Brad Beaven
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The inner world of the seafaring boarding house
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Another pillar in sailortown's distinct urban–maritime culture was the seamen’s boarding house. ‘The inner world of the seafaring boarding house’ argues that these institutions provided a familiar and welcoming maritime environment for the international sailor and an important contact zone in the heart of Ratcliffe Highway. Contrary to the enduring stories of boarding houses being run by exploitative crimps, established keepers were often important and trusted members of the onshore maritime community. They held vital information on the locality and the latest news on shipping voyages. Moreover, as this chapter demonstrates, foreign seamen’s boarding houses were ethnically diverse and afforded spaces where cultural negotiation was learned and exercised. However, this urban–maritime culture did not embrace all seafarers. By the late nineteenth century, there had developed a racist stereotype of Chinese and Indian sailors that condemned their seamanship skills, morality, and hygiene. The prejudice was replicated in the boarding house culture ashore, ensuring that Chinese sailors settled in their community further east in Limehouse.

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The devil’s highway

Urban anxieties and subaltern cultures in London’s sailortown, c. 1850–1900.

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