SEA HISTORY 114, SPRING 2006 Gorée Island, Senegal
Captain Peter Strickland of New England: Trader and Consul in West Africa, 1864-1905 by Stephen H. Grant For the next twenty-three years, (left) The only known portrait of Peter Strick- Strickland carried out consular duties for land appeared in the National Cyclopedia his country and simultaneously engaged of American Biography (New York, 1899). in the mercantile trade in West Africa for his Boston patrons. In 1905, at age sixty- CONSULAR DUTIES eight, he retired from consular service, set- Consuls today stamp visas, issue pass- tled in Dorchester, and became a gentle- ports, and try to keep Americans in their man farmer. In his “retirement,” he acted jurisdiction out of trouble. The consular as a commission agent for the Tennessee- duties that Peter Strickland performed based Luckett-Wake Tobacco Company were quite different. He had no author- and closely followed African trade until ity to issue passports or stamp visas. He 1914. He died in 1921 and was buried in was virtually the only American living New London’s Cedar Grove Cemetery. full-time in Senegal. His consular services Strickland’s original writings are dealt solely with visits by American vessels housed in three major repositories in and their crews to Senegalese ports. the US.1 At sea, Captain Strickland kept His duties were to record the arrival rom New London, Connecticut, meticulous ship’s logs. As a merchant, he of American ships in port, certify to the Peter Strickland worked his way maintained detailed business ledgers with health of ships’ company, listen to protests Fup the ranks of the merchant ma- names of business partners, lists of ex- from captains and crew, take care of sailors rine from cabin boy in 1852 to master in penditures, and inventories of ships and in distress, verify that ships’ papers were in 1864.
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