Sailing to Freedom: Maritime Dimensions of the Underground Railroad ed. by Timothy D. Walker

Abstract

Reviewed by: Sailing to Freedom: Maritime Dimensions of the Underground Railroaded. by Timothy D. Walker Brian Rouleau (bio) Underground Railroad, Fugitive slaves, Maritime history Sailing to Freedom: Maritime Dimensions of the Underground Railroad. Edited by Timothy D. Walker. (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2021. Pp. 231. Paper, $27.95.) Of the roughly one hundred fugitive slave accounts published before 1865, over 70 percent describe oceangoing vessels as instrumental to the escape from bondage. Editor Timothy Walker uses this little known but deeply meaningful statistic to introduce a lively and engaging collection of essays on the maritime dimensions of the Underground Railroad. That clandestine network of abolitionist activists who ferried runaway slaves to freedom has typically been depicted as a terrestrial operation. But in so doing, historians have overlooked a critical dimension of the struggle over slavery: the saltwater Underground Railroad. These ten essays, written by a diverse group of scholars and museum professionals, should therefore be seen as a welcome corrective. Once their insights are integrated with the master narrative of antebellum abolitionism, we will gain a greater appreciation of the Underground Railroad's true scope. It was much bigger, more geographically expansive, and more thoroughly immersed in [End Page 159]the day-to-day operation of the country's commercial life than previously appreciated. So often did slaves follow a watery path to emancipation, in fact, that one is tempted to consider the term "railroad" a misnomer. The essays emerged out of a series of interdisciplinary workshops funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and hosted by the New Bedford Whaling Museum and the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. As such, they are a testament to the power of federal support for research, public history, and cross-institutional collaboration. Indeed, several of the book's chapters are noteworthy for their reflections on how scholarly findings can (and cannot) be translated into exhibits that more readily capture the imaginations of the public. Sailing to Freedomis impressive for its thoughtful ruminations on the ways that historians interpret sources and our obligation to make those interpretations more accessible. Here is a group of scholars who aspire to paradigm shifts in the more esoteric realm of academic debate but who also seek to inspire Americans more generally with tales of their forebears' heroism, courage, and perseverance. Naturally, then, storytelling is a major component of the contributors' efforts. Much of their work involved the painstaking task of combing through the archives in search of the oceanic Underground Railroad. It was not an easy thing to do, considering the network's illicit and secretive nature. But the authors' investigations produced some striking revelations and a few key insights. One is the high degree of organization and detailed knowledge exhibited by both fugitive slaves and their allies along the waterfront. Clear lines of communication connected port city activists in both the North and the South, while emancipatory currents emanating out of Haiti and the British Caribbean likewise called men and women to the cause. As several essays make clear, the maritime world proved naturally amenable to abolitionist agitation. Sailors had spent the preceding decades evading press gangs, dodging customs officers, and deserting ships. They were, in other words, practiced in the art of eluding authorities, and they often used those skills to assist runaway slaves. The multiracial character of the maritime workforce, meanwhile, provided an ideal environment into which Black fugitives could blend. Another critical point that multiple essays make is the incredibly diverse composition of the saltwater Underground Railroad. In seaports, swamps, eddies, and estuaries, a variety of people directed their efforts toward freedom. The volume includes a fascinating cast of characters who, given the maritime world's homosocial complexion, do tend to skew male. Protagonists featured in individual chapters include seafarers, [End Page 160]whalemen, fishermen, oystermen, wharfingers, harbor pilots, stevedores, shipbuilders, draymen, and stewards. These were the individuals who secreted escaping slaves at their southern points of departure, but, just as important, they were also the people who sought to settle them into the North's free communities of color. New York and onward to Canada (by way of the Erie Canal) appears to have been one critical pathway, but...