The Barbados Land-ship is a cultural movement and organization, known for its entertaining parades, performances and dances. Members are said to mimic the British Navy, dressed in naval uniforms and marching and performing to the music of the Tuk band. However, it is a lot more than entertainment. The organization was started in the island of Barbados after Emancipation, by the earliest plantation workers of African Descent to help them develop socially and economically. The Barbados Land-ship Association is the umbrella body and is essentially a Friendly Society. Each community had a Land-ship. It is based on a cooperative system, operating within communities and providing common services to them. The Land-ship, as it is locally known, has been an oral tradition handed down from members to members from the time of its establishment in 1863. It is held among the ranks of Barbados' cultural symbols such as the "Mudda Sally" and the "Shaggy Bear", but in much more esteem as a "cultural icon unique to Barbados". It is thought that the Land-ship existed long before it became officially established and that the ways of the Land-ship were practised within the plantation communities of African slaves long before Emancipation Day. This would account for the interpretation of Land-ship maneuvers as re-enactments of the Middle Passage, an experience that would have been embedded into the minds of the first shipments of enslaved Africans to Barbados. During the latter part of slavery, slaves were bred and the plantations had very little need for imported slaves.
Introduction The first book on the Land-ship was published in September 2013 by Editha (Nancy) Fergusson-Jacobs, entitled, "Full Steam Ahead - Locating the Barbados Land-ship". It is a cultural organization which was declared unique to Barbados and was recognized for its contribution to Barbados' intangible heritage by the Government of Barbados. It engages in social activities and is also said to mimic the British navy in its organization and structure. It is also said that the Land-ship was founded in Britton's Hill in Seamen's Village, Barbados. This is not correct as it was more likely developed on the plantations in the countryside, since its members were plantation workers.
The Land-ship was said to have been formed by Moses Wood, a retired Bajan seaman who had served in the British Royal Navy and then lived in Cardiff and Southampton.Aviston Downes cites him as "Moses Wood" in his article, "Searching for Admiral Moses Wood: Oral Tradition and the history of the Land-ship" Journal of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society Vol.XLVIII, Nov. 2002, 64 –78. According to Louis Lynch,The Barbados Book. London: Andre Deutsch Ltd., 1969, 224. as far back as 1879, the sight of the white uniformed crew was a familiar one to the inhabitants of the colony. It is reckoned that the Land-ship as it is known today, started in October 1863,The year 1863 has been passed down through the years and celebrated annually by members. but it is not feasible that Moses Wood was the originator, since his records show his birth as 21 January 1860.According to Land-ship Researcher, Aviston Downes, Moses Wood was born on 21 January 1860 and died on 12 June 1941 It is more likely that Wood joined the Land-ship and started a branch of the Land-ship (which is known as a Ship) when he returned to Barbados. However, his fame may have come because the Land-ship had become low keyed (almost underground) by the time Wood returned and the then Governor Hodgson, had previously issued an edict forbidding "the wearing of quazi-military uniforms".Editha (Nancy) Fergusson-Jacobs: "Full Steam Ahead - Locating the Barbados Land-ship", page 26. Hence Wood was being openly defiant in starting a Ship because he wanted to continue wearing his naval uniform and the Land-ship provided that perfect opportunity.
Early Land-ship The Barbados Land-ship was established in 1863. It was formed by Africans living on the plantations tenantries in Barbados after they were emancipated from slavery. The organization provided a safe haven for them to progress out of poverty. Unlike the plantation owners who were compensated for each African that was freed, our African forefathers received nothing. They were kicked off the plantation and assigned to infertile lands called tenantries. They then had to build their own huts and find work to earn money as they endeavored to start from scratch. Many went back to work on the plantation. Skilled workers and artisans became more independent.
Many of the benefits which workers receive today were not available to them. There was no pension after working and toiling all their lives on a plantation. There were no welfare services which would allow them some relief. They had no health or life insurance and did not even have the money to bury their dead.
It is out of these conditions that the Barbados Land-ship was born. Some say it was the benevolence of their African ancestors brought with them that they employed to support themselves. The Barbados Land-ship is therefore a system of benevolence and cooperation which is based on a small contribution from each member. When pooled together these small contributions became significant and allowed the organization to develop the resources to help each member in times of need.
History Edited extract from "Full Steam Ahead - Locating the Barbados Land-ship" by Editha (Nancy) Fergusson-Jacobs
The Barbados Land-ship is the oldest serving African-Barbadian organization in existence to date. The first known statistics of its membership was during the 1930s when it was recorded there were three fleets of sixty ships with a membership of over 3,000 men and 800 women. Over the following years, there have been several periods of adjustment with the number of ships and membership fluctuating until at present there is only one ship in 2021 remaining, the Director(located in landlocked Highland, St Thomas Parish) with twenty-four members. After all this time, not much is known by the Barbadian public about the Land-ship outside of its visual impact of lily-white uniforms decorated with colorful cords, and animated performance with the accompaniment of the Tuk Band known as its "engine".
