see project developments at:

http://sailingtobritain.blogspot.com

The Education Resource Pack is a companion to the project which enables teachers to access the Sailing to Britain research. It includes practical follow up activities for the classroom to support the curriculum in History, English, Citizenship, Geography at KS2, KS3 and KS4 and ideas for Drama for all age groups.

Schools Workshops. The Sailing to Britain team offer an interactive two hour practical drama workshop for years 7 -11, based upon the findings of their research.

For availability and to discuss your requirements please contact Sarah Clews on 020 8333 4457 or via email to [email protected]

Sailing to Britain has been awarded the Inspire Mark by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games.



http://www.blogger.com/profile/10765637298681464537

http://www.blogger.com/profile/10765637298681464537

http://sailingtobritain.blogspot.com/

http://sailingtobritain.blogspot.com/

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

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Lascars - a brief introduction

What does Lascar mean? Lascar was the name given by Europeans to non-European seamen employed on merchant ships sailing between Europe and the Indian sub-continent and on trade voyages to the West Indies. In Britain they came ashore and lived in communities in London, Liverpool and Glasgow. The first known use of the word Lascarim in Europe dates back to the late 1400s to the Portuguese. It comes from a variety of non-European languages: Arabic - al-askar (meaning soldier), Urdu - lashkar - (soldier or sailor) or Tamil, where khalasi means sailor and kara means worker.

Why were they recruited? Lascars were recruited because of a lack of cheap labour. During the 18th and 19th centuries, European countries were involved in a series of wars and colonisation projects, for which they recruited, sometimes by force, vast numbers of men into their navies, leaving few skilled sailors to work on board trading ships. Meanwhile, with the growth of the East India Company and its Dutch and French counterparts, more and more boats were carrying goods from Asia to Europe.

British sailors lost their lives on voyages to Asia due to harsh working conditions and illness, while it was assumed that Lascars were less likely to suffer from the tropical diseases which troubled Europeans. They were hard working and either came from sea-faring backgrounds or were attracted to going to sea because of poverty or famine in their home areas.

Where did they come from? Gujarat and the Punjab areas of India, Mirpur (in modern-day northern Pakistan), Goa, Sylhet (in modern Bangladesh), Malaysia, Thailand, Burma (Myanmar), China, East Africa, Yemen. Scandinavian sailors were also recruited.

Where did they settle? Communities emerged around the London docks, especially around the East End of London, as well as other port areas in Britain. Sometimes they only stayed between voyages, during which time they were not paid by the East India Company. Sometimes they stayed longer, settled down and married local women. Some stayed permanently because they would not return to ships where they had been harshly treated.

They took on a range of jobs: street entertainers; hawkers and small-time traders selling spices and herbs; stewards; or road sweepers. Some were in extreme poverty and had to beg.

Religion The Lascars included Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and Christians.



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Timeline

NB: The modern state of ‘India’ came into being in 1947 - where India is used in this table it is to denote a geographical location understood most often by the name ‘British India’ during the period up to partition in 1947.

1498 The Portuguese explorer, Vasco de Gama, hires an Indian pilot at Malindi in East Africa, to steer his ship across the Indian Ocean. He is the first European to arrive by ship on the coast of India. The Portuguese colony in India is soon established, centered on Kerala and Goa. Portuguese are present until 1961 when Goa finally becomes part of India.

1605-1825 Dutch colonial interest in India takes the form of several trading ports.

1609-1857 East India Company (British) trades and then rules large parts of India.Lascars are employed on their ships from India to Britain and to the British interests in the West Indies.

1660 Navigation Act passed that restricted the employment of non-English seamen to a quarter of the crew on returning East India Company ships.

1757 The Battle of Plassey where Robert Clive defeated the local Rajah of Bengal and won the province for the East India Company. Many Lascars were Bengali.

1784 The India Act was implemented: the British Government takes control of the East India Company and the territories it controls come under a British Governor General.

