Paul was the seventh of 10 children of Cuffe Slocum, an African carpenter, and Ruth Moses, a native Wampanoag Indian. Paul Cuffe’s father was given his freedom in 1745 by his Quaker master in Massachusetts and settled his family on a farm near Cape Cod in the town of Westport. The soil was barren, the work was hard, and the smell of the ocean forever enticing, especially to Paul.
But to make the leap from plowing fields to sailing boats, young Cuffe knew he needed to learn to read and write, and he barely knew his alphabet. With determination and the help of friends, Cuffe soon conquered the alphabet and reading and writing. Before long, he was studying basic navigation and then mastering the three L’s: latitude, lead, and lookout, with lead being a weighted sounding line to measure the depth of water beneath a ship. Hands-on experience was the next step.
A Dangerous Business
In the 1700s, the whaling industry was big business in New England, and Cuffe had no problem finding a whaler willing to take him on. He was soon bound for the Gulf of Mexico. A second voyage took him to the West Indies. By his third voyage, however, the situation on the high seas had changed. The American Colonies were at war with England, and His Majesty’s navy was under orders to capture all non-British ships, especially whalers.Cuffe’s ship was captured, and he landed in a dirty, dank prison for three months. Once freed, he and his older brother determined to try their hand at running the British blockade of the Colonial coast. They built a small flatboat and headed for towns along the Connecticut shore to buy and sell to the locals. Since the English ships were behemoths, totally unable to slip in and out of the small coastal inlets, it seemed to be a workable idea.
Unfortunately, their boat was captured by pirates who were loyal to the British. Cuffe built another boat and borrowed money for new cargo, ranging from gypsum to Indian corn—whatever opportunity he happened upon. This time, he sailed at night, hoping to avoid the pirates, but the boat ran afoul of rocks and had to limp back for repairs. Repairs made, Cuffe headed for Nantucket but found no buyer for his cargo. On yet another try, he made some sales, enough to cover his costs, but with little left over for profit. To make matters worse, pirates found him again, gave him a sound beating, and stole his money.
A New Career
In 1781, the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia, marked the end of London’s will to actively pursue its unpopular war in the Colonies. While the fighting continued in the Carolinas and Georgia, Cuffe took time out to marry and set up housekeeping in a small, rented farmhouse on the Westport River, close to his childhood home.
As the new American nation struggled to find its feet among the countries of the world, Cuffe transitioned from a blockade-runner to a trans-Atlantic sea captain. His first peacetime venture was to St. George’s Bank for a haul of cod fish. This marked the founding of a fishing industry that was to thrive for years to come.
He then partnered with his brother-in-law, Michael Wainer, a seasoned seaman, to build bigger ships. As Cuffe’s shipyards expanded, cousins, nephews, and family friends helped man his vessels. Their whaling expeditions reached as far as Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Sierra Leone, and around the Cape of Good Hope. In fact, Paul took his favorite ship, the 109-ton brig Traveller to Liverpool in 1811.
Cuffe had been brought up in the Quaker faith, and his beliefs gave him a strong interest in ending slavery in America. The War of 1812 interrupted his efforts, but when it was over, he began to settle black American families to Sierra Leone off the west coast of Africa. He supplied them with axes, hoes, plows, wagons, and parts to build a sawmill. Complications arose, but Cuffe pursued his dream wherever and however he could, generously giving of his own fortune, which was said to be greater than any black American of his time.
His untimely death in September of 1817 at the age of 58 was a great loss to his family and to America. His life set an example to upcoming generations that hard work and persistence–the determination to never give up on a goal–was the key to success.
