An indentured ship's journey 165 years ago

AS YOU read this column, Indian indentured workers on the Truro and Belvedere were on the Indian ocean making their way to Natal, 165 years ago.

- SELVAN NAIDOO KIRU NAIDOO

THE SS Umdona in dry dock in Khidirpur, Calcutta. | Stewart and Sara Fairbairn Collection

(Stewart and Sara Fairbairn Collection)

In the year that we commemorate the 165th arrival of the first indentured workers to the colony of Natal, much work remains in telling the full account of the experiences of those indentured workers.

The extract, below, is from the Indian Africans that documents the diary of a ship captain who ferried Indian indentured workers.

What we know about the voyages of the SS Truro and SS Belvedere in 1860 is that about 684 indentured workers huddled together on the journey to their new African homes. Their sweat was to grease the ailing economy of colonial Natal. The Belvedere left Calcutta for Port Natal on October 4, and the Truro departed Madras on October 12. The Truro arrived in Durban on November 16 with the Belvedere making the longer journey arriving 10 days later, on November 26.

Stewart Fairbairn, of Sydney, Australia, posted notes and images on Facebook drawn from the diaries and clippings of his grandfather, Max de Gruyter.

The latter had captained ships carrying indentured workers, passengers and cargo to various destinations across the globe. What was remarkable from the entries is that De Gruyter had actual embarkation and on deck pictures. No longer were indentured workers an entirely anonymous mass, named and documented but faceless.

The correspondence that followed was more astounding as Fairbairn magnanimously shared the priceless information. This fresh source enable us to go beyond local archival material, but much detective work remains.

The rare pictures on these pages are from Fairbairn’s family albums. The images from the SS Umona can be fairly reliably narrowed down to between 1899 and 1903.