Seedies and Kroomen facts for kids
Seedies and Kroomen were African sailors who worked for the British Royal Navy in the 1800s and early 1900s. They were hired from different parts of Africa and the Indian Ocean.
Who Were the Seedies?
The Seedies got their name from the Hindi word sidi. Most Seedies were Muslim and came from ports around the Indian Ocean. They were often recruited from places like Zanzibar and the Seychelles. Some of these sailors had been slaves before joining the navy.
Seedies usually did less skilled jobs on the ships. For example, some served on a large warship called HMS London. This ship was stationed near Zanzibar between 1878 and 1883. It helped to stop the slave trade in that area. Later, Seedies also worked on the armed merchant cruiser HMS Himalaya from 1916 to 1918.
Who Were the Kroomen?
The Kroomen were skilled fishermen from the Kroo or Kru tribe. They came from a place called Sotta Krou, which is now part of Liberia in West Africa. Because they knew the West African coast so well, they were sometimes hired as guides for ships.
Life as a Krooman
An American Navy officer named Horatio Bridge wrote about the Kroomen in the 1840s. He said they were very important for trade and shipping along the African coast. You could easily hire Kroomen and their canoes, and they would work for months. They didn't need much equipment, just a straw hat and a piece of cotton cloth around their waist.
When they were rowing a boat or paddling a canoe, Kroomen would often sing. Their songs seemed to give them energy, and they would work cheerfully without getting tired. One person would sing a lead part, and everyone else would join in for the chorus. Their songs were about their adventures, their jobs, news from the coast, and even about the people who hired them. Kroomen working on navy ships would sometimes playfully tease their friends who worked on merchant ships, saying they had harder jobs and weren't paid as well.
Kroomen often left home to work for sailors to earn money. Their main goal was to buy wives, as having many wives showed how important a man was in their community. Even the sons of important families would leave for a year or two to earn money for their families. When these men returned home with their earnings, there were big celebrations. The family would kill a bullock (a young bull), fire guns, and spend days dancing and playing. The younger men would give all their earnings to their fathers. Older Kroomen would use their money to buy wives and share the rest with their relatives.
Both Seedies and Kroomen usually signed up to work for three years. After their contracts ended, many of these sailors decided to live in different parts of the British Empire.
The play Captain Brassbound's Conversion by George Bernard Shaw even includes characters called "Krooboys" as part of a ship's crew.
