Whaling

Nathaniel Philbrick’s In the Heart of the Sea accounts the details in the attack on the Whaleship Essex in 1820. This includes the Black crew members that were aboard the ship where he details it “was customary aboard a whaleship, the food served in the forecastle (where the blacks lived) had been a grade below the miserable fare that had been served to the boatsteerers and young Nantucketers in steerage.”¹ This quote sheds a lot of light on the racial dynamics of the 1800s showing how inequality and discrimination still affected African Americans out on sea. However, although this inequality may have existed predominantly, seafaring and whaling provided African Americans with many opportunities. As stated by W. Jeffrey Bolster, “Maritime work not only provided wages and allowed widely dispersed black people a means of communication, but also affected the process through which free people of color shaped their identities.”² As a result Black sailors and whalers played a central role in the collective identity of African Americans in the struggle for freedom.

Author Martha S. Putney points out the migration of African Americans through 1803 and 1860, noting that, “The 1885 state census for New Bedford…offers corroborating evidence of the out-migration; 649 of the 1,749 black residents of New Bedford were born in the South, while only 271 were born in other northern states.” and “The 1860 federal census reports for Bristol Country and for parts of Philadelphia offer additional evidence of this out-migration. A significant number of southern-born black seamen had forsaken or bypassed the port cities of the South and moved to the North”³ Many African Americans, freed or slave, would look onto the port cities, such as New Bedford and parts of Philadelphia with seafaring as a way to better their lives.

New Bedford, Massachusetts was a fugitive friendly state with a large population of African Americans and Native Americans. It was established by the Rotche family along with the Samuel Rodman family and was the “capital of sperm oil and spermaceti candle-manufacturing business”⁴ The Rotches who were deeply rooted in the Quaker religion were very active in abolition movements with Skip Finley noting “William Rotch was known for buying the indentures of men of color for his ships” while his son William Rotch Jr. “fought slavery with his money and in the courts and gained freedom for several black men.”⁵ Thus Northern port cities such as New Bedford provided African Americans with the opportunity for independence and income which was available in the unique workplace life at sea provided.

As stated by W. Jeffrey Bolster, “For a black man, then, the ship provided a unique workplace where his color might be less a determinant of his daily life and duties than elsewhere.”⁶ W. Jeffrey Bolster, references Marcus Rediker who notes ships had “egalitarian impulses” with the Atlantic maritime culture and the written legal structure rooting all the way back to the Medieval Codes. Meaning life at sea created its own culture and structure which prioritized skill, status, and role over race. When an African American signed an article indicating his position on the ship, it would fix his role and status on board and resulted in a clear distinction between Captain, Officer, and Mate and created a class of power and privilege. This created a space where African Americans could out rank a white sailor and have a distinct role on board that they otherwise wouldn’t have on land. As stated by W. Jeffrey Bolster, although, “Racial boundaries certainly existed…they were often secondary to those established by the institution of the ship”⁷, which would result in black and white sailors working together as equals.

Not only did life at sea create a space where African Americans weren’t judged by their skin but rather by their skills and distinct role on board, it also provided economic opportunity that wasn’t available ashore. W. Jeffrey Bolster references a Black Rhode Islander, William Brown, who details the laborious jobs available for African Americans at the time, recalling “To drive carriage, carry a market basket after the boss, and brush his boots, or saw wood and run errands, was as high as a colored man could rise.”⁸ Thus many African Americans sought the maritime labor force and immigration from the south continued as “Those from the upper South flocked to Philadelphia to search for jobs on the ships that provided the single largest employment for black and mulatto men in the region.”⁹

The pay for African Americans was also equal to that of white seafarers in the same positions. For example, in 1806, aboard the brigantine John, “one black, one white, one mulatto – earned $18 per month, while the white cook and the ordinary seaman each earned only $14.”¹⁰ Likewise, on the whaleship Bowditch in 1843, the share of the profit for the whaling voyage was split between a crew of “1/185 green hands and 1/150 for seamen.”, with about two-thirds of the crew being African American.¹¹ This maritime structure provided opportune economic mobility, to the point that African Americans could buy their families out of slavery. For example, Moses Grandy aboard the ship James Murray was able to buy his wife from Virginia with 300$ he accumulated on his voyage to the East Indies.¹² Showing how life at sea provided equal pay and economic mobility regardless of race with the determining factor being skill and role on board a ship.

Not only did seafaring provide exceptional wages for African Americans at the time but it also provided a steady job that could last months. Additionally, it also “provided room and board too, an important consideration for poor laborers, and the irregularity”¹³ of work for black men. However as stated by W. Jeffrey Bolster, “financial duress was not the [only] sole incentive to go to sea.”¹⁴ African Americans were drawn to the stories of the sea and like many were curious to see the rest of the world.

As a result life at sea for African Americans created a space where they adopted their own “Black Maritime Culture”. Being forced on a ship for months on end created a space where black and white sailors and whalers shared responsibilities, danger, space, and ate together. A sense of community was made with the forecastle functioning as a social center where culture and tradition was shaped by African Americans. This created a sense of identity that reflected that of plantation fields where the community was built through shared labor.¹⁵ As stated by W. Jeffrey Bolster, “A black crew with white officers can be seen as a microscopic version of the societies that existed on such “sugar islands” as Jamaica in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries…though they remained in power through the threat or use of corporal punishment, it was the black culture that prevailed in those plantations and on those ships. At sea, the larger maritime culture tempered and adapted that black culture.”¹⁶

Furthermore, although few African Americans were able assume the position of Captain “when they did, class distinctions among blacks were subordinated to racial pride”. This created an inspiration to the black community with many African Americans looking at such examples like Paul Cuffe as “role models and community leaders.”¹⁷ African Americans looked at seafaring and whaling as a way to provide for their families and this constituted what it meant to be a “real man”. As a result of laws such as the Fugitive Slave Law and the Dred Scott Decision African Americans were denied rights, status, and the access to economic wealth. However, seafaring and whaling provided the opportunity to create an identity, gain status, and economic wealth.¹⁸ Being a provider for African Americans was associated with masculinity, respect, and equality.

For example, Charles Boston a black steward, writing to his wife in 1862 wrote “What a miserable life a sea faring life is. I will stop it if I live & that soon (that is if I get anything to do on shore). You & the children must have things to eat drink & were [wear] & I must get it some were [somewhere] if not on land, on the sea.”¹⁹ His identity as steward and providing for his family connects to masculinity and the respect that otherwise wouldn’t be received on shore. As stated by W. Jeffrey Bolster, “Benson’s identity as a seaman incorporated Victorian society’s masculine virtues: stoicism, prestige, and providership…Benson did not envision himself as a domestic. He took pride in his work and in the self-image formed through it…In his own estimation he was an honorable provider for his family and a man respected ashore.”²⁰

Overall, although inequality and discrimination may have existed predominantly, seafaring and whaling in the 1800s provided African Americans with many opportunities. Seafaring and whaling provided economic mobility to African Americans until the decline in the late 1850s. Not only did it provide a steady job with good wages but it also created a sense of identity that went hand in hand with masculinity, pride, and social respect. As stated by W. Jeffrey Bolster, “As seafarers, AfroAmericans experienced relative racial toleration and racial friction; they embraced the quintessential American appeal of economic mobility through seafaring wages, yet they expressed the opposition to shoreside norms common to many sailors; they felt the lure of the sea and the appeal of a manly life, along with the subjugation, tyranny, and iron discipline prevalent in life under sail.”²¹ Life at sea created a unique space where African Americans could gain status, economic mobility, and a collective identity.