Sailors’ Homes

Merchant seamen were essential to maritime commerce and communication, yet throughout the nineteenth century endured harsh and dangerous working lives, lack of proper hygiene and sanitation, risk of disease, poor pay and little protection in case of illness, injury or old age. Conditions both at sea and in port cities were challenging. Lack of affordable accommodation in port cities posed extreme problems for seamen of all nations, who were vulnerable to predation by crimps and pimps offering credit, alcohol and a good time - at a price. In response to their plight, churches, maritime enterprises and private charities established sailors' homes in British and colonial ports.

Intended to offer more than just shelter from the elements, sailors' homes provided a professional community for sailors between voyages. They provided affordable accommodation, usually demarcated by class and race, with access to medical care, libraries and other recreational and religious services. Some incorporated employment registries that helped the seamen find new jobs with shipping companies. The idea for an abode for seamen in colonial territories stemmed also from the dual anxieties surrounding the adverse influence of foreign lands and culture on their character and morality, and the need to reform European seamen so that they left a positive impression on colonial people in line with the imperial civilizing mission.

The evangelical requirements of ‘humanity, patriotism, or religion’ were therefore imperative for the benefit and welfare of the ‘sailors themselves, or our national interests’, or even for the ‘interests of the world at large’ (Establishment of a Sailors’ Home 1845: 9). Homes for orphaned or abandoned sailors' children began at much the same time. Like sailors' homes, orphanages provided shelter, food and clothing, along with education, religious and vocational training often with the intention of future employment in the navy or merchant marine.