Search our online database of Indian immigrants to South Africa. The Indian Shipping Lists, complete in 91 volumes, provide extensive data relating to Indian indentured immigrants to South Africa.

 

Passenger Lists

The captain of each vessel was provided with a list of passengers and this was handed over to the Protector of Indians, or his representative in Natal, who, after checking the list against the passengers, had it bound in what have become known as the Indian Shipping Lists or Ships' Lists.

Every indentured labourer from India is listed in these registers according to the colonial number given at the time of indenture or departure from the ports of Madras (for south Indians) and Calcutta (for the north). This number remained with the individual throughout his or her stay in Natal. It followed them into marriage where the colonial number of the husband appeared on the marriage certificate with his wife's number and on the birth record of their colonial born children. The colonial number appeared on every official document including licenses, employment agreements and finally death certificates.

Indentured Indians in South Africa

In addition, using the Registers of those returning to India, which are unfortunately incomplete, information has been given, as far as possible, about those who left to return to India. This has been explained in the next section on Indentured Indians who returned to India. Other information has been captured from the copious correspondence of the Protector of Indians and the Indian Immigration Trust Board; this included lists of those leaving Natal under license for other parts of South Africa. The final remarks column provides the employer, an individual or an estate, where the first indenture period was served.

The start of the Shipping List project

Research into the Shipping Lists began in 1978 when a study of was made of the number of Christian Indians who had come to Natal. The Shipping Lists were used extensively to identify them for a study of Christian Indians in Natal ( J.B.Brain, Christian Indians in Natal: Cape Town, OUP, 1983). They also formed a base for work on the economic history of Natal, in which the caste and occupation of individuals were extracted and then traced to their employers in the Estates Registers (Guest and Sellars eds, Enterprise and exploitation in a Victorian Colony, chap.8: Pietermaritzburg, Natal University Press, 1985).

The Department of History of the University of Durban-Westville was given permission to consult these documents at a time when they were closed to the public for political reasons. Because work on the Shipping Lists was obviously going to be a long term project, permission was requested to have them microfilmed. This was granted on condition that nothing was removed from the Department of Indian Affairs where they were kept.

However it proved impossible for any microfilming cameras, large as they were at the time, to pass through the strongroom doors. Just as the project seemed impossible, a young professional photographer offered to copy the registers.

After experimenting for some time a focus range was selected and the entire task was performed, using three vintage Leica cameras borrowed from the photographer's father, one of which collapsed under the strain and had to be repaired; fortunately in those days spares were still available. The numerous five-foot lengths of 35mm document film, after developing 15 at a time in three tanks, were spliced together, sometimes in the wrong order, by a commercial film studio. Although the end result was not as professional as it would have been if a microfilm camera had been used, the entire first stage of computerisation was completed from these reels.

Thanks are due to the Registrar of UDW for obtaining permission for this work to be done and to the Research Fund for providing the financial resources. The set of microfilms is the property of the Department of History of the University of Durban-Westville.

For the first few years two research assistants, working from the microfilm reels, captured the details on to a computer. It was a slow and exacting occupation and errors inevitably slipped in but they worked steadily, and eventually, when the money ran out, they had completed about 96000 entries. Work came to an end for some time and Professor Surendra Bhana used the information then available to compile a statistical analysis of the first stage of the study (Indentured Indian Emigrants to Natal 1860-1902: New Delhi, Promilla & co.,1991). In 1989 money was again available and in the next three years the second part of the capturing was completed. In 1992, with the Shipping lists now housed in the Natal Archives, the task of revising, checking and correcting began. Now, using the actual registers for the first time, the entire 91 volumes were revised and this was completed in June 2003.

Special Problems

The computerization of the Indian Shipping Lists presents special problems for the researcher. The first is the condition of the original registers. Some, as for example vol.1 (Madras), has many of the initial pages missing, others are torn or have the numbers and first names destroyed. The early Calcutta registers (A-D) are also in a poor condition. Calcutta volume J is almost illegible. Even when the pages are intact many of the volumes have been repaired with opaque tape which has become brittle and discoloured and nothing can be seen through it. We have tried to find the missing names in other sources with only limited success.

The next difficulty is in reading the handwriting. There is an art in reading nineteenth century copperplate handwriting, as all researchers know, but in the case of the Shipping lists there is an extra problem in that in most instances it is almost impossible to distinguish between n and u. Both these letters, as well as m and r, are in common use in proper names and when carelessly written, as many are, nn may correctly be un or in. Examples of names using these letters are Munnuru and Narasimmulu. Thus inaccuracies may and do appear in proper names despite care, patience and the use of a magnifying glass!

In a few cases it has been shown that the person's sex is given as male in one source and female in another. This has been left as it appears unless it is obviously a female name and is followed by the names of infants or children. Some of the ages are difficult to decipher where 3 and 8, 5 and 7 are not properly formed.

As far as place names are concerned it must be pointed out that Indian place names have been substantially altered since 1947 and the original names as given in the registers have been left as they are. The use of a 19th century gazetteer, such as The Imperial Gazetteer of India , which is available in Natal, is useful in identifying places and districts.

Because of the possibility of inaccuracies in the reading of proper names, the researchers would like to be informed of errors that have been detected by family or descendants together with sources consulted. This will allow corrections to be made in the revisions.

Acknowledgements

The University of Durban- Westville Research committee and the Human Sciences Research Council provided financial support in the 1970s and 1980s, paying for the hire of research assistants for part of that time. Again in 1990 and 1991 Miss Jaythree Singh did sterling work in the deciphering of north Indian proper and place names. I thank them for their generous support and thank also the research assistants associated with this project, in particular Miss Nadine Cockburn of Durban, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

For several years permission was given to Professor Brain to work one day a week at the Department of Indian Affairs, consulting the original registers which were closed to the public at that time. This was of great assistance.

I express my gratitude to the staff of the Natal Archives in Pietermaritzburg where in the 1980s I examined and listed every document relating to Indian immigration; they also permitted the temporary transfer of the Estates Registers, volumes 1 to 8, to the Durban depot. The staff of the Durban archives, where the Shipping Lists are now kept, have provided us with every assistance, including pleasant and friendly working conditions, over the final period of this project.

Finally I want to express my gratitude to my colleagues of the last few years: Dr T.H.Bennett travelled to Durban with me each week to work on the Shipping Lists and on the Estates Registers and has been responsible for the capturing of all the new and revised information. Mrs Deirdre Papendorf and the late John Ford gave of their time and energy so that the work could be completed in 2003. That this has been possible is due to their help and enthusiasm.

Conclusion

Although the computerisation has been completed, we do not consider that this project has come to an end because there will no doubt be revision and correction to be done in the future. Nevertheless after many years of detailed and time-consuming work we believe that the computerisation of the Indian Shipping Lists will be of assistance to researchers and to the descendants of the indentured labourers, while at the same time helping to preserve the life of the original registers.

J.B.Brain Professor Emeritus, University of Durban – Westville Kloof, July 2003