Call Number:

MSS 0171

Repository:

University of Delaware Library Special Collections

Extent:

1 linear foot (1 box )

Language:

English, French, and Wolof

Preferred Citation:

MSS 0171, Peter Strickland papers, Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, Newark, Delaware.

Date:

1857-1912 (inclusive)

Creator:

Strickland, Peter, 1837-1921

Form:

Diaries, Newspapers, Ships' logs, and Commercial correspondence

Abstract:

Peter Strickland (1837-1922) was a shipmaster, merchant, and U.S. consul in the French colony of Senegal. Diaries and letter books of Peter Strickland dating 1857 to 1912. While varying in content, the diaries center around Strickland’s life as a merchant, both on the sea as well as in Senegal. Issues of two French colonial weekly newspapers contextualize the events of the French colony during Strickland’s time there.

Peter Strickland (1837-1922) was a shipmaster, merchant, and U.S. consul in the French colony of Senegal. He was born and grew up in Montville, Connecticut where he lived until age fifteen. He taught school briefly and then went to sea.

In merchant service, Strickland was made second mater before the age of twenty. He earned a chief’s mate position at age twenty and became a ship master a short time later. Most of his journeys were between New England, the West Indies, South America, and Europe.

He became interested in Africa at the end of the American Civil War. He made more than forty voyages to Africa between 1865 and 1878 as a shipmaster and supercargo. Strickland served as an agent in Bissau, Guinea, in West Africa for a Boston-based business, and eventually moved to Gorée-Dakar in Senegal. After the death of the owner, Matthew Bartlett, Strickland began his own business as a commission agent in 1888.

President Chester Arthur asked Strickland to open a U.S. Consulate in Senegal at Gorée-Dakar. Strickland served as consul beginning in 1884. He returned to the United States sometime between May 1905 and May 1906.

Strickland wrote a book, A Voice from the Deep, published in 1873, about the difficulties of the seaman’s life and possible solutions.

In 1861, Strickland married Mary L. Rogers of New London, Connecticut. They had two sons and two daughters. Strickland died in 1922.

National Cyclopedia of American Biography. New York: James T. White & Co., 1899. Vol. 9. 502.

The Peter Strickland papers consist of thirteen bound volumes and several newspapers, covering the period 1857 to 1912.

Five of the volumes are Strickland’s diaries, from 1857 to 1864, 1876, and then 1904 to 1905. The early diaries, from his sailing career, consist of weather and location data as well as comments on daily events. These vary from how the ship was sailed and crew problems, to Strickland’s religious and literary habits. Despite voyaging between Europe, the West Indies and South America, there are few mentions of the locales as he seemingly never went ashore. Entries also tell of his time in Boston as he looked for a new position between voyages. The 1876 diary dates Strickland’s time as an agent for a Boston business working for a Mr. Barrett and a Captain Skinner. He details life in Bissau and his trading.

The 1904-1905 diary covers a period when Strickland was living in Gorée-Dakar, acting as a commission agent and as U.S. consul.

The letter books cover 1876 to 1887 and 1900 to 1912. Most of these letters are business or personal related; only a few concern consulate-related business. The 1906-1912 book contains business and personal letters written when Strickland was operating out of Dorchester and Boston, Massachusetts. Some of these letters are written in French.

Eleven issues of two French colonial weekly newspapers,