John-

Don't ask me where I read this but I seem to remember that some slave owners rented out their slaves to whaling captains to fill out their crews.

On the other hand there were Black whaling captains such as Capt. Boston who manned their ships with all Black crews. Bet they did some fine singing! Barry Finn and Neil Downey did a great job of resetting a song to music about Capt. Boston found in an old log book in their rendition of the "Schooner Industry" on their recording FATHOM THIS, © 2007.

Charley Noble