Protection papers

Protection papers, also known as "Seamen Protection Papers", "Seamen Protection Certificates", or "Sailor's Protection Papers", were issued to American seamen during the last part of the 18th century through the first half of the 20th century. These papers provided a description of the sailor and showed American citizenship. They were issued to American sailors to prevent them from being impressed on British men-of-war, during the period leading to and after the War of 1812.

The certificates could be issued for a fee of 25 cents, and required proof of citizenship, although this was later changed to require only a notarized affidavit of citizenship.

Protection papers were also offered to those who remained loyal to the crown during the American Revolution. The day Richard Stockton was captured, General William Howe had written a proclamation offering protection papers and a full and free pardon to those willing to remain in peaceable obedience to the king, George III. Although many took the pardon, Stockton never did and was marched to Perth Amboy, where he was put in irons, and treated as a common criminal.

Seaman's Protection Certificates
In 1796, federal legislation regarding Seaman's Protection Certificates was enacted for merchant seamen.

Freedom papers
Because protection papers were used to prove American citizenship, many black sailors also used them to show that they were freemen if they were stopped by officials or slave catchers. They also called them "free papers" because they certified their non-slave status.

Many of the problems of these protection papers were that the descriptions were often vague or could apply to almost anyone.

Frederick Douglass used a "protection paper" of a free black sailor to escape. He said:

"It was the custom in the State of Maryland to require of the free colored people to have what were called free papers. This instrument they were required to renew very often, and by charging a fee for this writing, considerable sums from time to time were collected by the State. In these papers the name, age, color, height and form of the free man were described, together with any scars or other marks upon his person which could assist in his identification. This device of slaveholding ingenuity, like other devices of wickedness, in some measure defeated itself—since more than one man could be found to answer the same general description. Hence many slaves could escape by impersonating the owner of one set of papers; and this was often done as follows: A slave nearly or sufficiently answering the description set forth in the papers, would borrow or hire them till he could by their means escape to a free state, and then, by mail or otherwise, return them to the owner. The operation was a hazardous one for the lender as well as for the borrower. A failure on the part of the fugitive to send back the papers would imperil his benefactor, and the discovery of the papers in possession of the wrong man would imperil both the fugitive and his friend. It was therefore an act of supreme trust on the part of a freeman of color thus to put in jeopardy his own liberty that another might be free. It was, however, not infrequently bravely done, and was seldom discovered. I was not so fortunate as to sufficiently resemble any of my free acquaintances as to answer the description of their papers. But I had one friend—a sailor—who owned a sailor's protection, which answered somewhat the purpose of free papers—describing his person and certifying to the fact that he was a free American sailor. The instrument had at its head the American eagle, which at once gave it the appearance of an authorized document. This protection did not, when in my hands, describe its bearer very accurately. Indeed, it called for a man much darker than myself, and close examination of it would have caused my arrest at the start."

A review of many of these protection papers reveals the number of black men who were sailors. "By 1800, about 18 percent of the one hundred thousand Americans at sea were African Americans. It is possible to trace the number of African Americans in vessels belonging to the United States (an unknown number sailed for other nations) because Seamen's Protection Certificates were drawn up for all "citizens"—as they specified, such that blacks used them to claim citizenship they were commonly denied—so that in theory they could not be seized by other nations. The records show great statistical variations depending on the port: In Philadelphia and Baltimore, the proportions of African Americans hovered around 15 percent from 1800 to 1860. New York's percentage fell from between 14 and 18 percent annually before 1830 to between 7 and 8 percent from 1830 to 1860; that of Savannah, Georgia, dropped from around 13 percent before 1830 to under 2 percent by 1836. The proportion of black mariners in New Orleans, Louisiana, also fell from averages in the high teens before 1820 to around 10 percent in the 1830s and between 1 and 7 percent in the 1840s and 1850s. The 12 July 1810 protection certificate issued in Philadelphia (see thumbnail) identities the bearer as James Forten Dunbar,(1799 -1870) a "mulatto" (a person of mixed white and black ancestry) age eleven, and height 4’ 7’’ inches tall. Dunbar was described as having black hair and yellow complexion. He had a small pox inoculation scar on his left arm and on his right shin the mark of a dog bite. Dunbar was born a "free man of color" in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 1 July 1799. Dunbar was the fourth and last child of William Dunbar and Abigail Forten Dunbar. His mother Abigail was the sister of famed African American abolitionist and sail-maker James Forten. Dunbar’s father William died young, and it was his uncle, the renowned James Forten who signed for and made sure "Born Free" was included in the description. James Forten Dunbar attested the document by his X mark; it is unclear if he ever became fully literate. Dunbar would later spend most of his life as a sailor and sail-maker aboard merchant and naval vessels. During his long career he served aboard such naval vessels as the USS Constellation, USS Niagara, USS Brooklyn and the USS Tuscarora.

