Heroes in the Ships
In 2006, the OBMG honored the Heroes in the Ships, men of color in the Whaling Industry from the New Bedford Whaling Museum website.
People of color had been involved with the whaling Industry almost from the beginning. By the time photographers began capturing images on film around the turn of the century, most American whalers were men of color.
The largest group were Portuguese speaking Creoles from the Cape Verde Islands off the west coast of Africa. West Indians, urban Blacks from the industrial cites and the descendants of Southern rural slaves and sharecroppers all found their way to the shores of New England and California I the pursuit of the wealth and status that whaling offered.
Black and Creole mariners emerged as a force to be reckoned with, on ships, in union halls, and as ship agents and shareholders. More than any other industry, whaling offered Black men opportunities for employment, advancement, and investment. For some, like Captain Peter Green, the rise was unexpected. Signed onboard a whale ship as Second Mate aboard the whale ship John Adams in 1821, Green was suddenly after the Captain and First Mate both died.
Captain John Z. Silva, Captain, and owner of the bark Sunbeam in 1911. He also owned the merchant schooner Ambrose Snow from 1916 until she sank in 1925.
Captain Valentine Rosa was Captain of 4 whaling voyages on New Bedford barks from 1907 to 1914. He was Master of the Canton, lost in a shipwreck in the Cape Verde Islands in 1910, and the Morning Star from 1911 to 1914.
Captain Luis D’Oliveira, was a whale man and merchant seaman from Cape Verde Islands. He was a Captain and shipowner in New Bedford and Providence from 1900 to 1910.
Captain Manuel F. Gomes was Master of six New Bedford whaling voyages from 1898 and 1906. The vessels were the bark Cameo, and schooners E.B. Conwell and Bertha. He also held ownership shares in the Cameo and the whaling schooner Mystic from 1908 to 1915.
Captain Philip Cruiz became the Master of the coastal trading schooner Etta M. Story in 1907, out of New Bedford.
Captain Antoine T. Edwards was Master of the bark Wanderer. The last square-rigger to go whaling under US registry set sail in 1924. It went aground and was wrecked in a storm the day after setting sail.
Mr. Gomes, the First Mate of the bark Wanderer, invited his family aboard to bid farewell in 1924. Mr. Gomes returned home the next day after the ship was wrecked. All hands were saved.
Crew men of the Wanderer.
Moving to age-old rhythms, the crew hauls on halyards to hoist the heavy topsail into position aloft aboard the Wanderer.
Onboard the schooner William A. Garber, one of the ship’s Officers poses with his family prior to setting sail in 1922.
Crew men aboard the John R. Manta, prior to departure from port heading for the whaling grounds.
On the whaling grounds at sea, vigilance was required to keep a sharp lookout for whales. Two men at a time would climb up to the hoops in the crow’s nest, high aloft above the deck. They stood two hour rotating watches.