Recent Publications
Going Among English Sailors
American Tars Aboard HMS Belvidera, 1809-1814
Arriving at Portsmouth, England, the Belvidera paid off her crew and the last members of the ships company were discharged. It was August 24, 1814. For years, six months, and five days had passed since the crew first mustered at the Nore under Captain Richard Byron before sailing for the North Sea and later North America. Over the course of her tenure on active duty, twenty-two Americans tars called her lower-deck home as they served under the British ensign.
Their time in the Royal Navy, during the Napoleonic Wars, War of 1812, coincided with an era of fluid nationalities on the waterfront and ambiguity for laborers at sea when it came to defining what it meant to be an American. As a result, these sailors often weighed national loyalties against a greater devotion to the seafaring livelihood. Through their collective service aboard the Belvidera, they would greatly influence the socio-cultural seascape of the trans-Atlantic world.
“Discovered Going to the 74 in a Small Boat’ Black Pilots and Maritime Opportunity Aboard HMS Poictiers, 1812-1813,” in Sailors, Ships and Sea Fights
Thursday 22 April 1813 proved to be an ordinary day for the crew working aboard HMS Poictiers. Executing a crucial British economic blockade of the Delaware River and Bay along with along with HMS Belvidera and HM Schooner Paz, Poictiers served as the flagship of Commodore John Poo Beresford, and lay at single anchor in the Delaware Bay, with the sails loosed and drying after a rainy evening. For Peter Wood and Jeremiah Primrose, however, this day proved anything but ordinary. These African-American men, born into slavery, endured a life of hardship and adversity since birth. To these enslaved Delawareans, the arrival of this British naval squadron represented the potential for a new life, new opportunities, and a channel in which to navigate their freedom through naval service. By taking a calculated risk and leveraging their maritime knowledge, Peter and Jeremiah would finally break the bonds of their enslavement after rowing across the Delaware Bay towards Poictiers and securing their freedom.
​
“The Chief Dependence for Support': The Maritime Trade in Pre-Revolutionary Lewistown, 1769-1775"
Ten years following the conclusion of the American Revolution, polymath Charles Willson Peale traveled to Cape Henlopen on a collecting trip in 1793, and described the economy of Lewistown stating “The chief dependence for support at present is from the Vessels which stop here weather bound.” While Lewistowners were no strangers to vessels grounded on Cape Henlopen and the dangers of the surrounding shoals, and these distressed ships did provide a boon for their economy, the residents of this port community were more than merely passive observers. Home to fraternal networks of seasoned pilots and generations of proud seafarers and shipwrights, Lewistown actively participated in the Atlantic maritime economy. The shore-based community of Lewistown provided a supportive infrastructure to those engaged at sea, with the town’s residents finding their sustenance both afloat and ashore.
​
Academic Books
Going Among English Sailors: American Tars Aboard the HMS Belvidera, 1809-1814, Lewes, DE:
Pilottown Press, 2024.
“‘Discovered Going to the 74 in a Small Boat’ Black Pilots and Maritime Opportunity Aboard HMS Poictiers, 1812-1813,” in Sailors, Ships and Sea Fights, Nicholas James Kaiser, ed. (Warwick, UK: Helion & Company, 2023); pp. 289-308.
With a Splendid Breeze: Lewes Maritime Art Ashore & Afloat. Lewes, DE: Pilottown Press, 2023. Co-Author.
​
Academic Journal Articles
“An Equal Chance for their Livelyhood”: Pilots of the
Delaware, 1747-1748,” Lewes History: Journal of the Lewes Historical Society, XXVII, 2024.
Article under submission.
“'The Chief Dependence for Support': The Maritime Trade in Pre-Revolutionary Lewistown, 1769-1775," Lewes History: Journal of the Lewes Historical Society, XXVI, 2023: 40-52.
“Hearty In the Cause: Defending Delaware Bay, Spring 1776.” Journal of the American Revolution, March 2022.
“Traitors Among Us: Nehemiah Field: An Enemy to American Liberty” Lewes History: Journal of the Lewes Historical Society, XXV, 2022: 76-87.
“John Thompson: The Travails of an American Seafarer of 1813.” Lewes History: Journal of the Lewes Historical Society, XXIV, 2021: 28-35.
“Navigating the Channels of Freedom: Black Pilots and the HMS Poictiers, 1812-1813.” Lewes History: Journal of the Lewes Historical Society, XXIII, 2020: 50-60.
“HMS Roebuck’s First Week Cruising the Delaware Bay: March 25-31, 1776.” Lewes History: Journal of the Lewes Historical Society, XXII, 2019: 65-72.
​