Mercantile Life in Early 19th Century Southeast Asia: The Ross Brothers

Abstract

Abstract: British traders operating in the East in the early nineteenth century faced warfare, piracy, and shipwreck, along with the competing interests of local rulers and East India Company (EIC) officials. This article looks at episodes in the maritime careers of three brothers to show how the commercial environment affected trade. The brothers were born in Jamaica, illegitimate sons of a Scottish trader who served as a government official and his freed slave. One son became a ship’s captain in the Bombay Marine, the private navy of the EIC and an important surveyor of Eastern seas. Another son also joined the Bombay Marine but left under unknown circumstances and transferred to the private ‘country trade’ after adopting a new name. The third son became a ship’s captain in the country trade and died after an attack by local pirates in Bangka. The family circumstances that led to the brothers’ careers and lives of their children are summarized to illustrate the social mobility of descendants of West Indian slaves in the early nineteenth century.