During Black History Month, it is worthwhile to remember early African-American shipmasters. Who was the first? That is hard to say. Paul Cuffe is a good candidate. An updated repost.
Paul Cuffee was born on Cuttyhunk Island, MA on January 17, 1759, the seventh of ten children of Kofi or Cuffee Slocum and Ruth Moses. His father, a freed black man, was a member of the Ashanti people of Ghana. His mother was a Native American of the Wampanoag Nation of Martha’s Vineyard. Cuffee Slocum was a skilled carpenter, farmer, and fisherman, who taught himself to read and write. In 1766, Cuffee Slocum was able to purchase a 116-acre farm in Westport, Massachusetts.
Paul Cuffee went to sea at 16 on whalers and merchant ships, where he learned navigation. During the American Revolution, his ship was captured by the British and Cuffee was imprisoned for three months in 1776 in New York. He returned home to Massachusetts and in 1779 built an open boat which he used to run the British blockade, bringing trade goods to Nantucket and ports on the Massachusetts coast.
This has been a bad week for shipboard fires. The 
A repost in honor of Black History Month. 
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The Dutch-owned 
Last Wednesday, it was widely reported that Rotterdam would dismantle the center span of a historic railroad bridge to allow the 417-foot-long, three-masted sailing yacht built for billionaire Jeff Bezos to access the sea. The fully rigged superyacht apparently has too great an air-draft to safely fit beneath the Koningshaven Bridge, which has a clearance of 131 feet over the Nieuwe Maas River.