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New England Slave Trader: The Case of Charles Tyng

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

<p>Charles Tyng has been heralded as an American hero after the posthumous publication of his memoir, <em>Before the Wind: The Memoir of an American Sea Captain, 1808-1833</em>, in 1999. Recent research involving British Treasury report books from the nineteenth century suggest otherwise – that Tyng actively promoted and was engaged in the illicit trade of African captives. A Boston Brahmin, Tyng applied the lessons of his time at sea with Perkins & Company, the opium trading firm, to his occupation as an agent of notorious slave trading firms in Havana. This paper uses as evidence records of the captures of several vessels that implicate Tyng directly in equipping ships for the slave trade to correct the historical record and exposing a supposed hero as a predatory capitalist ignoring ethics for financial gain.</p>

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
MA in History
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
History
Year dc:date.available
2019

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Michaels, Paul J.
Contributors dc:contributor
  • Thomas R. Trice
  • History
  • College of Liberal Arts

Subjects

dc:subject × 14

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:digitalcommons.calpoly.edu:theses-3533

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Cal Poly
Base URL
digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/do/oai/
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Michaels, Paul J.. New England Slave Trader: The Case of Charles Tyng. 2019. https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/2083