African-American Mariners in American History
by Tamara HorodyskyBerkeley Voice (CA), February 18, 1999
Control of the seas is vital during war in order to supply and reinforce troops, thus the U.S. Merchant Marine, considered the "Fourth Arm of Defense," participated in every war in our history, from the Revolution to the Gulf War. African-American mariners played a crucial role in this effort, but James Forten, Robert Smalls, and Hugh Mulzac are among the few whose names and deeds were recorded.
In 1776, the thirteen colonies had only 31 ships comprising the Continental Navy. To supplement this, they issued Letters of Marquee to about 1,700 privateers - privately owned, armed merchant ships - to prey on British merchant ships.
In 1777, George Washington's army and the privateers each had 11,000 men. Together, privateers and our Navy captured almost as many British prisoners as the Continental Army. By the end of the war, about 55,000 men served as privateers and besides the uncounted deaths at sea, 11,000 of them gave their lives for their country on British prison ships.
After the battle at Bunker Hill, George Washington found that because of British restrictions, his army had only nine rounds of gunpowder per man, but within 18 months, privateers and merchantmen brought over two million pounds of gunpowder for the Revolution.
Most New England privateers included some African-Americans. The privateer "Royal Louis" commanded by Stephen Decatur, Sr., had a crew of two hundred, twenty of them African-Americans, including James Forten, a 15 year-old powder handler. During their first cruise they captured a British Navy brig. On their second, they were outmatched by three British ships, and "Royal Louis" was forced to surrender.
Forten, who was born free in Philadelphia, expected to be sold into slavery in the West Indies, as was British custom with black prisoners of war. However, on board the British ship he befriended the captain's son, a boy his age, who persuaded his father to send Forten to England. Forten refused to be a traitor to his country, and the British captain sent him to the prison-ship "Jersey" in New York harbor, along with a letter asking for leniency.
Forten spent seven months on the "Jersey," sharing moldy bread and foul water with a thousand other privateers. Once, he had a chance to escape by hiding in the baggage of an officer being exchanged for a British prisoner, but he allowed a younger white boy to make his escape. He was eventually set free in an exchange of prisoners, and walked home from New York to Philadelphia, where he became a successful businessman and a founder of the Abolitionist movement.
The Merchant Marine played a vital role again during the Civil War, with merchant ships and seamen being used to transport troops and ammunition. One of the first steps taken by the North against the Confederacy was establishment of a blockade of all southern ports, cutting off imports of war materiel and preventing the sale of cotton abroad.
Robert Smalls (1839-1915), the son of plantation slaves, was impressed into the Confederate Navy to serve as pilot aboard the side-wheel steamer "Planter," considered by some the most valuable armed ship in Charleston harbor.
On May 13, 1862, when the white officers went ashore to spend the night, Smalls notified his co-conspirators, and their families came stealthily on board. Smalls and twelve other slaves quietly steamed out of Charleston harbor, making the proper signals at Confederate checkpoints, and turned the "Planter" over to a Union naval squadron blockading the city.
Smalls was retained as pilot on the "Planter," operated as a civilian-run ship under contract to the Army. During a Confederate ambush of the "Planter," her white captain wanted to surrender, but Smalls locked him in the coal bunker and escaped the ambush in spite of heavy fire. For his bravery, he was made captain of the "Planter."
After the Civil War, Smalls served in the South Carolina legislature and the U.S. Congress, where he sponsored legislation requiring equal accommodations for both races in interstate transportation.The SS Booker T. Washington was the first of 17 Liberty Ships (out of 2,700) named for an outstanding African-American. The opportunity to be her Master with an all-black crew was offered to Hugh Mulzac (1886-1971), who refused, saying "under no circumstances will I command a Jim Crow vessel."
Finally, the U.S. Maritime Commission agreed to an integrated crew. Under Mulzac's command, the SS Booker T. Washington made twenty-two round-trip voyages between 1942-47, carrying 18,000 troops to Europe and the Pacific through hazardous waters.
During World War II, African-Americans served in every capacity aboard the ships of the merchant marine at a time when the Army and Navy employed policies of racial restriction and segregation.
Captain Mulzac died in 1971, without being granted veteran status for service to his country, since World War II mariners had to fight a long court battle to receive belated recognition in 1988.
The role of Merchant Mariners in America's wars - particularly its African-Americans - is little known by the public, but much appreciated by our Generals such as Colin Powell, who stated after Desert Storm: "I have come to appreciate first-hand why our Merchant Marine has long been called our Nation's Fourth Arm of Defense."
Tamara Horodysky is WebMistress of www.USMM.org
African-Americans in the U.S. Merchant Marine and U.S. Maritime Service
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