Crewmen from overseas

[Mark Smith]

Looking at merchant ships from World War I there were a lot of overseas crew on British ships, many Chinese, Indians, Arabs and Scandinavians in particular. How did that work? For instance if a ship put into a port anywhere in the world could someone simply join if crew were needed? What about passports? Any regulations at the time on employing "foreigners" on British ships?

[Doc Vernon]

Hello Mark
As far as i know as you say there were many Foreign Crew taken on British Ships at that time.
And yes many of those would have been employed at Foreign Ports , as the Ships that sailed from and to various places at times (and there were many) fell short of all Ranks of Crew, due to Sickness, Jumping Ship,Being arrested, etc so Crew would be taken on t replace those . This happened for many Years, even well after ww1, ww2 and beyond!
Take my case for an example, i was taken on in Cape Town on the old Dunnottar Castle as 1st Class asst stwd.Due to the ship at that time being short Crewed due to Sickness, in fact there were 3 of us taken on , one other was an Engineer~
Cheers

[j.sabourn]

Depended as regards British flagged ships percentage wise crew had to be British this included the master. Which also meant British certificates also. When looking for crew replacements abroad preference would be given to DBSs . American shipping in 2002 still had this or similar percentage wise of crew sailing under the Stars and Stripes. When I sailed under the American flag on supply vessels had to retain the American master and Chief Engineer and signed them on as 2 mate and 3 engineer. One time the American masters twin brother died and he wanted to go back to the States for funeral etc. The only way the US coast guard would let him off was if I would return to vessel as was home on leave, needless to say I went back and he was eternally grateful. I was well known to the US coast guard as had been on the ship some time and had what one could call a dispensation to sail as master under their flag. This was about 1998. The percentage of the crew being of the same nationality of the ship re British or American has changed over the years and if still in existence don’t know. As regards most foreign flag vessels one has to have the certificates of the flagged vessel only. JS
Going back to the WW1 era Britain had a big Empire now called a Commonwealth and most citizens of such had or were given similar privileges as British Citizens . So to most purposes there was very little disqualification for them sailing on British registered ships. A supply vessel in Australia carried a crew of 8 and the mininum American citizens that had to be on board at that time was 2 , so that would mean there had to be 25% of crew had to be of American citizenship. In about the year 2000. Years earlier it would have been about 75 % I beleive. JS.

[Mark Smith]

So in theory you could travel the world without a passport? Signing on and off in ports across the globe? Easier I guess in 1914 when passports were a rarity, but once the war began?

[j.sabourn]

In my time one could not travel the world without a passport. On occasion have travelled on a seamans book with accompanying letter stamped by the appropriate people. Have carried a stowaway in later years from Africa to Australia he was deported on arrival back to where he came from. The ship was held liable for all expenses otherwise he stayed on ship under armed guard. Not allowed ashore and would probably be barred elsewhere of going ashore. Better to just pay the expenses of getting rid of. JS

Even with a passport and a seaman joining a ship in Singapore passing through immigration you were put to one side and if in a group of seafarers were treated differently than fare paying passengers. You were handed over to whoever was responsible for seeing to arrangements for depositing you at your ship or hotel as the case may be. Any country can refuse a person entry if they have reason to believe he is. Not on genuine business it’s one of the great mistakes of the present day of allowing in illegal immigrants. Mostly by governments making the wrong but in their thinking humane decisions to do so . JS
PS as regards Singapore going back 40 years if your hair was too long or you were a skin head they would not allow you entry. How times have changed. JS
The British Red ID card was supposedly brought out to act as a stand in passport for seamen passportless. Don’t think it was very successful. The Discharge book seemed to be more favourably looked on. JS.. probably because it held more information . NHI number for example . JS

[Mo Docherty]

union castle felt obliged to carry st helena deckies,rfa took on maltese, bp carried indias,oh yeah of course international pool in rotterdam

[Johnny Kieran]

I never had a passport until after I got married and went abroad on holidays. If I was on a run job, or went to France or Spain for a jaunt, my discharge book always worked. I don't think it was much different to an old passport anyway. If I remember right, you didn't need a passport to get into France anyway.

[Mark Smith]

Thanks for this. As you may have guessed what goes on beyond the end of the pier is a mystery to me, but fascinating nevertheless.

[Doc Vernon]

For the time i was at Sea , i never had a Passport, and only used my Seamans Book or ID Card to enter any foreign Ports! Only got my first Passport when i joined te RAF in the UK, and then they applied for it, as i had to then have one to be able to travel to Aden after my initial Training Course as Wireless Operator, and Squarebashing
Cheers

[happy daze john in oz]

I think we all assumed that all we needed to go ashore was our seaman's card.
Passport was never mentioned as far as I recall.

But times have changed here in Oz.

No foreign flagged ship will take on an Australian seaman in an Australian port.
If they do then they must pay them under Australian rates of pay and all holiday pays etc.
Too bloody expensive for them.