You remember Jeff Bolster, right? He lives down the street from me here in Portsmouth, and I’ve crewed on his boat, and he’s crewed on my boat, and he doesn’t mind eating fish raw for breakfast. He teaches history at the University of New Hampshire and in a past life was a pro schooner jockey. I’ve heard from him the story of how his first scholarly tome, Black Jacks: African American Seamen in the Age of Sail (Harvard University Press, 1997), proved to be a major inspiration to a black prison inmate, Greg White, who consequently went on to forge a career as a merchant mariner after serving out a 22-year sentence for armed robbery. As a result, Jeff and Greg formed a bond that continues to this day.
Now their relationship has been featured in a recent mini-movie produced by the National Endowment for the Humanities, which you can watch right here:
Good stuff. I’ve never met Greg, but I can assure you Jeff really does talk like that in real life.
Jeff’s most recent tome, The Mortal Sea: Fishing the Atlantic in the Age of Sail (Harvard University Press, 2012), has so far failed to inspire any prison inmates, but did win the Bancroft Prize last year.
Remembering the good old days
Jeff tells me someday he’s going to write a hot memoir of his schooner days. Tentative title: Chicks and Ships. The NEH has already optioned the movie rights.
Neat. I’m in correspondence with a deaf guy serving time in an US prison. He got in touch with me after seeing the Cruising World article on my Greenland trip which mentions my deafness. I’ll tell him about your article.
What a touching and inspirational story. Bravo for both men. You are keeping other’s dreams alive. Thank you!
In this time of Zenophobia and political unrest over Religion ect it should be fondley noticed that everyone in this country are not retarded so Good Luck to both of these gentlemen