1765-1947 Princely States - independently ruled by Princes under the oversight of British rule.

1796- 1814 Approximately 2,500 Lascars settle in Britain

1856 The Strangers’ Home for Asiatics, Africans and South Sea Islanders is built in West India Dock Road

1890’s 10 – 12,000 Lascars have settled in Britain

1858-1947 Britain formally rules over large parts of India.

1914-1918 The First World War. Thousands of Lascars play a crucial role in both the merchant navy and the Royal Navy

1928 52,445 Lascars have settled in Britain

1939-1945 Lascars worked on British Naval ships and in the Merchant Navy in large numbers. Many settled in Britain after both World Wars.



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The Opium Trade

In the 17th Century the East India Company began trading. When the first merchants arrived in India they were hoping to sell a British-made product - a textile called broadcloth - but found that the people there did not need or want it. However, there were many products made in India which were soon in high demand in Britain. A lucrative trade quickly grew up with ships sailing to Britain full of cotton, spices and silk.

By the 1700s the silk and wool merchants of Europe were angry at the cheap competition coming from the trade with India, so measures were put in place to limit imports. The East India Company soon switched to importing tea. This was purchased in China and paid for by selling something grown in India: opium. Soon the largest and most profitable trade involved carrying opium, the drug which is still the raw material for heroin, from India to China. It was sold in China and tea was purchased to bring to Britain. Thus, the British addiction to tea, escalated a dangerous addiction to opium in certain regions of China.

Opium was used widely in medicines and was not illegal but the Chinese were worried about its effects and about the terms of the Europeans’ trade. When the Chinese tried to limit imports, the Europeans acted to defend their right to trade in the drug and this lead to the Opium Wars.

The drug itself is extracted from a particular poppy (Latin name: papaver somniferum - literally the poppy which induces sleep). It grew widely in India and in the 16th century was distilled into a relaxing drink used in the Moghul courts of northern India where alcohol was forbidden.



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Why Become a Lascar?

FamineDuring the rule of the British in India there were as many as a dozen major catastrophic famines which took millions of lives. In addition there were innumerable smaller, local crop failures which forced young men to move away from their villages to find work. The changing landscape of trade following the arrival of European trading companies also severely disrupted local economies and led to economic hardship.

RecruitmentAt the ports a local agent, known as the ghat sarang, (the name ‘serang’ was also used), would hire Lascars for European ships. They organised working gangs for each voyage, entering into contracts with sea captains. To avoid the monsoon, there was a limited time in which they could sail and negotiations often had to be made quickly. This could be advantageous to the ghat sarang, who could get a good price for finding Lascars if a captain was in a hurry to leave. It was also the custom for the agent to receive a fee from the Lascars as well as the captain. It was cheaper for the captains to hire Lascars because they were paid 15% less than British seamen. The promise of a monthly fee and a bounty on arrival in London was attractive to Lascars, when compared to eking out a living in a region so adversely affected by the trading practices of the European colonisers.

Sylheti LascarsAlthough the region of Sylhet (now part of Bangladesh) was inland, a large number of Sylhetis went to sea. There is a story of a Sylheti man who joined a ship and came to England with the express wish of avenging the death of his kinsman at the hands of a Britisher. In 1806, Syed Ullah arrived at the home of Sir Robert Lindsay, who had put down a rebellion in Sylhet some years before. Lindsay invited him into his home and somehow persuaded Syed Ullah to cook him a curry with the spices he had on his person. In the years that followed thousands of Sylhetis arrived in London as Lascars and became the forerunners of today’s Sylheti community.(to find out more, try this link: http://www.thedailystar.net/magazine/2008/12/02/history.htm )

Drama Activity

Create a character who is thinking of going away to sea as a Lascar.• How does he persuade his family that he should

go? • How do they react to his choice? • You could use names from the list of those on

board ship, on the next page.



