| Mabruki "Cupid" (19th Century) | |
| A freed East African slave who served with the Royal Navy and in the merchant marine | |
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 '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.
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| 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).
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| 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.
| Around 1850 | Born in the Kingdom of Bunyoro in present day Northwest Uganda. |
| 1868 | Mabruki is placed on a dhow for shipment to Zanzibar, Arabia or Madagascar. The dhow is intercepted by the Royal Navy ship HMS 'Daphne'. |
| 1869 | Mabruk is transferred to the Royal Navy ship HMS 'Dryad' and is known as 'Cupid'. |
| 1870 | Mabruki is in Mauritius as the Captains Servant on HMS 'Dryad'. |
| 1891 | An East African man by the name of Mabruki aged about 40, visits the port of London on board the P&O vessel 'Java'. |
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