'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

In 1881 there were 22 East Africans in the port of London on the P&O Indian Mail Service ship, Indus. Another eight East Africans were aboard four other ships (the Pelhim, the Elora and the Pekin). There were seven East Africans aboard the P&O ship Java at the Royal Victoria Docks in 1891.

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