A transport vessel at Basra, Mesopotamia, 1916 (c)

Photograph, World War One, Mesopotamia, 1916 (c).

Soldiers of an Indian Army unit stand on the deck of a transport ship as Indian and African lascars (sailors) look on. The British merchant fleet, like the Army, recruited extensively throughout the Empire.

From a collection of 265 photographs compiled by Major W Leith-Ross, Indian Army Staff.