Whaling was not a profession most crew members would choose if they had better options. Skip Finley paints a harrowing picture of whaling and how its very nature—dangerous, difficult, and remote—allowed an intrepid few Africans, African Americans, Native Americans, Cape Verdeans, and other people of color to attain the role of whale ship captain when limited opportunities were available to them, especially on land. Finley’s book, Whaling Captains of Color: America’s First Meritocracy, is a compendium of stories of these men from whaling’s rise in the late 18th century to its decline the early 20th century.

The individual portraits of each captain are woven together with Finley’s keen observations and analysis about the men, the significance of their voyages, and the social, political, and economic contexts of their times.

All this despite the fact that in addition to the perils confronting all whaling crews, they faced additional threats—before slavery was outlawed, they could be captured and enslaved or imprisoned at ports from North Carolina to Louisiana. The federal Fugitive Slave Acts further endangered the freedom of these men in any port, and indeed, the Northern states were not innocent—Rhode Island’s notoriety in the slave trade meant that only one captain of color hailed from the state, and that occurred long after the Civil War had ended.

Finley writes that the Massachusetts ports of Nantucket and later New Bedford drew a number of Black whalers, as the area’s Quakers were heavily invested in the industry, and they were strong abolitionists. However, their motives were not entirely altruistic.

They knew that crewmen of color would accept lower pay than those who were white. This was equally true even after slavery was abolished. After the Civil War, as African American whalemen found less dangerous and equally, if not more, lucrative work, Cape Verdeans, fleeing famine in their homeland, took their places.

And it would take most of those men many more years than their white counterparts to command a whaleship. Despite these challenges, several whalemen of color became captains, often when the original captain could not, or would not, continue in the role.

Finley tells the stories of all the captains of color that he can identify from the historic record, from the obscure to the notable, such as Paul Cuffe, who were able to amass considerable fortunes in their lifetimes. Still, he finds, these men were rarely able to pass their wealth along to subsequent generations, perhaps because racism prevented their finding the investment opportunities available to white captains.

The few traces that whaling captains of color left behind seem to fuel Finley’s desire to record the names and histories of those he can glean any information about. He writes that since his research for the book, he looks at the familiar streets of Martha’s Vineyard, where he summers, in a new light. “These men led whaling voyages to every part of the globe; indeed, several contributed to the mapping of the world’s oceans. They were adventurous, enacious, fearless, and ruthless …. Unlike their white counterparts, they left no glistening white waterfront homes behind as testaments to their courage; to their families, they left only pride.” Finley writes. “Little remains today of their accomplishments—tales of valor and a few monuments are all. It would be a tragedy to forget them.”