http://www.thedailystar.net/magazine/2008/12/02/history.htm

http://www.thedailystar.net/magazine/2008/12/02/history.htm

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On Board ShipName Age Place of Birth Occupation

Nassim Salimn 37 Bombay (British Subject)

Coal trimmer

Ebraim Amenby 17 Bombay (British Subject)

Fireman

Achong 27 Canton (China) Joiner

Robert Bruce 50 Aberdeen Chief Engineer

Arthur Anand 20 Mauritius Carpenter

Edward Golden 18 Kent Steward

Syed Mohammed 14 Susit, E.Indies Ship’s Boy

Joseph Oliver 18 Surrey, England Carpenter

Kassom Abajee 15 Surat, E.Indies Lascar

Domingo Almeda 18 Goa Saloon Boy

James Hutton 35 Stirlingshire, Scotland

Ship’s Master

Ameer Alee 47 Calcutta Serang

Helen Hutton 27 Greenock, Scotland Master’s Wife

Abdool 18 Calcutta Cook

John Randall 18 Calcutta Engineer

Ismail 18 Chittagong Kussab (trainee lamp trimmer)

These are some of the names and backgrounds discovered by the young people during the Sailing to Britain project. You will notice that the spellings of the names are phonetic and would have been written by clerks with no knowledge of the Lascars’ own languages.

They used actual ships’ lists from the nineteenth century for their research.

What do you notice about the ages of those on board?



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Jobs for Lascars on BoardWorkLascars were most often employed as general seamen. The work on board was hard, physical labour. Sails had to be raised and lowered and were controlled by heavy ropes. Other jobs had specific names. Here are few which Lascars would have done:

Coal Trimmer- positioned boats to be loaded with coal and to level out the cargo of coal.

Scullion - did menial tasks in a kitchen.

Serang (equivalent of English boatswain/bosun) - oversaw maintenance and deck activity over the entire ship, kept up morale and made sure the crew worked efficiently.

Tindal - Bosun’s mate. A petty officer among Lascars.

Seacunny (quartermaster) - responsible for dispensing provisions, on board merchant ships, the term quartermaster could also mean a helmsman.

Bhandady seacunny - cook or storekeeper.

Cassab or Kussab/ Lamptrimmer - a leading hand on deck under the Boatswain.

Donkeyman Serang / Tindal - dealt with the operation and maintenance of any and all assorted machinery and assisted with the maintenance of ship's main engines.

Leadsman - one who heaved the lead (took soundings of how deep the water was).

Masalchi - kitchen / galley assistant

Peon - messenger or orderly

Topass – sweeper - cleaned the “heads” & “piss-dales” (on board lavatories), washed utensils, scrubbed the decks.

Drama ActivityImagine life on board a 19th century sailing ship.

Make a status line of jobs: line up with the highest status on the left and the lowest status on the right.

Create a scene using physical actions, making your own sound effects, to show the strength required and the dangerous environment for Lascar seamen. photo: Jules Tipton



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Conditions for Lascars on BoardThe work was physically exhausting and dirty. Lascars worked as deck crew, in the rigging of wind powered ships, in the engines rooms later; they were stewards, navigators, cooks, loaders and unloaders. Lascars encountered harsh conditions, poor diets, unequal treatment and wages. Desertion and jumping ship was common.

An entire Lascar crew deserted after their ship docked in the Thames. Their tale, confirmed by the European crew members, was that they had been hung up with weights tied to their feet, flogged with a rope: although they were Muslim, they were forced to eat pork and had the tail of a pig rammed into their mouths and the entrails of the pig were twisted around their necks. One Lascar drowned, trying to escape by jumping overboard.

According to the Laws Relating to Merchant Seaman published in 1844, the following was a list of “wholesome and good provisions” for Lascars. They also had a rum ration, one set of spare clothes and one set of bedding per man.

