William T. Shorey

Infobox Person
name = William T. Shorey


image_size = 200px
caption =
birth_date = birth date|1859|7|13|mf=y
birth_place = Barbados, West Indies
death_date = death date and age|1919|4|15|1859|7|13|mf=y
death_place = Oakland, California
occupation = Ship Captain
spouse = Julia Ann Shelton
parents =
children = Zenobia Pearl Shorey, Victoria Grace Shorey, William T. Shorey Jr|

William T. Shorey (b.July 13 1859 - d.April 15 1919) was a late 19th Century American whaling ship captain known to his crew as the Black Ahab [ Katz, William Loren. The Black West. Simon & Shuster, Inc, 1987. ] . He was born in Barbados July 13, 1859 and 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. He obtained his certification in 1885. [ [http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/kt0t1nc8jz/ Captain William T. Shorey [picture ] ] His whaling voyages were based out of San Francisco on the whaling bark "John and Winthrop" [ [http://www.npca.org/cultural_diversity/treasures/sfmaritime.html NPCA | San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park ] ] . He retired from whaling in 1908 and lived in Oakland until his death from the Spanish flu pandemic [ [http://genforum.genealogy.com/barbados/messages/2157.html Captain William Thomas Shorey of Barbados and CA ] ] in 1919. He is buried at Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, California.

References

External links

* [http://www.npca.org/cultural_diversity/treasures/sfmaritime.html National Parks Conservation Association]