1888 Allanshaw Voyage Brings 627 Indian Indentured Labourers to British Guiana

In 1888 the iron sailing ship Allanshaw carried 627 Indian indentured labourers from the Hooghly River to British Guiana (now Guyana). The passenger list comprised 385 men, 153 women, 12 boys, four girls and 73 infants; one woman died during the passage and three men returned to India.

The voyage, recounted through the experience of a great‑grandfather named Rambishoon, highlighted cramped conditions, gender‑segregated sleeping arrangements, and basic meals served on deck. Earlier trips of the same vessel, including an 1885 voyage in which a young girl named Maharani was raped and died, illustrate the recurrent hardships faced by labourers. The narrative also notes the modern irony that the ship departed near the present site of Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers, which built a ferry intended to replace the MV Barima in Guyana.

The account provides a detailed snapshot of the 19th‑century indenture system that moved tens of thousands of Indians to the Caribbean to work on plantations.