Indentured Sailors of Simontown play an immense role in the history of this Naval village. The relationship of the West African Krooman with the Royal Navy lasted about a hundred years from the early part of the nineteenth century. These “men of colour” are usually remembered for their whimsical names such as “Bottle of Beer”,” Flying Jim”, Half a Dollar” and “Prince of Wales”. They were from an African tribe living on the coastline from Liberia southwards around the Bight of Benin to Fernando Po – most of them were men.
The West coast of Africa seems to play a very important role in the origin of the people of the Cape. Appropriate recognition is long overdue to the West African seafaring peoples for their indispensable contribution to the maritime commerce. Innumerable Kroo, Lebou, Fanti, Cabinda-men, and other people served aboard European and American trading vessels. They were people of all trades, men-of-war, sailors, boat-pullers, coopers, carpenters, cooks, interpreters, and gold-takers; and ashore lighter men, stevedores, warehousemen, boat-builders, and shipyard artisans of every type of skill. The people from the West coast of Africa had little opportunity to contract as free labourers during the early eighteen hundreds, and shows that these African marines were widely employed by the Europeans on land and sea. The Kroo’s main reason for migration to Sierra Leone was the vast decline of the slave trade on the windward Coast. This was definitely the case during the 1790’s and the first years of the eighteen hundreds. A landmark in the spread of the Kroo enterprise was the establishment of a British crown colony at Sierra Leone in 1807. This was the magnet that drew the Krooman. They settled in Freetown there and created the own Krootown. It then became an important recruitment centre for the black sailors.
The Kroo community in Freetown was composed exclusively of transient males who according to European observers lived a celibate existence on sparse diets in non-descript huts, hoarding their earnings against a day when they would invest them in European goods to carry home. Dancing was their chief diversion. Little is known of the laws and language of the Krooman. They spoke a Kroo-English. As it was easier for the Krooman to learn the English language then it was for the Englishman to learn the “Kroo-mouth”. There are two grand divisions of native Africans on the west coast of Africa, the Fishman and the Bushman. The difference between the two is that the one make a living from catching the animals on land and surviving from them, and the other the sea. The Krooman that are associated with the Fishman spend most of their time on the water and the staple diet is fish and rice. It was reported by many people that the Krooman were very industrious people, as they were often both sailors and traders and in both situations they showed intelligence. They were also known as hardworking people.
In 1819 the Admiralty decided to utilize the manpower available on the West Coast of Africa to supplement the crews of the HMS Ships. Some ten to twenty Krooman were entered abroad five ships at Freetown during the period of 1813 – 1820 to complete their complements to war establishment. The first Krooman known to have been stationed at the Cape were arrivals during the era of sail. When HMS Melville put into Simon’s Bay in March 1838 to assume flagship duty she carried a small number of them.
In 1935, about a century after the first arrivals here, they were still serving Krooman at Simonstown, but by then there were new categories at the Dockyard under the label “South African (Bantu) Natives”, namely Induna, Induna. Second Induna and Bantu corresponding to the grades of Chief Petty Officer, Petty Officer, AB and Ordinary Seaman. In 1903, the Vice-Admiral, Cape stationed, reported that it has become difficult to recruit Krooman. They preferred shorter voyages and disliked the wet winters of the Cape.
Whilst most Krooman maintained an attachment to their homeland in West Africa and were transient, a few contracted marriages with local woman and elected to remain at the Cape as civilians. Burial registers of the rector and sexton of St. Francis Church, Simonstown, as well as a few gravestones, reflect occasional deaths of their wives and children. Following the customs of migrant labourers everywhere, the Krooman also contracted irregular unions; it is more likely that children of such relationships were categorized as “Coloured” or “Hottentots”. According to evidence given to the Labour Commission of 1893, 13 of the Krooman were married at that time. An infusion of Kroo blood into the diverse local population is beyond a question of doubt.
Many of the descendants of these Kroomen are still living in Simons Town today.
Acknowledgements and Sources:
Simons Town Museum
Kathy Salter – Curator of Simons Town Museum
Joan Swain from Simons Town Museum
Prof. George Brooks notes
Tindalls, Seedies & Kroomen by Arthur Davey
The Royal Navy & The Slave Trade