Tattoos
Many of the protection certificates were so general, and it was so easy to abuse the system, that many impressment officers of the Royal Navy paid no attention to them. "In applying for a duplicate Seaman's Protection Certificate in 1817, James Francis stated that he 'had a protection granted him by the Collector of this Port on or about 12 March 1806 which was torn up and destroyed by a British Captain when at sea.'"

One way of making them more specific was to describe a tattoo, which is highly personal, and thus use that description to identify the seaman. As a result, many of the certificates carried information about tattoos and scars, as well as other specific information. This also perhaps led to an increase and proliferation of tattoos among American seamen. "Frequently their "protection papers" made reference to tattoos, clear evidence that individual was a seafaring man; rarely did members of the general public adorn themselves with tattoos."



The protection certificate issued on 4 November 1808 in Philadelphia to Charles Davis is good example of an early certificate listing a sailor's tattoos and scars. Davis is described as a citizen of the United States, and a native of Princess Ann County, Virginia. Davis was listed as 23 years of age, five feet four inches, dark hair, hazel eyes, broad nose, round chin, pock marked face, and of dark complexion has a round scar above his left knee and one on the left eyebrow. Davis tattoo's are described as are their locations on his body. He is listed as having in indian ink on his right arm a crucifix, a double heart with printed letters P. M., a mermaid and letters C.D. Charles Davis attested this document by making his X mark as did his witness Samuel Davis. "Among tattooed seamen the crucifix inked on Charles Davis was by far the most common religious tattoo, Davis, while illiterate, may have been a Roman Catholic who derived comfort from this symbol of salvation. Author Herman Melville while a sailor aboard the frigate USS United States (1844) was a close observer of nautical life and customs. Melville wrote "the Roman Catholic sailors on board had at least the crucifix pricked on their arm, and for this reason. If they chanced to die in a Catholic land they would be sure of a decent burial in consecrated ground."

"In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, tattoos were as much about self-expression as they were about having a unique way to identify a sailor's body should he be lost at sea or impressed by the British navy. The best source for early American tattoos is the protection papers issued following a 1796 congressional act to safeguard American seamen from impressment. These proto-passports catalogued tattoos alongside birthmarks, scars, race, and height. Using simple techniques and tools, tattoo artists in the early republic typically worked on board ships using anything available as pigments, even gunpowder and urine. Men marked their arms and hands with initials of themselves and loved ones, significant dates, symbols of the seafaring life, liberty poles, crucifixes, and other symbols."

Discontinuance
The Seamen's Protection Certificates were discontinued in the 1940s, as other forms of identification of American sailors were instituted. Several reports to the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate demonstrated that they were no longer needed. "As the threat to American freedom on the high seas began to disappear, Protection Certificates became more valuable as identification, and they were used as such until 1940, when the Continuous Discharge Certificate replaced them. These documents are common items in maritime collections and are important research sources for an study [sic] of American seamen."