Black Mariners

Black crew members onboard the Rathdown ship - National Parks Service

By the early 1800s, Black mariners learned to navigate on board all types of vessels, including whaling ships, and worked as sailors, stewards and cooks. For free Blacks, working on a whaleship was a way to receive more equitable wages.  Although there was still racial discrimination, free Black mariners could earn a living wage and be promoted. Several Black sea captains led whaling voyages during the 19th century. African Americans made up about twenty percent, or one-fifth of a ship’s crew, and often shared in the ship’s profits.  

Enslaved Blacks utilized maritime voyages to escape their bondage as part of the Underground Railroad because traveling by water was a faster and safer method than running away on foot, hiding was easier among the ethnically diverse crew, and, often, opportunities were available for them onboard.  Captains frequently had to replenish their crew as men abandoned the difficult life of whaling. “Hiring” a runaway was practiced in the Hudson Valley and in the late 1700s-early 1800s advertisements by enslavers appeared in local newspapers warning ship captains not to harbor runaways. 

from In Defiance: Runaways from Slavery in New York's Husdon River Valley, 1735-1831 by Susan Stessin-Cohn and Ashley Hurlburt-Biagini

Some Blacks were forced to sea by their enslavers wanting to profit from their wages.  Enslaved men returned to their enslavers’ property with knowledge of how to navigate in the world and helped others with their journey to freedom. They were willing to participate in these dangerous voyages because of the unique opportunities that being out at sea provided.

We are proud to partner with the Columbia County Historical Society whose exhibit focuses, in part, on Black mariners in the whaling industry.  They will share the information from our research specific to this area including information about Black Mariners in the Hudson Valley gathered by researcher Richard Bazelow.