Long before the rise of slavery in the Americas, West Africans were skilled swimmers, canoeists and underwater divers. They lived along riverbanks, near lakes, or close to the ocean, where aquatic skills were central to their survival and cultural values, and both boys and girls were introduced to swimming as soon as they could walk. European explorers remarked on these talents in their travel journals, noting that the swimming skills of Africans far exceeded any known elsewhere.

Mompoa Marketplace, 19th century engravings
Courtesy Dr. Kevin Dawson, in Undercurrents of Power: Aquatic Culture in the African Diaspora

References by European explorers to the exceptional swimming and canoeing abilities of Africans are made as far back as 1455, when the Portuguese began navigating the western coast of the continent. Africans were using the “Australian Crawl” swimming stroke long before it was “invented” by whites, and their hippopotamus hunting techniques became the model for the whaling industry.

African canoeists cross the dangerous “Bar” at the mouth of the Volta River, Ghana, 19th century engraving
Courtesy Dr. Kevin Dawson, in Undercurrents of Power: Aquatic Culture in the African Diaspora

The swimming and diving skills of enslaved Africans were put to use throughout the Americas and Caribbean in the hunt for saltwater and freshwater pearls. The use of slave labor created a booming market for pearls throughout the world, contributing in turn to the booming market for African captives. Pearl diving was notoriously dangerous, due both to the rigors of diving and the ever-present threat of sharks, and the lives of enslaved divers were often short.

Enslaved divers harvesting pearl oysters and wreckage, 19th century engraving
Courtesy Dr. Kevin Dawson, in Undercurrents of Power: Aquatic Culture in the African Diaspora

Enslaved Africans carried their aquatic skills and culture to the Americas, where their talents were put into service by their enslavers in fishing, whaling, pearl diving, and underwater salvaging. Until well into the 19th century, the swimming skills of American Blacks far exceeded those of whites. Indeed, those skills helped some of the enslaved escape bondage by using rivers and streams as part of the Underground Railroad.

Escaping slavery on the Underground Railroad, 19th century engraving
Courtesy Dr. Kevin Dawson, in Undercurrents of Power: Aquatic Culture in the African Diaspora

In the mid 1800s, there were more than 5,000 boats employing more than 50,000 pearl divers in the Persian Gulf, many of whom were enslaved Africans. The divers wore horn nose-clips similar to clothespins to help them hold their breath longer. Divers stayed under water for about a minute, going down 30 to 60 feet, then resting for two or three before diving again, sometimes making as many as 50 dives a day. The danger of sharks was ever present, but the diver’s worst fear was from the sawfish, which had been known to cut divers completely in half. But these dangers were slight compared to the physical danger resulting from simply diving past the limit of human endurance.

Persian Gulf Pearl Divers, 19th century engraving
Courtesy Dr. Kevin Dawson, in Undercurrents of Power: Aquatic Culture in the African Diaspora