The phenomenon known as the Barbados Land-ship is truly an example of an oxymoron of the English language. This is a combination of two contradictory terms - a marine activity on land. This institution carries within the body of its maneuvers the oldest African-based performance of the journey known as the Middle Passage.
This traumatic experience of the enslaved West Africans, who were brought to Barbados mainly during the seventeenth century, created this re-enactment to ensure that their children never forget from whence they came. It demonstrates the predominantly African provenance of the Barbados Land-ship which origins can be traced to the traditional maritime organization of the Fante peoples from the Gold Coast region of Ghana known as the Asafo.
The general characteristics of the Asafo organization are quite similar to those of the Barbados Land-ship in several areas: the development of companies or ships located within one domicile; the naming and identification of companies; the titles attached to the offices and uniforms within the companies; the collection of the monetary contributions accumulated by the membership, linked to the responsibility for the funeral ceremonies of their members and, most importantly, the animated ceremonial processions and performances within the communities.
Research on the Asafo institution and corresponding links with the Barbados Land-ship Association is ongoing, drawing largely on the disciplines of African art history and Caribbean history. It has become clearer that the artistic, social and political traditions of the Akan peoples bind these two institutions. It has been a long process of research, trying to identify the connections from the past, addressing the period from slavery to Emancipation and into the present. These linkages offer some meaningfulness and identification for a people who have been separated for over four hundred years. The evidence gathered from research demonstrates the similarities in the framework of these institutions and their divergence after the impact of British colonization.
The organization The structure of the Land-ship organization mirrors the structure of the British navy, with each unit known as a "ship", which is based at its own "dock" (a wooden house similar to a chattel house), and leaders known as Lord High Admiral, Admiral, Captain, Boatswain, Quarter Master, Commander, Doctor, Matron, Engineer and other navy ranks. Each unit is named after an actual British ship. Land-ship performances symbolize and reflect the experience of the Middle Passage, where Africans were brought from the West Coast of Africa by ships to be slaves in the Caribbean and Americas. Land-ship performances are made up of maneuvers done to commands. These maneuvers are unique to the Land-ship and every movement is of historical significance as if coded in a manner not to be forgotten for generations.
The Barbados Land-ship is defined as a Friendly SocietyDownes, Aviston: "Friendly Societies in Barbados: An Oral History." (paper) and operates as a Friendly Society. A "Society" was the earliest form of organizations that could be registered in Barbados, which were usually for charitable purposes. Today, it also falls within the general definition of a Non Governmental Organization (NGO) and more specifically as a Community Based Organization (CBO).
The Barbados Land-ship is made up of several ships and even though there is only one surviving ship, provision is made for "floating" ships so long as they conform to the rules. The two main components of a Land-ship are the performers and the Engine. Eight persons and an engine is the requirement for starting a Ship. Eight because it takes eight persons to plait the Maypole. The engine or Tuk Band can have a minimum of three members. It provides the musical accompaniment for the members of the Ship to perform their maneuvers as well as for the plaiting of the Maypole.
Each ship was traditionally named after British warships but bearing the initials of the "Barbados Land Ship" BLS before it. Some of the ships that existed were the: BLS Queen Victoria (HMS Victoria (1887)), BLS Queen Mary (HMS Queen Mary), BLS Rosetta, BLS Iron Duke (HMS Iron Duke), BLS Cornwall (HMS Cornwall), BLS Rodney (HMS Rodney), BLS Indefatigable (HMS Indefatigable), BLS York (HMS York) and the sole surviving ship today is the BLS Director (HMS Director (1784)).
The maypole Excerpts from the book, "Full Steam Ahead: Locating the Barbados Landship", by Editha Fergusson-Jacobs, Chap. The Maypole, Page 81
The dancing and plaiting of the Maypole are the most spectacular aspect of the Land-ship performance. There are eight participants: four males, led by the King, with the red ribbon, and four females led by the Queen with the white ribbon. The six other ribbon colors are blue and green, yellow and mauve and orange and pink, which are plaited in a clock-wise and counter clock-wise movement, moving over and under each other.
The ribbons are plaited around the central post until they become too short to intertwine, and then the weave is reversed to unwind. In Akan cosmology, the colors of red and white, which are king and queen in the Land-ship maypole dance, are highly significant and have special spiritual meaning when used together.
The dancing of the maypole is a traditional dance found all over northern Europe that dates back to the middle ages, with this version of English and Scottish provenance, a custom likely to have been continued by British settlers in Barbados.