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Maine and the Orient:
The Coolie Trade |
In 1861 Cuba was an important trading partner of the United States: third behind only England and France. (China was number five.) Cuba is close to the U. S., and it produced highly desirable products: sugar and molasses. For many years Cuban sugar growers had relied on Black slaves, but with the slave trade cut off, they turned to China for laborers.
By the late 1860s, about 150,000 Chinese coolies had sailed for Cuba. About 15% died en route.
Penobscot Marine Museum has a collection of papers of a Rockland captain, Thomas Pillsbury, who carried a full load of about 500 Chinese workers to Havana. He was paid for each man delivered alive.
There is some question about whether these Chinese men were forced or voluntary emigrants. In any case, Abraham Lincoln signed a law in 1862 forbidding American citizens to carry Chinese coolies in American ships.
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