Item Approx. Amount – per man per day, unless statedRice 2 pounds (lbs)Dholl (dhall) 5 ounces (oz), 7 drahms (dr)Ghee 1 oz 5 drSalt 18 drTurmeric 2 oz 1 drGarlic 2 oz 1 drChillies 1 oz 15 drTamarinde 13 drCumin seed 8 drCoriander seed 8 drPumpkins/yams/potatoes 4 oz 2 dr – as availableGinger 4 drTea 11 drVinegar 6 pints per man per MONTHOil (for the body in bad weather)11 dr

When sailing beyond the tropics additional rations were givenItem Approx amount per man per MONTH, unless stated

Pillow* meat 8lbs 3 oz 7 drCurry meat 6 lbs 2oz 9 drBiscuit 10lbs 4oz 4 drWheat 14 lbs 5 oz 15 drPickled mangoes 2lbs 14 dr

* An anglicisation of pilau. This would have been meat that was cooked with rice: either chicken, pork, beef or lamb, not so different from the food we are familiar with today in restaurants, take-aways and our own homes. See page 17 for a recipe.



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Lascars In LondonSettlementWhen the ships of the East India Company docked in London, the Lascar crews were paid and then they waited to be re-employed on a ship returning to India. Sometimes the conditions they had suffered on the voyage caused them to desert ship and try their luck on land. They mainly stayed in the area closest to the docks and in the East End of London. From the eighteenth century onwards, a small, well defined black and asian community established itself at Canning Town just north of the docks.

During the nineteenth century new forms of labour contract disadvantaged non-white sailors and made it harder for them to settle in London. Often their accommodation was overcrowded and insanitary. Lascars who were between ships, or those who had chosen to settle here, had limited opportunities to find work. Some became peddlers, selling door to door or in the streets. Others earned money as travelling musicians. If they became destitute they had no right to relief because they were foreign. Sadly many destitute Lascars had to resort to begging. In the winter of 1850, 40 Asian men died of cold and hunger on London streets.

Friends and EnemiesIn 1812 the government ordered the East India Company to provide satisfactory food, clothing and accommodation for the seamen, and a parliamentary committee was established to investigate what could be done to improve living conditions. However, the real situation was one of squalor and disease. In the winters, lack of suitable clothing and housing claimed the lives of many Lascars unused to the British climate.

Campaigners and missionary organisations, including the Methodists, worked for better conditions for Lascars. In 1856 The Strangers’ Home for Asiatics, Africans and South Sea Islanders was built in West India Dock Road, to give Lascars a place to stay. One Lascar described the institution as "a home for Mohammedans in the Christian capital," and a copy of the Koran as well as sketches of Mecca and Medina were kept there. Although conditions may have improved for some,

Charles Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, reported terrible poverty among Lascars at the end of the nineteenth century.

Some Lascars met, lived with and married local London women. There are records of women known as Lascar Sally and Calcutta Louisa, indicating the origins of their Asian partners. These two women ran lodgings for Indian Lascars in Wapping and were fluent in Bengali or Hindi. One of the most famous sons of one such marriage was Albert Mahomet, born in 1858 at Sophia Street in Bow, East London. His mother was English and his father was an ex-seaman from Calcutta. Mahomet grew up in a life of crime and poverty that claimed many of his siblings, but he later became a respected Methodist preacher and photographer. Others had more negative experiences with English women. The Old Bailey archive records cases of Lascars arriving with their pay off the boat and being robbed by prostitutes, others were robbed by their landlords or landladies.

A plaque at the Home for Asiaticsimage: National Maritime Museum



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Lascar MusicSea Shanty

There are few surviving examples of Lascar music although there are many accounts of travelling musicians, who may have originally arrived as sailors. They probably played traditional music from their own communities but the song below seems to be a hybrid of the different languages spoken on board a typical merchant ship. It was collected by Stan Hughill a ‘shantyman scholar’ who found it in St. Lucia in the Caribbean. He was told it was sung on a ship whose crew were Lascars. Eki Dumah, comes from the hindi ek dom, meaning “one man”. It is a typical sea shanty which would have been sung to the rhythm of the work on board, in this case pulling in the halyards (ropes) - the word Eki was sung as the ropes were pulled. Our music researcher, Ian Shaw transcribed the music for us.

