A Star to Steer By

Description

In September 1942, Hugh Mulzac became the first man of African-Caribbean descent to Captain a U.S. Merchant Marine ship. With warmth and a modesty often belying the significance of his deeds, Captain Mulzac relives the battle against racism, Jim Crow, racial capitalism, and anti-communism. First printed in 1963, this Revised Edition of Mulzac’s classic includes a new Foreword by Jeremy Hope of the Masters, Mates & Pilots (MM&P) Union, an Epilogue by Margaret Stevens, author of Red International and Black Caribbean: Communists in New York City, Mexico and the West Indies, 1919-1939, as well as a Q&A between Captains Don Marcus and Jeremy Hope, of the MM&P, and Henry Mulzac, Hugh Mulzac’s grandnephew.

In 1918, Hugh Mulzac became the first Negro to win his Master’s license. The childhood dream to command his own vessel came to fruition in 1942 as the United States was catapulting into World War II. Here is an autobiography written with the flair and pace of a novel. From a tranquil, West Indian Island to the deck of an almost legendary Liberty ship, the Booker T. Washington, the story unfolds.