Black and Asian seafarers in the age of Cutty Sark

Black and Asian seafarers in the age of Cutty Sark is currently running at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, with the display set up in the Dry Dock. It's an exhibition that looks at the lives of Black, Chinese and Indian Ocean seafarers—the latter often known as 'lascars'—who worked on the tea clipper Cutty Sark and other British naval and merchant vessels between the 1860s and the 1920s.

During her sailing days, crew from more than 30 nations served aboard the ship, but very little is known about their lives. This display tries to fill that gap, drawing on research by Aaron Jaffer, Curator of World History and Cultures at Royal Museums Greenwich, and on volunteers from Unlocking Collections, a project started in 2017 to find, catalogue, digitise and share overlooked images from the Museum's holdings. Through historic photographs and illustrations, it puts faces and names to the roles, like James Robson, a Chinese-born seafarer who worked as a cook on board Cutty Sark.

It's worth keeping in mind where you'll be seeing it: Cutty Sark is the world's only surviving tea clipper and was the fastest ship of its time, now moored in Greenwich's UNESCO World Heritage Site. The display sits in the Dry Dock, so you're looking at these stories right beside the ship itself.

The exhibition is open daily from 10am to 5pm and is included with Cutty Sark entry, which is £22 for adults and £11 for children, with free entry for members.