Eki Dumah

Kay, kay, kay, kay!Eki dumah!Kay, kay, kay, kay!Eki dumah!Somerset akilla coolie manEki dumah!Somerset akilla Bosun’s mateEki dumah!Somerset akilla wirefallEki dumah!Somerset akilla coolie manKay, kay, kay, kay!Eki dumah!Kay, kay, kay, kay!Eki dumah!

Kay, kay, kay, kay!Eki dumah!Kay, kay, kay, kay!Eki dumah!Sailorman no likee Bosun’s mateEki dumah!Bosun’s mate no likee Head SerangEki dumah!Head Serang no likee Number OneEki dumah!Number One no likee coolie man,Kay, kay, kay, kay!Eki dumah!Kay, kay, kay, kay!Eki dumah!

N.B. The word coolie is used here in the context of its original meaning -a manual labourer from India or China in the 19th Century. It has a contemporary use as a racial slur which needs to be discussed carefully with pupils.

Drama ActivityCan you work out what the song means? What does it tell us about life on board ship? Can you create a scene based on the story of the song?What could be a modern version of the same song?



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Lascars in FictionLascars appeared in nineteenth century fiction as exotic but essentially ‘bit part’ characters. They were associated with the seedier side of London life, such as the opium dens which claimed the money, time, and often lives of those unhappy sailors who became addicts. In The Mystery of Edwin Drood, by Charles Dickens, a Lascar and a Chinese man are lying unconscious in an opium den with an old woman:

“...she chronically complains. 'Poor me, poor me, my head is so bad. Them two come in after ye. Ah, poor me, the business is slack, is slack! Few Chinamen about the Docks, and fewer Lascars, and no ships coming in, these say!

In another famous story, The Man With the Twisted Lip, a Sherlock Holmes mystery by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1891), the villain is able to slip away from the police when he is tipped off by his Lascar friend, with whom he lodges at another opium den.

It is possible that one of fiction’s most famous lovers, Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights, was also a Lascar. His skin is dark and his origins are unknown but he is carried to Yorkshire from Liverpool by Cathy’s father. When he and Cathy are caught spying on the Linton household, Mr Linton says:

“But who is this? Where did she pick up this companion? Oho! I declare he is that strange acquisition my late neighbour made, in his journey to Liverpool - a little Lascar, or an American or Spanish castaway."

Later, when Heathcliff returns as an adult, he taunts Edgar Linton, who cannot understand how Heathcliff has bettered himself:

“The truth is I remembered that my father was an emperor of China and my mother was an Indian queen, and I went out and claimed my inheritance. It all turned out just as you once suspected, Cathy: that I had been kidnapped by wicked sailors and brought to England; that I was of noble birth.”

Although he is certainly joking, it is clear that he could easily be recognised as being of Asian descent.

Although the literature of the time was certainly dealing in heavy stereotypes, the poor living conditions of Lascars, caused by their unequal treatment at the hands of ship owners and landlords, excluded them from mainstream society and this made it less likely for writers of the time to portray Lascars in a positive way. Sailing to Britain aims to bring out less well-known stories of Lascars, which reflect more carefully their own lives.

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History Detectives 1 (KS3 and above)

The Old Bailey TranscriptsCourt reports are a great way to learn about history straight from a primary source. They are also a fantastic stimulus for drama, creative writing or citizenship discussions.

Follow these links for four true crime tales involving Lascars as either victim or defendant.

