"William Thomas Shorey"(July 13,1859-April 15,1919)

Known affectionately as the Black Ahab,William was born on the island of Barbados in the British West Indies.He was the son of a Scotish sugar planter and a West Indian woman of mixed African and European ancestry.In 1875 he shipped to Boston,Massachusetts as a cabin boy and in the next year made his maiden voyage on a whaler.Learning navigation and moving up rapidly through the ranks,William csme to San Francisco,California on the whaler Emma F.Herriman in 1878.After only ten years at sea
he became the only African American ship captain on the west coast.In 1886 William married Julia Ann Shelton,daughter of one of the leading African American families in San Francisco.Together they had five children and Captain Shorey occasionally took his family to sea with him.
He was a skilled captain,known for his ability to bring both ship and crew back safely from voyages to dangerous Pacific and Arctic whaling grounds.William grews included men from the United States,Europe,Australia,Asia and the Pacific Islands,and vessels under his command were known "happy ships."Gradually petroleum and other
products replaced those made from whales and Captain Shorey from the sea in 1908
at the age of 49.Ofshore he lived in Oakland and worked on the docks as a special policeman for Pacific Coast Steamship Company from 1912-1919,the year he died of phemonia.William,Julia and daughter Zenobia share a headstone in Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland.