In the late 18th century, a small number of sailing vessels crisscrossed the upper Great Lakes. Each vessel was relatively small, requiring only a few sailors to operate. These small crews were diverse, with sailors drawn from Europe and the American colonies. A few sailors, such as Jupiter and Pomp, were enslaved.
Jupiter and Pomp were part of a small but significant group of Black individuals enslaved by John Askin. Askin had numerous business interests at Michilimackinac and around the Great Lakes, ranging from government supply contracts to the fur trade. He owned a small fleet of merchant vessels which connected Michilimackinac to Detroit and Sault Ste. Marie. The larger vessels, Welcome and Archange, regular sailed up and down Lakes Michigan and Huron, while DePeyster and Mackinac occasionally ventured to the far western end of Lake Superior. Like their free counterparts, Jupiter and Pomp transferred from vessel to vessel as needs changed throughout the summer sailing season.
Although Askin regularly mentioned Jupiter and especially Pomp in his correspondence and daily diary, little is known about either man. Askin fully purchased both men in July 1775, sending the Albany merchant Abraham Douw £135. Askin and Douw had previously enslaved Jupiter and Pomp as part of a business partnership, and Askin likely brought the men to Michilimackinac in the early 1770s. In 1778, Jupiter went to Sault Ste. Marie, where Askin’s brother-in-law Jean Baptiste Barthe ran a trading station. There he may have served aboard Mackinac or DePeyster, or worked as a cooper. In 1772 Jupiter received £9 for three months’ work as a cooper and laborer in the Commissary Department at Michilimackinac. Pomp, meanwhile, seems to have spent much of his time as a sailor. He joined the crew of Askin’s sloop Archange in May 1775. Pomp apparently worked at Sault Ste. Marie in in 1777, and by 1778 he sailed aboard DePeyster, a small schooner-rigged vessel Askin had built at Michilimackinac in 1775. Askin keenly felt Pomp’s absence while he was aboard DePeyster, and asked Barthe to send him back to Mackinac as soon as possible: “We must find a man to go in Pomp’s place…I cannot do without him.” Although Pomp lived and worked alongside free sailors, and enjoyed a high degree of freedom regarding his movements, Askin still considered him property, and took steps to impose his will. At one point in 1778 Askin ordered his sailors to receive a quarter of a pint of rum per day, but clarified that Pomp was to only receive half that amount.
Although only Pomp and Jupiter appear in Askin’s correspondence, there were likely other Black sailors on the lakes. In late 1779, Askin’s son-in-law Samuel Roberston sailed the sloop Felicity around Lake Michigan. Pausing at the mouth of the Muskegon River, he learned that Black sailors “with the little vessel” had sailed north with a load of corn for Michilimackinac. These sailors may have included Jupiter and Pomp, perhaps aboard Archange. Whoever they were, like Jupiter and Pomp these sailors were a critical part of the maritime logistical system which powered the regional economy of the Great Lakes in the late 18th century. If you would like to learn more about them, as well as John Askin’s vessels, a new vignette about his sloop Welcome will be available in our museum stores later this summer.