Ideas for the ClassroomDrama 1. After the class have read the trial as it is written, re-create it as a whole group drama

using pupils’ own words, in which everyone takes a role including the judge, defendants and witnesses. You may need to create extra roles, members of the public in the gallery, a reporter covering the case, for example. The aim is to involve everyone, in role, to ensure that even the quieter members of the class engage with the atmosphere and the conflicts inherent in the story.

2. Follow this with small group dramas, identifying key scenes from the story. For example: earlier in the day on which the crime took place; the crime itself; the aftermath; the defendant talking to the gaoler after sentencing, facing up to what he or she has done.

Literacy1. A newspaper report of the trial. Think about viewpoint, is your newspaper campaigning

for better conditions for Lascars or is it unsympathetic?2. A letter to a relative by the defendant after sentencing. As literacy levels were low

among poor people in the nineteenth century, this letter might have been dictated to a priest or fellow prisoner.

History1. Create a timeline which places these true stories in the context of other events such as

wars, key legislation, the campaigns of philanthropists and religious groups.2. Research the factors around immigration into port areas in Britain.

The Trial of John Greer - charged with wounding a crew member

http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?id=t18571026-1004&div=t18571026-1004&terms=Lascar#highlight

The Trial of Francis Fernandez - charged with murder


The trial of Sacchar, Glosse and Savau - charged with the murder of a Lascar on shorehttp://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?id=t18080601-31&div=t18080601-31&terms=Lascar#highlight

The trial of Mary Dix and Diana Fidler - charged with theft from a Lascar


http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?id=t18571026-1004&div=t18571026-1004&terms=lascar#highlight












http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?id=t18110710-84&div=t18110710-84&terms=lascar#




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History Detectives 2The Story Behind an Object

In our research for Sailing to Britain we visited museums and saw the actual objects from the history of Lascars. In some cases our young researchers were able to handle the exhibits.

During the October half-term 2009, Justnara Zaman and Hannah Brennan spent five days at the National Maritime Museum. The two trainee archivists learned about a wide range of preservation and archiving techniques which will be really useful for the Sailing to Britain Exhibition at Croydon Clocktower, as well as for archiving the whole of the project.

Justnara and Hannah presented a fabulous interactive exhibition at the end of the week, to demonstrate what they had learned.

Drama ActivityEvery Object Tells a StoryBring a historical object into the classroom and ask each pupil to note down their first impressions of it:

Where did it come from, who did it belong to, why did it get left behind? Hey presto! You have the raw material for a play!

Justnara and Hannah at the National Maritime Museum



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History Detectives 3Hunting for clues in your neighbourhood

A Street Sign found in WandsworthIs it hinting at some hidden aspect of the this riverside parish?

Husnara Zaman on photo safari

The young participants went on photo safari to see what clues they could find in their local areas to London’s seafaring past and the part the Lascars played in it.

Street names, inscriptions on buildings, memorials and names of parks or blocks of flats are all part of the everyday archeology of our neighbourhoods.

Photographs of period details such as narrow streets, waterways and Victorian brickwork help to set the scene for the devising process. They form part of the design concept as they are added to the designer’s notebook and mood boards.

Using digital cameras or phone cameras, explore the hidden corners of your local area. Consult the local history section of your library to find out more about your discoveries.

What stories can you uncover? Create a performance and invite local people to find out more, or relive their own memories of the area.

A crane on a dockside building in Shadwell



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Sailing to Britain Lascar Food

In the list of rations permitted for Lascars on board ship, we found the phrase ‘pillow’ meat. On further enquiry, we learnt from Ivan Day, a food historian, that pillow meat was a corruption of pilau or pilaf, a rice dish. “The meat used here is house lamb or pork. Lamb was too much of a luxury meat at this period and was not suitable for sea stores. Pork was common on board ship – usually in its salted form. However, there would have been religious issues with some crew members regarding the pork.” He has given us a recipe:

