#Dauntless Captain, Civil Rights Activist

In 1896, during the Cuban independence movement, an ocean-going tug called the Dauntless was purchased by the Cuban Junta from the Brunswick Navigation Company for $30,000. These smaller, faster vessels held a crew of seven and were able to dodge around and about the Florida keys. They'd dash over to Cuba at night, unship the cargo, and be off quickly.

Its first mate, James W. Floyd from Jacksonville, Florida, was a Black pilot with a master's license. It was decided that, when their voyages brought them closer to Cuba and things got a little too dangerous for the ship's white captain, he would trade off with Floyd - putting him in command. The white captain ended up only making two voyages. In fact, from the time war was declared by the United States against Spain, the Dauntless and Captain James W. Floyd were synonymous and the chief means of furnishing the Cuban revolutionaries with arms and ammunition.

The official histories of the Spanish-American war rarely mention this celebrated (and decorated) Captain Floyd, but Cuba never forgot him. After the war, he would go on to become a business owner and civil rights activist in Jacksonville (who even met with President Warren G Harding). Hear more of his untold story live at the Main Library this Black History Month.

#JOIN THE HISTORY CHAT

Historian Jerry Urso returns to the Main Library for History Chat: The Life of Captain W. Floyd on Saturday, February 10, at 2:30 p.m. He'll speak live on the fourth floor in the beautiful Ansbacher Map Room. A Q&A will follow the presentation. 

Register Now!

Jerry Urso is the grand historian for The Most Worshipful Union Grand Lodge of Florida. A native of Massachusetts, he holds a master’s degree in history from Trinity College and comes from a long line of Masons. He earned a Fellowship to the Phylaxis Society. He is the Past President of the Alexander Darnes Research Chapter. Past President of Lux e Tenebris Research Society. A Member of the Jacksonville Historical Society and Florida Historical Society. He was a panelist for the Civil Rights Timeline for the City of Jacksonville and Lavilla Historian for the Downtown Investment Authority. He was awarded the Joseph A Walkes award for his work on Prince Hall Masons and the Civil Rights Movement. He is also a Historian for the Real Rosewood Foundation and the July Perry Foundation. He is also a member of the Chi Rho Fraternity.