'Cupid' Officers servant on board HMS Dryad. © NMM

Mabruki's story is typical of many East Africans that were captured and enslaved by merchants and captains involved in the Indian Ocean slave trade.

The Royal Navy was active in the western Indian Ocean, intercepting slave dhows and releasing the captured Africans at Aden, Zanzibar and in India. Separated from their families, many of these freed Africans sought employment on merchant ships and some, like Mabruki, served with the Royal Navy.

Upper Deck of HMS Flying Fish. © NMM

Many former East African slaves freed by the Royal Navy were later employed in the British merchant navy by the Peninsula & Oriental (P&O) or British India Steam Navigation Company (BISNC). 

The Indus, P&O passenger liner, 20 July 1882. © NMM

There were over 70 East Africans on board eight Royal Navy vessels, mainly in the Indian Ocean on census night 1881.