Mariners:
Explore the histories of missions to seamen in British ports.
This Mariners website is an output of the Mariners project funded from 2022 to 2026 by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AH/W009803/1). It has two strands. The first explores the lives of British sailors and missions to seamen, while the second looks at 'lascars' - the mostly South Asian seafarers who became an increasingly significant labour force within the merchant marine throughout the nineteenth century.
We are proud to have partnered with the Anglican Mission to Seafarers and the Hull History Centre, who hold their archives. Content from this website is free to download via three datasets: Mariners, Mariners v. 2 and Mariners Oral History Interviews at the University of Bristol data repository, data.bris.
The marine mission movement touched almost every British and colonial port. This project focuses on just four port cities: Bristol, Liverpool, Hull and London.
The long nineteenth century was a remarkable time to be a mariner in Britain. As Britain’s navy, merchant marine and fishing fleets secured the global dominion of the empire, it also transformed as it drew upon labour from a global workforce.
The Great Hall at the Strangers' Home West India Dock Road, The Graphic, 1889.
This project engages with two groups of marine workers: 'British' sailors, which often included other Europeans, and the non-European sailors known as 'lascars'.
James Holland, The Mission Cutter Eirene, Bristol Channel, 1843.
This section highlights the ways that religion, race and class moderated the experiences of sailors afloat and on shore through agents such as missions to seamen, sailors’ homes and maritime enterprises.
Featured Stories
In this story Steven Spencer, Director of Salvation Army International Heritage Centre, discusses the History of the Salvation Navy and its vessels, including its first flagship, The SS Iole.
This story focuses on the diary of Sister Mary Paul Mulquin, written aboard the SS Great Britain in 1873 on one of her final voyages to Australia. The diary sheds light on the experience of seven nuns who migrated to Australia from Ireland to set up a convent school in St. Kilda, Australia.