Researchers from across the UK, the US, Europe, Australia and India came together in Bristol to talk and debate issues of race, religion and empire among maritime workers on 12-13 September 2024. From the conference venue we enjoyed a view of the iconic ss Great Britain and, on Friday, followed guides around Brunel’s landmark iron passenger liner.
Delegates took a tour of Brunel’s ss Great Britain.
Over seven lively panels, we encountered the trial of an enslaved black seaman in Victorian London (Umberto Garcia), the pre-history of the Cardiff race riots (Hassam Latif), and the religious background to Birkenhead’s Mere Hall Indian Seaman’s Home (Haseeb Khan). For the British strand, there was a touching account of the emotional lives of children in sailors’ orphan homes (Emily Cuming), and the place of Roman Catholics in the Royal Navy (Michael Snape). Workers’ religious politics in late colonial Calcutta were discussed by Prerna Agarwal, and Florian Stadtler considered the unique record of Aziz Ahmad and his mission to lascars in Scotland. Justine Atkinson took us to Australia, and the diverse seamen’s missions in the colonial port of Newcastle, NSW, while Houda Al-Kateb provided a rivetting account of passengers on the ss Great Britain – a great way to introduce us to the ship beckoning out the window. Ting Ruan spoke on lighthouses in China, drawing attention to the extreme disparity in the salaries of European and local Chinese workers. The two teams for the Mariners project presented on religion, race and the lascar body, and the soul of the sailor in missions to British seamen.
Haseeb Khan on Birkenhead’s Mere Hall Home for Indian Seamen.
The final session was made up of panels, beginning with archivist extraordinaire, Claire Weatherall, enlightening us on the challenges of knowledge exchange for archives and archivisrts, with examples from the Anglican Missions to Seafarers collection at the Hull History Centre. Asif Shakoor gave a moving presentation on the lascar legacy from the point of view of a community historian, and Brad Beaven and Valerie Burton enlightened us with wit and accumulated wisdom as maritime and social historians of port cities.
We have grand plans for publication, and hope to gather these rich contributions to maritime and religious history into a journal special issue as well as blog posts and contributions to the Mariners website.
I would love to have been there. Congratulations. What a fascinating mix of papers, including some very new angles on under-investigated areas of race in maritime history. As yet there have been few conferences on the subject, in any country. This conference will have enhanced the history of maritime intersectionality. What a useful step!
I’m looking forward to reading a brief conference report. One will be published soon here, I hope.
Wishing you lots of luck with all yoiur ‘grand plans’ for planned publication.. That will be very welcome.
Dr Alston Kennerly, the world expert on maritime welfare history including missions to seafarers, will be a suitable dedicatee.. Would-be readers might like to start by reading his ‘Welfare in British merchant seafaring; DOI 10.1177/0843871416630679. Readers without academic access can read a rich abstract at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/300001248_Welfare_in_British_merchant_seafaring#