
Supreme Court: Slavery is legal, but only for sailors
In May of 1895, on the old San Francisco waterfront, four sailors signed onto the four-masted barkentine Arago for a voyage to Valparaiso, Chile...
Offbeat Oregon History podcast · Finn J.D. John
November 11, 202516m 50s
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Show Notes
In May of 1895, on the old San Francisco waterfront, four sailors signed onto the four-masted barkentine Arago for a voyage to Valparaiso, Chile (“and thence to such other foreign ports as the master might direct, and thence to return to the United States”) via Astoria.
By the time they got to Astoria, the four of them had had enough of conditions on the Arago. They stepped off the ship and essentially told the skipper, “We quit.”
In doing so, they changed history — and the legal status of sailors would never be the same. (Astoria, Clatsop County; 1890s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/20-11.arago-four-sailors-slavery-591.html)