PELOE OF RICE England 1801. Wash and pick two pounds of rice, boil it in plenty of water till half done, with a dozen of whole cardamom seeds, then drain it, pick out the seeds, put the rice into a stew pan, with three quarters of a pound of fresh butter and some pounded mace, and salt to the palate. Take a loin of house lamb or some fresh pork cut into small pieces; put them into a frying-pan, add cinnamon, cloves, cumin and cardamom seeds, a small quantity of each pounded and sifted, with a bit of butter and some cayenne pepper, and fry the meat till half done. Then take two bay leaves, four good-sized onions sliced, and add to them a pint and a half of veal stock. Boil them till tender and rub them through a tamis cloth or sieve; then boil the liquor over a fire till it is reduced to half a pint, add it to the fried meat and spices, together with some peeled button onions boiled. Then put some of the rice at the bottom of another stew pan, then a layer of meat and onions on the rice, and so on alternately till the whole is put in. Cover the pan close, set it in a moderately heated oven for two hours and a half, and when it is to be served up turn the rice out carefully on a dish.

John Mollard, The Art of Cookery (London: 1801)p. 96.

Ship’s Biscuit - Hard TackIngredients

450g wholemeal flour (a medium-ground flour is more authentic although pea flour was used originally, it was particularly hard when dried so it lasted for months).5g salt and some water

Method:

Combine the salt and flour in a bowl then slowly add the flour and mix until you have a very stiff dough. Bring together as a ball, cover and set aside to rest for 30 minutes. After this time turn the dough onto a lightly-floured work surface and roll out quite thickly (about 12mm deep). Use a round pastry cutter to cut out the individual biscuits. Place these on a greased baking tray and prick all over the surface of the biscuit with a fork.

Place in an oven pre-heated to 210°C and bake for about 30 minutes, or until the biscuits are lightly golden and cooked through. Allow to cool on the baking tray for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.



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Mapping Our WorldThe Victoria and Albert Museum has kindly given us permission to reproduce this map. It shows the ‘extent of the British Empire in 1886’.

Classroom ActivitiesEnlarge the map. Ask students to mark on the map where their own ancestors came from. Each student may need a number of stickers and they can go back as many generations as their knowledge stretches.

Ask students to mark on the map where Lascar sailors came from and the places where some of them settled.

Discuss: What do the images bordering the map tell us about how the British viewed their empire?

Research:When and why did the British Empire come to an end?



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Sailing to Britain - the story so farThe young participants in the Sailing to Britain Project have visited museums, learned Lascari words and songs, trained as archivists, been sailing, been on a photo safari, and worked with playwright Nicholas McInerny and project director Jules Tipton, to devise scenes, create movement sequences, develop characters and bring to life the almost forgotten history of the Lascars for audiences in Croydon, Wandsworth and Greenwich.

These are the stories which they created in the summer of 2009:

THE BALLAD OF SANGI AND ABDOOL

performed at Croydon Clocktower on 7th August 2009 Synopsis: Two teenage brothers, leave their rural village to support theirwidowed mother. Traveling to Calcutta to collect a debt from a ship’s Serang, they also bring the family’s opium to sell. To avoid paying the debt the Serang tricks them and traps them aboard the Mary Louise. They wake in the middle of a tea shipping race to London, and are forced to join the Lascar crew. How will they adapt to this alien environment? And what will happen when they dock in London?

CONTINUED OVERLEAF

The Croydon team



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The Story So Far ContinuedHONOUR AND OBEYperformed at TARA Studio, Wandsworth, on 21st August 2009

Synopsis:Fleeing her rural village to avoid an arranged marriage, a young Indian girl, Paro, follows her brother Rahul to Calcutta. She disguises herself as a boy and joins the Lascar crew of the Princess Louise. With a six month voyage to London ahead, surely her secret will be discovered. And will she succeed in hiding her burgeoning attraction to the young ship’s doctor John Foster?

