Once Massachusetts fully abolished slavery in 1783, black sailors would have been a mainstay in a maritime port city like Newburyport; the 1820 census, for example shows almost 100 black residents, compared to 10 in Newbury, 15 in Salisbury and 2 in West Newbury. About half of the black male population worked as mariners during the mid-19th century.
Launched shortly after the end of the Civil War, the Montna’s maiden voyage was to the ports of Mobile and New Orleans, to load cotton. What made this voyage extraordinary was the ship’s all-black crew. Prior to and during the war, free black sailors were jailed while they arrived in Southern ports and had to be bonded out by their captain when the ship was ready to leave. The captain would then also have the extra expense of hiring local stevedores to load and unload the ship while his crew was jailed. With the war ended, Montana’s crew was now free to work Southern ports.
Montana was built in Newburyport in 1865, by John Currier. She was 1,269 tons, owned by local merchants John and William Cushing, and commanded by Marine Society Captain John N. Pritchard.
