Voyage to Discovery
V
oyage to Discovery, an educarional iniriarive by rhe National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, in par tnership wirh Murrain Associates, Inc., and rhe N ational Association of Black Scuba Divers, recendy launched rhe p rojecr's new websire (www.voyagetodiscovery.org), which highlighrs unrold srories of African-Americans and rhe sea. Aimed ar everyo ne from srudenrs to adulrs, rhe Voyage to D iscovery website fea tures srories, interviews, and videos about African-American seafaring achievements since the period of pre-Civil War to today. Information about marine careers w ill also be available. African-American seafarers h ave been an important sector of the nation's maritime labor fo rce since rhe eighteenth cenrury. From the 1740s to the 1860s, blacks shaped mariner culru re and the identity of free black com mun ities, and despite harsh working conditions, both free blacks and slaves fo und opportunity, dignity, and freedom as seamen. African-Am ericans worked as skippers and captains as well as w h alers, lobsrermen, fi shermen, and cooks. They also m an aged lighthouses, steered paddleboats and warships, alo ng with owning and ru nning seaside businesses and working as maritime artisans in port cities . The Undergro und Rai lroad used sh ips to spirit slaves to freedom, a nd black mariners helped shaped the identity of free black communities. Voyage to Discovery as pires to bring rhe stories of these largely unheralded pioneers to the public's at rention, w ith additional outreach directed towa rd AfricanAmerican communities and students. A n important goal of the project is to locate and identify a shipwreck site thar bcsr illustrates the African-Am erican maritime experience and underscores notable seafaring achievements of the pas t and present. Project archaeologists h ave begun resea rching potential historic shipw recks impo rtant to the AfricanA merican experience by inves tigating themes that relate to African-Americans at sea. Through a par tnership wi th the NOAA ONMS Maririme H eritage Program, NA BS divers have been trained by N OAA maritime arch aeologisrs in both diving and underwater archaeological methodology. Among rhe people you will see profiled on the website: •Captain Absalom Boston, a free black born in 1785 who led an all-black crew aboard the whaling schooner Industry and amassed subsrantial real es tare holdings. •Robert Smalls (pictured bottom right in collage), a slave who became a C ivil W ar hero in the U nion Navy and served as a congressman fro m South Carolina during Reconstruction. •US Navy Rear Admiral Michelle Howard, commander of US N avy Expedirionary Strike Gro up 2, coordinared the fa mous rescue of Maersk A labama Captain Richard Phillips after his ship and crew were arracked by Som ali pirates in 2009. In 1999, Admiral H oward became rhe first African American woman to command a US Navy ship when sh e became captain of US S Rushmore (LSD-47).
Captain Absalom Boston (1785-1855)
Voyages to Discovery invites you to participate in the proj ect by sh aring yo ur stories, both contemp orary or fro m history, abour the African American maritime experience and its role in American history. For more information : emailinfo@voyagerodiscovery.org;www.voyagetodiscovery.org, or contact Bill Murrain at Murrain Associates, Inc., PO Box 82557, Conyers, GA 30013; Ph. 678 517-391 0. N OAA O NMS: http://sancruaries.noaa.gov/. National Associarion of Black Scuba D ivers: www.nabsdivers.org. An additional partner on the Voyages to D iscovery project is Ken Stewart, cojounder ofthe Tennessee Aquatic Proj ect, an organization that introduces inner city youth to the marine world through swimAdmiral Michelle H oward, USN ming, scuba diving, marine environmental awareness, and career opportunities. SEA HISTORY 134, SPRING 2011
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