CROSSING THE LINEperformed at Greenwich Theatre, on 29th August 2009

The Greenwich Team in rehearsal

Synopsis: A story of betrayal and consequences. Four teenage friends board the Artemis as Lascars. Bound for London they meet three female passengers: the wife of the curry cook, a Christian governess and a day-dreaming musician. As their relationships with the women develop, will the boys remain loyal to each other? What will happen during the voyage, and what are the consequences once the ship docks in London?

For updates on the project go to: http://sailingtobritain.blogspot.com

The Wandsworth Team



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Further ResourcesAn important part of this Arts & Heritage project is developing young peoples' understanding of different, often hidden, histories, through research and interpretation.

Here are some useful links and resources for you to begin your own journeyinto the story of the Lascars.

WeblinksTARA takes no responsibility for the content of external websites

www.tara-arts.com

www.nmm.ac.uk - the National Maritime Museum

www.museumofcroydon.com

www.museumindocklands.org.uk

http://sailingtobritain.blogspot.com - Sailing to Britain project blog

http://www.movinghere.org.uk/ - a web resource exploring personal family migration histories to Britain

www.portcities.org.uk/ a site exploring the diverse histories of port city communities around the UK

http://www.barnettmaritime.co.uk/mainheic.htm Len Barnett is a professional genealogist who has done extensive research in British Naval & Merchant Navy personnel. www.nationalarchives.gov.uk excellent material relating to a range of topics in the Sailing to Britain project, especially Research and Learning/Education/British Empire

http://www.qvsr.org.uk/history.htm - history of the Queen Victoria’s Seamen’s Rest

www.oldbaileyonline.org historical transcripts of Old Bailey trials.

www.theatrestudy.com - this pack was created by Helen Cadbury, Theatrestudy Publications, online education resource packs for theatre and learning.

BooksGhosh, Amitav: Sea of Poppies (2008) - This novel is the first in a trilogy of books by one of modern India’s finest writers. It brilliantly tells the story of how a group of Indians are recruited to become Lascars and how they sail out of Calcutta, bound for Mauritius.

Day, Ivan: Cooking in Europe 1650-1850 (Greenwood Press: 2008)

Ramdin, Ron: Reimaging Britain - 500 Years of Black and Asian History (Pluto Press, 1999)





http://www.nmm.ac.uk

http://www.nmm.ac.uk

http://www.museumofcroydon.com

http://www.museumofcroydon.com

http://www.museumindocklands.org.uk

http://www.museumindocklands.org.uk



http://www.movinghere.org.uk

http://www.movinghere.org.uk

http://www.portcities.org.uk

http://www.portcities.org.uk

http://www.barnettmaritime.co.uk/mainheic.htm

http://www.barnettmaritime.co.uk/mainheic.htm

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

http://www.qvsr.org.uk/history.htm

http://www.qvsr.org.uk/history.htm

http://www.oldbaileyonline.org

http://www.oldbaileyonline.org

http://www.theatrstudy.com

http://www.theatrstudy.com

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AcknowledgmentsWith many thanks to our funders and to the dedicated staff at our partner organisations.

Funders

Partners

TARA and the Sailing to Britain TeamJatinder Verma: Artistic DirectorClaudia Mayer: Associate Director (Design)Jonathan Kennedy: Executive Director Mukul Ahmed: Studio ProgrammerKatie Elston: Marketing OfficerXiao Hong (Sharon) Zhang: Finance Officer

Jules Tipton: Project DirectorNicholas McInerny: Playwright Sarah Clews: Participation OfficerTom Kanji: Workshop FacilitatorPauline Nakirya: Workshop FacilitatorFiliz Ozcan: Workshop FacilitatorSarah O’Connor: Stage ManagerDelwar Hossain: MusicianIan Shaw: Musician & Research AssistantNaia Johns: Research Assistant



Sailing to Britain Education Pack

Documents

garratt lane london

history detectives

es tel

rich history

heritage project

boat sailing

britain research

hill of tara