The company of aprentice sailors in the Paraná-Brazil, nineteenth-century

Abstract

This work pinpoints the vicissitudes experienced by boys concerning the learning of a sailor’s job, after the creation of the ‘Companhia de Aprendizes Marinheiros’ (Company of Apprentice Sailors) in Paraná-Brazil, in 1864. Recruited among poor children, mainly orphans, the apprentices were given basic school, and professional instruction. This educational process is discussed according to the guidelines of the work society in nineteenth-century Brazil. This work also addresses the limitations imposed on the learning of a job under adverse conditions regarding the survival and health conditions of the conscripted boys. The conscript many times ocurred illegally and the boys were considered ugly and wicked by those who conscripted them.