Indian crews on British ships mid 19th century
I am trying to find out if there is anyone with knowledge or expertise of the Indian crews who worked aboard the ships which bought immigrants to Australia in the 19th century especially before 1856.Newspapers at the time refer to these people as Lascars.I know the P&O lines had them as crew which were on a contract of some sort.
The various Libraries and Maritime records here in Australia do not seem to have much at all if any and I wonder what is available in India.