CCa]p>tttatftim JP>cetce1r §tlfl1cclkllamtcdl crnff Nce\\\V JEmt;fS~ll«mmcdl: T1racdlce1r c<lllmcdl (C({))mt§1utll ftmt \\!\Vce§t A\fflrftceca~ JU8l6LJl-Jl~)(0)§ by Stephen H. Gram For the next twen ty-three years, Stri ckl and carried o ur co nsular duties for his country and simultaneo usly engaged in the mercantile rrade in Wes t Africa for his Boston patrons. In 1905, at age sixtyeigh r, he retired fro m co nsular service, serried in D orchester, and became a gentleman fa rmer. In his "retirement," he acted as a commissio n age nt fo r rhe Tennesseebased Luckett-Wake Tobacco Company and closely fo llowed African rrade unti l 19 14 . H e died in 192 1 and was buried in
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New London's Cedar G rove Cem etery. Strickland's original writings are housed in three m ajor repositories in the US. 1 Ar sea, Captain Strickland kepr meti culous ship's logs. As a merchanr, he m aintained derailed business ledgers wirh names of business parm ers, lisrs of expendirures, and invento ries of ships and ca rgoes. N ot only was he a prolific lerrer writer, both with offi cial business and personal lerrers, bur he kept carbon copies of his outgoing lerrers (over 2,000 lerrers wrirren between 1876 and 192 1). In his reriremem, he transcribed his personal di aries into hardbo und al bums (over 2,500 pages) . At eighty-th ree, in true mariner fas hion, he began his journal entry by scrawling rhe temperature and th e baro meter reading of the day, bu r his shakin g hand let the pen fall in mid-sentence. Today, rhe Na ti o nal Archi ves and Records Adminisrari o n sto res Strickland's official dispatches as US Co nsul. Included in rhe 272 reports are maps, phorographs, postcards, newspaper clippin gs, telegrams, and special repo rts. Th ese reco rds incl ude inventories of American ships which unloaded and loaded cargo in the po rts of G oree and D aka r, Senegal , marine no res of protest lodged by Am erica n sea captains, cases of reli ef to desriwre sailo rs, registers of offi cial letters sent ro and from the consulate, fees and invo ices, and marine insuran ce docum ents. Additi o nally, Strickland wro re a book, A Voice from the Deep, published in 1873, giving his assess ment of why sailo rs led such low and dissolute lives-rhey lacked the fin ancial m eans ro sta rt a fa mily, a move char mighr have raised them fro m their depths and nur tured them along th e parh roward srro ng religio us belief and high moral principl es.
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rom New Lo ndo n, Co nn ecricur, Peter Strickland wo rked his way up rhe ranks of rh e merchanr marin e fro m cabin boy in 1852 ro master in 1864. Initially dedicated to trade alo ng rhe eastern seaboard and rhe G ulf Coasr, his vessels lacer ventured to rh e Caribbean, South Am eri ca, and Europe. H e made his first voyage ro Wesr Africa in 1864, carrying ro bacco and lumber, and brought back animal hides to make shoes fo r Uni o n soldiers during rhe C ivil Wa r. In rhe early 1870s, Strickland becam e co nvin ced that New Londo n was no lo nger a reli able locatio n fro m which to secure berths o n merchant ships. W irh his wife and two yo ung children, he moved to the Bos ron suburb of D o rchester. There, he gor a job as an age nr for Bos ron shipowner M atthew Barrlerr, who was send ing a Aeer of merchanr ships up and down rhe coasr of West Afri ca. In 1877, Strickland rook up res idence in Africa. A daughter and a son eventu ally acco mpanied him, while his wife remain ed in Dorchester wirh an other daughte r. In 1883, the Stare D epartm ent was loo kin g to expand irs limited coverage of th e Afri can continent and sought o ur Peter Strickland as the American most famili ar wirh Wesr Afri ca, Am erican shipping, and rransAdantic rrade. Strickland was offered rhe first US consular posr in rhe French co lo ny of Senegal o n rhe wes ternmost rip of Africa. The contract allowed him ro continue pracricing his business and keep any co nsular fees he received, bu r he wo uld receive no official salary from th e federal government. Strickland accepted.
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(left) The only known portrait ofPeter Strickland appeared in the Na tional Cyclopedia of American Biography (New York, 1899). CONSULAR DUTIES
Co nsuls today stamp visas, issue passports, and rry ro keep Americans in their jurisdiction o ur of tro uble. The co nsular d uties rhar Peter Strickland perfo rm ed were q ui re di fferent. H e had no auth o rity ro issue pass ports o r scam p visas. H e was vi rrual ly the o nly Ameri ca n living full-time in Senegal. His co nsular services dealt solely w ith visits by Ameri ca n vessels and rheir crews to Senegalese ports. His duties were to record the arri val of Ame ri can ships in port, certi fy to the health of ships' co mpany, listen ro protests fro m capta in s and crew, rake care of sailors in distress, verify th at shi ps' papers we re in order, receive oaths fro m impo rters as to the valu e of their cargo, and authenti cate fo reign documents to be used in Am eri ca n business and courrs. Consular regul ati o n manuals included as many as 160 forms for consuls to fill our. In addition, consular officers were expected to report signi fica nt happenin gs of political, as well as comme rcial, narure. WEST AFRICA
Today, an Am erican consul receives airline tickers fo r self and famil y, is met at the airpo rt, and is whisked ro a furni shed residence leased by the embassy. The governm enr covers medical care and education allowances fo r children and provides am eni ties th ro ugh the embassy. Consul Peter Strickland, on the other hand, was on his own. From his home outside Bosron, he had to book passage on a vessel and pay fo r it hi mself. H e preferred passage under sail, which las ted abour a m o nth and cosr him $ 100, whereas rhesream ship voyage ro Wes r Afri ca via Liverpool, Hamburg, or Bordeaux cost $300. Once in Senegal, he negotiated a lease wirh a local landlo rd fo r a residence with a separate room to serve as the co nsulate. Perer Strickland was physical ly loca ted in Africa, bur administrati vely he was liv ing in France, for Senegal was then a French possession. For his business and admiraisrrari ve dealings, he wo rked with the Fren ch, not with Africans. During his first trip to Africa in 1864
SEA HISTORY 114, SPRING 2006