errands , assisting in the preparation of meals and cleaning cabins . Fatigue would take its toll ; a passenger noted “ a heavyeyelided [ sic ] Negro ” sweeping the cabin one morning . The passenger also recognized “ other sleepy waiters ” emerging “ from unknown parts of the boat .” Meal preparation sometimes required 18-hour days beginning at 3 a . m . until dinner ; staggered shifts involved three to four cooks operating on larger vessels .
In spite of their position as domestics normally serving what consisted mostly of a white , southern clientele , cabin workers would demand a modicum of respect in their associations . Geographic considerations governed these assertions for respect and dignity as steamboats left southern waters and travelled northward toward the free states . Henry Bright , an English traveler , described in a diary entry dated August 8 , 1852 , how a fellow passenger referred to a Black employee as “ boy ” when trying to gain his attention . The “ boy ’ s ” irritation , conveyed by his reply , “ I ’ ll show you I ’ m a man ,” surprised both Bright and the traveler . According to the diarist , upon inquiring from another [ Black ] employee about the servant ’ s offensive behavior , Bright learned that they had in fact reached northern territory and that “ boy ” was a term reserved for the slave states .
Prejudicial attitudes of white southerners accounted for just one of the drawbacks of steamboat employment encountered by Black workers . Cholera epidemics , for example , claimed the lives of many steamboat travelers in 1849 ; the disease failed to discriminate amongst those of different social classes or ethnicity . Yet it was mechanical and human error that caused the most danger . Chevalier observed that “ explosions of boilers are frequent , either on account of the ignorance and lack of skill of the engineers , or on account of the defective nature of the boilers themselves .”
He noted “ 60 persons were killed and wounded aboard a single boat ,” but that accidents of such a magnitude “ do not occur in well-managed boats , on which no reasonable economy has been spared in the purchase of machinery and the wages of the engineers .”
Steamboat pilots often raced their vessels against one another , which only
contributed to the inherent dangers of boiler explosions . Boilers would often overheat , causing explosions and death , though travelers ( and at times the crew ) sometimes seemed to overlook these risks by encouraging competition amongst boats .
Olmstead awoke to the cheers of steamboat crews from both his boat and the Kimball , which “ was running head-tohead with us , and so close that one might have jumped easily from our paddle-box to her guards .” He further remarked that both white and Black crewmen seemed to revel in the excitement , expressing disappointment when the Kimball narrowly overtook their boat .
In 1837 , the boilers of the Ben Sherrod burst during a race below the town of Natchez , Mississippi , killing 50 people . Around midnight on December 27 , 1837 , the Blackhawk exploded near Natchez , also as a result of racing and , ironically , killed the same number of people as the Ben Sherrod earlier that year . William Johnson , a proprietor and free person of color residing in Natchez , recorded a diary entry dated December 28 , 1837 describing , “ I saw the Drays [ Draymen ] a hauling the Specie from the Landing which was
The steamship Ben Campbell , circa 1852 – 1860 .
on the Blak [ sic ] Hawk when she bursted [ sic ] Last night .” The “ specie ” consisted of $ 200,000 in US Army funds en route to Indian Territory ; authorities recovered all but $ 9,500 .
Since employment with a steamboat concern involved traveling back and forth among slave and free states , the river routes could sometimes serve as avenues to freedom for bondspersons . An advertisement in a St . Louis paper in October 1847 offered a $ 100 reward for a “ Negro boy called Harry ” who “ ran away from the steamer St . Paul yesterday afternoon .”
Ice on the Ohio River gave Sella Martin the impetus to disembark at Cairo , IL , when his boat made an emergency stop . A steamboat ironically named Freedom provided a means of escape for Eliza , who came ashore in Cincinnati in 1835 ; her owner , a free woman of color from New Orleans , sued the boat for loss of property . When one of Robert Beverley ’ s slaves also stole away to Cincinnati , a witness in the case explained of the difficulty involved with hiring slaves to steamboats for “ it is a matter of almost absolute impossibility to prevent them from being run off .”
Slave owners seeking to protect their leased “ property ” utilized the common law
Library of Congress
16 FINANCIAL HISTORY | Spring 2021 | www . MoAF . org