[BITList] Lascars

[fredmno at aol.com]

Salaams,
????????????? not too sure if the following has already appeared on t'other list? Nicked it from Wikepedia, interesting!
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? BR Fred 


Lascar

, though rarely used now, was once the name used to describe a 
[sailor]
 from 
[India]
 or other countries East of the 
[Cape of Good Hope]
, employed on 
[Europe]
an ships from the 16th century until the beginning of the twentieth century. The word comes from the 
[Persian]
 
[Lashkar]
, meaning military camp, and 
[al-askar]
, the 
[Oman]
i word for a guard or soldier. The 
[Portuguese]
 adapted this term to 

lascarim

, meaning an 
[Asian]
 militiaman or seaman. Lascars served on 
[British]
ships under 'lascar' agreements. These agreements allowed shipowners
more control than was the case in ordinary articles of agreement. The
sailors could be transferred from one ship to another and retained in
service for up to three years at one time. The name 
lascar

 was also used to refer to Indian servants, typically engaged by British military officers.





Indian seamen had been employed on European ships since the first European made the sea voyage to India. 
[Vasco da Gama]
, the first European to reach India by sea (in 
[1498]
), hired an Indian pilot at 
[Malindi]
 (a coastal settlement in what is now 
[Kenya]
) to steer the Portuguese ship across the 
[Indian Ocean]
 to the 
[Malabar]
 coast. 





The number of Indian seamen employed on British ships was so great that the British tried to restrict this by the 
[Navigation Acts]
 in force from 
[1660]
, which required that 75 percent of the crew of a British-registered
ship importing goods from Asia had to be British. Initially, the need
arose because of the high sickness and death rates of European sailors
on India-bound ships, and their frequent desertions in India, which
left ships short of crew for the return voyage. Another reason was war
when conscription of British sailors by the [Royal Navy]
 was particularly heavy from Company ships in India. 


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