Introduction

This chapter explores the journey of indentured workers from northern India to the various sugar colonies. Scholars have compared the shipping out of indentured workers with the transportation of slaves. They believed that these voyages were comparable to the ‘middle passage’ of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Classic texts, like Hugh Tinker's A New System of Slavery, make selective use of abolitionist and official sources to allege that crossing the ‘kalapani’ was something Indians immensely feared. They considered that the passage was a traumatic experience and that their mortality levels were exceptionally high. According to Tinker, ‘the killing diseases – cholera, typhoid, dysentery, and a dozen others – were a constant feature of depot and shipboard existence. The Indian Ocean, the Atlantic and the South Pacific – oceans of menace and mighty force – had to be tackled by sailing ships and their crews.’ This chapter investigates the sea passage undertaken by indentured labourers in reaching their destinations and looks into the types of ships used in transportation. It explores the dietary and medical provisions, issues of mortality and the experience of the journey as recorded by indentured workers themselves. It argues that, notwithstanding the powerful rhetoric of Tinker, the journey of indentured passengers was not in any way comparable to the ‘middle passage’. Although the sea journey during the nineteenth century was difficult, colonial transporters implemented various measures to mitigate them. While engaging with the historical debates over issues of mortality of indentured workers travelling to the sugar colonies, this chapter analyses the food and medical care provided to them. It also argues that colonial officers considered labourers’ choices and beliefs when provisioning their ships. This proved to be a significant aid to migrants in coping with the psychological aspects of mortality as well as helping them to control the general level of mortality. It argues that the hazards were ultimately no greater for Indian emigrants than they were for the Englishmen. The prevalence of disease was probably the same as they would have encountered had they stayed back home.