William T. Shorey

In 2013, OBMG honored Captain William T. Shorey. He was born in Barbados in 1859, went to sea as a teenager, and made his first whaling voyage in 1876. Whaling brought him to California, and he married Julia Ann Shelton, the daughter of a leading African American family in San Francisco. He was a skilled captain and navigator, earning his masters license which allowed him to command any size vessel anywhere in the world. He and Julia Ann had 5 children, living in West Oakland at 1782 8th Street.

At that time, the whaling industry was in decline, but Shorey, educated, intelligent, energetic, and dedicated, not only survived but thrived. By 1880, Shorey was a whaling officer, serving as Third Mate on the three-year cruise of the whaler Emma F. Herriman. At the end of the voyage, both Shorey and Herriman were in San Francisco. Sailing again on two shorter voyages of less than a year each, in 1886 Shorey gained his first command. Hailed as the “only colored captain on the Pacific Coast. Shorey, was the only black captain operating on the west coast at that time. He was known to his whaling crews as the ‘Black Ahab’. 

Captain William T. Shorey stood out as an exemplary man. He retired from the sea in 1908, as the whaling industry was winding down as petroleum was discovered.

Following his death, Shorey Street in West Oakland was named after him.  He was the first black resident in Oakland to be honored by the city fathers.