Seamen's Protection Certificates

Seamen’s Protection Certificates

These documents issued by customs officials were intended initially to protect American seamen from impressment by foreign governments. Impressment was a real problem in 1796 but decades later the protection certificates were also a useful tool to protect Black seamen from being captured and sold into slavery in southern ports in the United States.

We find evidence that certificates were issued to seven of the seamen who sailed on Patty in 1796 to St. Bartholomew. Unfortunately, five of these young men did not return to the United States. The certificates could not protect them from tropical diseases, confinement in French prisons or loss at sea.

From the National Archives website:

On May 28, 1796, Congress passed an act (1 Stat. 477) to protect American merchant seamen from impressment. Among other things, the act authorized the issue of seamen’s protection certificates by U.S. collectors of customs. The certificates were used to verify the identity and nationality of American seamen traveling abroad by documenting such pertinent information as the seaman’s name, age, place of birth, and a detailed physical description. Seamen could voluntarily obtain a protection certificate at any customs house by paying a fee of 25 cents and submitting proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate, passport, naturalization papers, an old protection certificate acquired at another port, or, most typically, a sworn statement taken and witnessed before a notary public, alderman, or other official. Customs agents were required to issue the protection certificates, maintain registers of certificate applications, keep accompanying proofs of citizenship on file, and forward quarterly lists of registered seamen to the Secretary of State. Seamen’s protection certificates continued to be issued as a convenient means of identification until the late 19th century. Protection certificates were reintroduced during World War I and continued to be issued until 1940, when they were replaced by merchant marine licenses.

The Register of Seamen’s Protection Certificates is a searchable database available on the Mystic Seaport website.