Ships Carrying Chinese to Cuba

After the abolition of slavery, thousands of chinese laborers were brought to Cuba primarily to work the sugar cane fields replacing black slaves. According to Napoleon Seuc3 "They were the so called "coolies", manual laborers contracted for eight years to replace the black slaves, whose importation was prohibited following the Treaty signed between England, then the top naval and imperial power in the world and the Spanish Crown, whose empire had been reduced to a minimum after the independence of all Center and South America, converted into independent incipient indo-american republics."

Chinese laborers usually signed contracts for 8 years in "cuadrillas" (squads) of 8 workers. The workers were usually loaded onto ships in Macao and received by their consignatories in the port of Mariel. The names of these workers were not published in the newspapers.

On 27 April 1871 a Royal Order2 was issued mandating the departure from the island, at government expense, of all chinese who, having competed their work contract, had not renewed same, thus becoming "a disturbing element". This is why you probably see small groups of chinese listed on some passengers lists, not identified by name.

Generally these Chinese workers were treated in a manner similar to the slaves that they were replacing. The numerous compaints eventually caused an investigatin of a Commission of the Government of China in 1873, which issued their report on 20 Oct 1874.

According to the Commission's Report3, 4:

"The investigations were conducte in person, 8 of 10 workers said they had been kidnapped or swindled. The mortality of the trip exceeded 10%.. upon arrival in Habana they were sold like slaves. - the great majority were bought for work in the sugar cane plantations, where the work was excessive and the food insufficient, the punishments with rods, lashes, chains or stocks. On visual inspection we verified fractures and loss of extremities, blindness, skulls full of scars, missing teeth due to blows, mutilated ears, lacerations of the skin and flesh, these were patent proof of continuous cruelty on the part of the employers. Upon completion of the contract, the employers, in the majority of cases, would retain the certificate of having compelted the contract, and insisted on re-enlistment. Those that refused were sent "in chains" to the deposits, forced to repair roads wihtout receiving compensation for their labor; they were treated - they said- as criminals in prisons. When they finished their first contract they were forced to "re-enlist", that is, to sign a new contract with another employer, and so forth. The return to therir country -China- or to lead an independent life were practically impossible."

The Commission's Report resulted in a complete cessation of the trade and embarcation of coolies in 1874.

Passenger Lists

One of our readers, Maria Krane, in 2009 provided us with the following partial scan of a document that she had acquired on the Internet. The document is titled "Nomenclature of the Farmers Embarqued Aboard the Spanish Barca Anduizas with Destination to Habana". The document contains the names of 359 men with their ages and towns of origin. It is signed (illegiblly) and dated in Macao on 14 Jan 1873.

• Anduiza - Spanish barca (Macao, 14 Jan 1873)

Census of Chinese Coolies

Maria Krane also provided us with the following copy of a census of chinese coolies taken in Ganajay in 1855 that she acquired:

• Censo de Colonos Chinos - Guanajay 1855

Ships with Chinese Laborers

This are ships carrying chinese laborers to Cuba that we found while transcribing passenger lists:

We also know, from Maria Krane, that the US ships "Kate Hooper" and "Ticonderoga" also took chinese coolies to Cuba. There is an intersting story about one of the trips of the "Kate Hoper" in the US National Archives web site. You can reach this story through the following link:

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2001/summer/coolie-ship-kate-hooper-1.html

Notes & References:

1. According to letter from the Marques de San Miguel published in the Diario de La Marina on 20 April 1870.

2. Diario de la Marina, 19 Sep 1871.

3. La Colonia China de Cuba 1930-1960, Napolen Seuc, Ahora Printing (privately printed), Miami, FL 1998, ISBN 0-9666333-0, LOC 98-73431.

4. The Cuban Commission Report, a Hidden History of the Chinese in Cuba, John Hopkin's University Press, Baltimore, MD, 1993.

We wish to also specially acknowledge the contributions of Maria Krane to the material in this page. Thank you Maria!

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