Citizen Sailors: Becoming American in the Age of Revolution by Perl-Rosenthal Nathan

Author:Perl-Rosenthal, Nathan [Perl-Rosenthal, Nathan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780674286153
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Published: 2015-10-12T04:00:00+00:00

Conjectural reconstructions of mariners’ tattoos, based on records from the Philadelphia Seamen’s Protection Certificate Application files.

When a sailor could not manage to assert his citizenship by himself, he usually turned for help first to personal and professional networks, particularly shipmates and captains. The brothers Silvanus and Nathaniel Blanchard and their shipmates had survived the wreck of their ship, the schooner Greyhound of Boston. The castaways were picked up by an “English man off [sic ] war” and “detained.” Nathaniel managed to get himself released by writing to the Admiralty and immediately set to work to get his brother and the rest of the crew free. Unsuccessful at first, he returned home and assembled “papers” on his own to prove his brother’s citizenship. Once he had gotten these documents, he approached an American consul who secured Silvanus’s release. The cycle then repeated: once Silvanus got home, one of his first acts was to write to the secretary of state and request his help with the two members of the crew who were “detained on Board yet.” 27

The Blanchards’ extraordinary tenacity was unusual—rooted no doubt in their fraternal bond—yet the practice of shipmates vouching for one another was common enough. When John Thompson sought in 1798 to be released from HMS Enterprise, the only evidence he offered was the testimony of his “mess mate,” a man named John Gaggin. William Moore, appealing for the second time later the same year, also produced the testimony of his messmate as evidence of his American citizenship. Though testimony from shipmates was fairly common, its effectiveness was hit or miss. Thompson’s application, supported only by Gaggin’s word, was successful. Moore, however, was denied again. In choosing to seek the help of other sailors, impressed Americans made a practical decision: they had connections to their former shipmates, who by definition were nearby at the moment of impressment and could appear immediately to vouch for a shipmate. For some, however, it was likely also a decision about power and authority. Getting the help of another sailor meant that one’s fate was in the hands of one’s peers—people one knew well, who shared at least some common interests—rather than in the more powerful but more distant hands of a captain or government official. 28

Captains often tried to assume the power to assert the American nationality of sailors serving with them. The experience of Edward Clawson, impressed with his shipmates near Jamaica in 1796, was in many ways typical. After Clawson and the others were impressed, their captain, William Hampton, spearheaded the efforts to get them recognized as Americans. He first petitioned the admiral in charge of the local fleet, offering to vouch for the men himself. Then he joined with the captains of other American vessels to petition the Jamaica legislature for a general release of American seamen impressed aboard British warships. In their letter to the Speaker of the Jamaica House, the captains explained that they themselves were “certifying” that the impressed men were Americans. Some of the

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