I discovered Rohama Hassa’s Continuous Discharge Certificate (CDC) in a wooden chest, from the belongings of my late paternal grandmother, Mrs Mohamed (b. 1908, d. 1989), during a visit in October 2011 to our family home in Kashmir, Pakistan. After safely bringing the CDC, 5,029 miles back to Great Britain and carry out extensive research […]
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The Coastal History Blog 44: Preserving South Street Seaport
On a recent trip to New York City, I visited South Street Seaport Museum (SSSM), located almost in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge. There is more maritime heritage associated with this location than I can easily enumerate here.[1] It was once the “Street of Ships” where transatlantic steamers and passenger liners anchored. It also […]
New insights into 18th century East India Company networks
The program of online digitisation of books and documents is now permitting new insights into the global reach of East India Company (EI Co) networks.[1] EI Co servants such as the Supercargoes based at Macau and Canton played a critical role in the regional bullion trade and some of their other previously unknown business ventures […]
MA Naval History Sweden Field Trip, 2018
The MA in Naval History is able to utilise the links created through the Port Towns and Urban Cultures research group to organise some pretty special field trips. These have included curator-led tours on the Mary Rose, HMS Victory, the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, as well as a lecture aboard HMS Warrior by Prof. Andrew […]
Workshop Report: BAME Seafarers in the First World War
Full Report on the Event from Co-organiser, Antony Firth Workshop: BAME Seafarers in the First World War University of Portsmouth Library, Portsmouth 24 January 2018 The Port Towns & Urban Cultures project (University of Portsmouth) recently hosted a free workshop exploring the experiences of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) seafarers in the First World […]
BAME Seafarers in the First World War: The story of Mahomed Gama
I never knew my Grandfather served in the First World War I first discovered that my grandfather, Mahomed Gama, had been recognised for his service in the First World War when I came across some correspondence in a box my grandmother kept. In 2011 my mother, sister and myself were in Pakistan helping to renovate […]