Nation on Board. Lynn Schler
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boats, African crews worked a 60-hour week, or 120 hours over 14 days. On cargo ships, the workweek was 45 hours long, with an average of 135 hours worked over a period of 22 days.44 But routinely, seamen were forced to work overtime. This was particularly the case when there was cargo to load and unload. Some seamen recalled working for twenty-four hours at a time as British captains pushed the crew to finish the work in order to get on with the voyage. Diane Frost quoted one Kru seaman as saying: “Sometime the captain in a rush to go to England so we start at 530 am and finish at 1200 am.”45 Shipping companies did not pay for overtime, and as will be seen, this became the single greatest complaint among Nigerian seamen in their protest against British management.
For African seamen signed on in West Africa, wages were considerably lower than for those signed on in England. According to Diane Frost, a fireman engaged in 1940 in West Africa earned £6 a month, while West African firemen engaged in Liverpool earned £12, and white firemen earned £16. Shipping companies rationalized these differences by claiming that the cost of living was lower in Africa. But the disparities angered seamen; as one explained, “There was a big difference between the salaries of the European crew and the African crew. What often bothered us is that we are all working on a ship, and if an accident should happen, it does not know whether you are a black man or white man.”46 Wages also varied between the crew departments, with firemen earning the highest wages, followed by able-bodied seamen, and then trimmers and ordinary seamen.47
The length of voyages varied according to the types of ships, with cargo ships taking longer than passenger ships to make the journey to Europe. Making frequent stops to load and unload cargo, these ships were slower than passenger ships that kept to a fixed schedule. Some seamen preferred to work for cargo vessels, as the voyages were longer and more wages could be earned. During the colonial era, African seamen signed articles as “running agreements,” for up to six months; or “voyage” articles, lasting for up to two years.48 For many seamen, the waiting time in between signing articles was very difficult, as they were not paid for the months ashore. Seamen could be dropped in England at the end of the voyage, and many stayed on, usually in Liverpool, for months or years in between articles. It was commonplace for seamen to take up shore work, and some stayed on permanently in the UK. In most cases, seamen were away from home for months, or even years, at a time. Some welcomed this as an opportunity to spend time in England and other destinations around the world. But there was also much difficulty and uncertainty associated with this type of employment. Voyages could be suspended in ports around the world due to repairs or delayed because of cargo. Thus, one seaman reported waiting in Bremen, Germany, for six months while his ship was being repaired.49
For families back home, seamen’s terms of employment posed many difficulties. Seamen were regularly away from home for three to six months at a time, but some reported staying abroad for years in between journeys.50 Seamen’s wives had to manage all the affairs of the household, and they faced many difficulties, often without their husbands’ knowledge. As one woman said, “It was not easy at all. I was doing the work that was meant for two people in the family.”51 Another claimed, “I tried to cope as a wife and mother of my children, but it was not easy for me. I had to be determined in such a situation.”52 Women interviewed reported giving birth to their children while husbands were away, and having to deal with sickness and economic hardships all alone. One woman recalled, “I had babies born while he was away. I even had a stillbirth because he was away for eight months and there is no money to take care of myself, even to buy medicine. Nobody came to help me.”53 Many wives complained that they had to rely on help from their extended families and neighbors in times of need. One woman sought help from local churches: “Particularly when he traveled to Congo and there was a lot of fighting over there and no letter from him, I was very worried. I just had a baby during this period and also lost one child and he was away for about nine months. It was very tough. I was just moving from one church to another seeking solutions to different sickness the kids were having.”54 Women also had to deal with loneliness and isolation; as one woman said, “I always tell my husband because of my lonely staying, I don’t feel any happiness. I feel very, very bad, extremely bad. One year plus and your husband will not get to his house.”55 The long absences were particularly difficult for children, one seaman’s wife explained: “It was very difficult for them because it was like having a parent that you do not know much about his identity. Because, the father came in for about one or two months, then go back again for a very long time. It was not for them at all.”56 When they finally returned home, seamen’s families had to readjust to a new reality. Some even reported that children did not recognize their fathers. As one woman recounted:
At the initial stage it was very difficult. I couldn’t explain so many things to the children. When the last two children, though they are a bit big now, two years after he left, he came back and I was at the market at that time. They did not allow him to enter the house. He explained to them that he is their father but they told him they had no father. Even my sister who was living with me tried to explain but they refused. It was when their elder sister came back from school and welcomed him, saying, “Daddy welcome,” that they calmed down and allowed him to enter the house. After settling down, they asked him why he left for so long and he told them he went to look for garri [cassava flour] for them to eat. They objected and led him to the kitchen to show him buckets of garri, rice, beans and other foodstuffs and told him that mummy has provided them. When he went back to work after the holiday, he decided to send his pictures home so that the children can know him very well.57
For seamen’s wives and families, there was the additional hardship of worrying about their husbands in this risky line of work, and going long periods without hearing any news of their well-being or whereabouts. Ship work could be dangerous, and many accidents took place, particularly around loading and unloading cargo. Seamen also fell overboard and drowned, and many suffered chronic diseases such as kidney disease, heart failure, and tuberculosis.58 As F. J. Lindop explained, “Exposure to all weathers, overcrowding, inadequately ventilated accommodation, poor food and negligible medical provision aboard ship and a dissipated life ashore took a toll in health.”59 When accidents on ships were reported, wives and families were very worried, and they often had great difficulty in verifying which ships their husbands were on and if they were safe. Some of the women felt that a seaman’s line of work was not worth all the hardship. One said: “The work is a life-threatening job and there is very little money with all the risk involved. Is this a good job?”60 When asked if she would allow her son to become a seaman, another woman said, “Never. God will never allow a bad thing to happen to my children and family. Working as a seaman in this Nigeria is a bad thing.”61
RACIAL DISCRIMINATION AND VIOLENCE ON COLONIAL SHIPS
Nigerian seamen working on colonial ships often faced miserable working conditions, replete with racial discrimination and dehumanizing treatment. The archives abound with incidents of discrimination against black seamen on the part of both European crews and officers. Many black seamen suffered physical abuse, name-calling, and random punishments by the officers they served under, and group beatings or other violent attacks by white seamen. Often, these incidents would land black seamen in the hospital, but the majority suffered these abuses and remained on board, lacking any record or verifiable proof against those who perpetrated these crimes. African seamen who did seek justice usually came up against an uninterested or unconvinced captain, and when it was a case of a black seaman’s word against that of a white seaman, there was little hope that any justice would be served. In one letter of protest, seamen complained to the shipping company that the provocations led Africans to respond with violence for which they, and not the white crews, were ultimately punished:
The habit of several white seamen, as we said, is to collectively beat up on African crew. We protest against this, because it can lead to a situation where African Seamen can join forces to retaliate white seamen, leading to developments of unpleasant proportions. Captains do not call into evidence African crews to refute or say what leads to reports against them by white crews. . . . The mode of addressing them employed by white seamen borders on provocation. It is sometimes so appalling that they are confused or annoyed to point of disobedience and as soon as this happens,