William T. Shorey
19th-century American whaling ship captain
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William T. Shorey (July 13, 1859 – April 15, 1919) was a late 19th-century American whaling ship captain known to his crew as the Black Ahab.[1] He was born in Barbados July 13, 1859. He was of African descent through Barbados.[2] Spent his life at sea. He became the only Black captain operating on the west coast of the United States in the late-1880s and 1890s.[3] The John and Winthrop was the only whaling ship in the world to be manned entirely by an African-American crew.[4]
William T. Shorey | |
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| Born | July 13, 1859 |
| Died | April 15, 1919 (aged 59) Oakland, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Ship Captain |
| Spouse | Julia Ann Shelton |
| Children | Zenobia Pearl Shorey, Victoria Grace Shorey, William T. Shorey Jr |
Early life
Shorey was born on January 25, 1859 on the Caribbean Island of Barbados. His father was Scottish and planted sugar and his mother was creole, or West Indian.[5] Even though slavery had ended on the island, there were limited opportunities for "men of color". Shorey was attracted to sea-life and adventure, and seized the opportunity to leave the island on board a ship bound for Boston. Through his relationship with the Captain on charge of the ship, he learned how to sail and navigate ocean waters. He began work as on a whaler sometime in the 1870s.[5] He was the son of a Scottish sugar planter and was a West Indian Women of mixed African and European ancestry. In 1875 he shipped to Boston, Massachusetts as a cabin boy and in the following year made his maiden voyage on a whaler. He was learning navigation and moving up rapidly through the ranks.
Career
He obtained his certification in 1885.[6] Shorey came to San Francisco, California on the whaler Emma F. Herr.[3] His whaling voyages were based out of San Francisco on the whaling ships Emma F. Herriman, Alexander, Andrew Hicks, Gay Head II, and John and Winthrop.[2] Shorey was often a captain of a multi-racial crew.[7] Shorey retired from whaling in 1908 and lived in Oakland, where he became a civic leader, until his death from the Spanish flu pandemic in 1919.[2][8] He is buried at Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, California.[9] In his obituary, he was remembered as someone "who for thirty years was in charge of sailing vessels engaged in whaling in Alaska."[10]
