Of the 42 ships and 87 voyages transporting indentured labourers to Fiji between 1879 - 1916, Ship No. 24 was Jumna. Suchit Maharaj together with Tota Ram Sanadyaha were amongst 310 passengers .
Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands (Press Release) April 14, 2008 --
Pandit Suchit Maharaj - my grand father and grand mother Ramani Devi were free settlers in Votualevu. They came to Fiji in ship no. 24 called Jumna II on 23 May 1893. On its second trip to Fiji, the 310 passengers Jumna brought, was the smallest number of passengers carried by any ship transporting Indian laborers to Fiji. This brought the total population of Indians in Fiji to only 12,281.
In fact 42 ships made 87 voyages and brought in 60,553 passengers (including births but excluding still born at sea). Of these ships 29 were sailing ships and only 13 were steam ships which began transporting laborers from 1905.
Considering the fact that a total of 60,965 passengers had left India, the total of deaths at sea was, therefore, much higher than the births. Syria, which was wrecked on Nasilai Reef alone, amounted for 59 deaths out of the 497 passengers it was carrying.
From the total of 60,965, a majority of 45,439 boarded ships in Calcutta and starting in 1903 only 15,114 in Madras. Sailing ships took, on an average, seventy-three days for the trip while steamers took 30 days.
The first ship, Leonidas, which was named after King Leonidas of Sparta, with 463 indentured laborers, arrived in Fiji on 15th May 1879. On 3 March, 1879 a total of 498 passengers had embarked on Leonidas and departed from Calcutta - 273 men, 146 women and 79 children, less than twelve years of age. Of these17 died before the ship arrived in Levuka, after a journey of 72 days. Yanuca Lailai was chosen as a quarantine station where fifteen more of the new arrivals died on the island due to dysentery, diarrhea and typhoid leaving only 463 survivors, before they were released from the island on 9 August 1879. According to Fiji Times of 17 May, 1879 there were two buffaloes as well on board.
And the last ship No. 87 called S.S.Sutlej V (steamship) arrived on 11 November 1916 carrying the last batch of 888 laborers.
Jumna, a 1,048 ton iron sailing ship, was built in 1867 and was 208.6 feet long and 34.1 feet wide. Tota Ram Sanadhya(1876 – 1947) who later wrote “My Twenty One Years in Fiji” was a famous passenger in this ship. According to the agreement each girmitiya was required to work six days a week. Sundays and authorized holidays were off. They had to work 9 hours during week days and five hours on Saturdays. Daily wages per day for males was one shilling.
While Totaram Sanadhya was sent to Rewa my grand parents were sent to serve their girmit in Toga, Nadi. After completing their girmit, they moved to Votualevu as free settlers.
They had four sons and three daughters. They were
1) Baij Nath Tewari married to Ram Dasi (father of Rishi Nath – Tunalia and Shiri Ram- Suva)
2) Ganga Jali married to Pt Har Dayal Sharma (mother of Pt Vishu Deo Sharma( Dentist Rama Kant’s father , Surya Deo Sharma father of Dr Vimal Sharma , Dr Nar Deo Sharma of Raki Raki and Chandra Wati – India)
In fact 42 ships made 87 voyages and brought in 60,553 passengers (including births but excluding still born at sea). Of these ships 29 were sailing ships and only 13 were steam ships which began transporting laborers from 1905.
Considering the fact that a total of 60,965 passengers had left India, the total of deaths at sea was, therefore, much higher than the births. Syria, which was wrecked on Nasilai Reef alone, amounted for 59 deaths out of the 497 passengers it was carrying.
From the total of 60,965, a majority of 45,439 boarded ships in Calcutta and starting in 1903 only 15,114 in Madras. Sailing ships took, on an average, seventy-three days for the trip while steamers took 30 days.
The first ship, Leonidas, which was named after King Leonidas of Sparta, with 463 indentured laborers, arrived in Fiji on 15th May 1879. On 3 March, 1879 a total of 498 passengers had embarked on Leonidas and departed from Calcutta - 273 men, 146 women and 79 children, less than twelve years of age. Of these17 died before the ship arrived in Levuka, after a journey of 72 days. Yanuca Lailai was chosen as a quarantine station where fifteen more of the new arrivals died on the island due to dysentery, diarrhea and typhoid leaving only 463 survivors, before they were released from the island on 9 August 1879. According to Fiji Times of 17 May, 1879 there were two buffaloes as well on board.
And the last ship No. 87 called S.S.Sutlej V (steamship) arrived on 11 November 1916 carrying the last batch of 888 laborers.
Jumna, a 1,048 ton iron sailing ship, was built in 1867 and was 208.6 feet long and 34.1 feet wide. Tota Ram Sanadhya(1876 – 1947) who later wrote “My Twenty One Years in Fiji” was a famous passenger in this ship. According to the agreement each girmitiya was required to work six days a week. Sundays and authorized holidays were off. They had to work 9 hours during week days and five hours on Saturdays. Daily wages per day for males was one shilling.
While Totaram Sanadhya was sent to Rewa my grand parents were sent to serve their girmit in Toga, Nadi. After completing their girmit, they moved to Votualevu as free settlers.
They had four sons and three daughters. They were
1) Baij Nath Tewari married to Ram Dasi (father of Rishi Nath – Tunalia and Shiri Ram- Suva)
2) Ganga Jali married to Pt Har Dayal Sharma (mother of Pt Vishu Deo Sharma( Dentist Rama Kant’s father , Surya Deo Sharma father of Dr Vimal Sharma , Dr Nar Deo Sharma of Raki Raki and Chandra Wati – India)
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