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When Black boaters faced discrimination on the water, this yacht club became a refuge

Scott Neuman

Commodore Benny McCottry stands outside the entrance of the Seafarers Yacht Club of Annapolis in Annapolis, Md. It was founded more than 60 years ago by a handful of Black boaters. Keren Carrión/NPR hide caption

Commodore Benny McCottry stands outside the entrance of the Seafarers Yacht Club of Annapolis in Annapolis, Md. It was founded more than 60 years ago by a handful of Black boaters.

ANNAPOLIS, Maryland — David Turner, whose father and grandfather worked the Chesapeake Bay as crabbers and oystermen, recalls "getting up at the crack of dawn" as a kid to help out on weekends and summers.

"I hated it," he says. Turner's childhood experience on Kent Island left him wanting "nothing to do with the water."

"That's why I went to college," he says.

He also remembers his father and grandfather's stories of racial discrimination they encountered on the bay. "They couldn't get parts," he says. "They couldn't get fuel."

Turner's dislike for the water eventually faded. In fact, as he got older, he found that the Chesapeake Bay was "in my bloodstream." He bought a boat. Then another. Eventually, in 2007, he joined the Seafarers Yacht Club of Annapolis.

The historically Black group of like-minded boaters is what drew him in. "I found a group of people who were serious about boating, serious about the community," he says. "They weren't worried about what they did for a living every day. They were interested in boating and the broader community."

David Turner aboard his boat Savior, at Herrington Harbor South on the Chesapeake Bay, on July 29. Scott Neuman/NPR hide caption

David Turner aboard his boat Savior, at Herrington Harbor South on the Chesapeake Bay, on July 29.

A safe haven for Black boaters

If not for the nautical flagpole out front and the placard next to the entrance, the headquarters of the club, founded in 1959 by a handful of Black boaters, would blend seamlessly into the surrounding houses in the city's Eastport district. In many ways, it's a reflection of the area's history and how attitudes have evolved over time. The Maryland capital was once an infamous slave port, and until the early 1960s, the club's headquarters served as a segregated school for "colored children."

In and around Annapolis at that time, some fuel docks refused to serve Black boat owners, says SYC Commodore Benny McCottry.

"They would have to be creative and say, 'I'm here to get gas for the the boss' or something of that nature," he says. "So people would assume this boat didn't belong to them."

McCottry points to multiple articles written about the Seafarers Yacht Club. Keren Carrión/NPR hide caption

McCottry points to multiple articles written about the Seafarers Yacht Club.

Today, the SYC is one of several yacht clubs started by Black boat owners that still dot the Chesapeake and its tributaries. It is equal parts boating organization, social club and community center. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Seafarers have continued to flourish, now boasting about 80 members.

A space for children to learn about the water

On a recent Friday inside the SYC's headquarters, about 40 children wearing matching yellow-and-blue shirts fidget in their seats as they gather for the final day of a two-week youth program. The popular summer curriculum aims to teach an eclectic variety of life skills — from boat handling and fishing to physical fitness.

The children in the Seafarers summer youth program head to the park across the street to stretch and play games. Keren Carrión/NPR hide caption

The children in the Seafarers summer youth program head to the park across the street to stretch and play games.

But on this day, swimming and chess are at the top of the list. The children had been anticipating a cruise on the Chesapeake Bay, but the weather wasn't cooperating.

"Just like in chess, we need to adjust our plan," Vice Commodore Derrick Cogburn announces to the seated kids. Plan B is to watch Queen of Katwe , a film about Phiona Mutesi, a Ugandan girl who rises out of the slums of Kampala to become an international chess star.

The children watch a movie about chess. Keren Carrión/NPR hide caption

The children watch a movie about chess.

Chess, Cogburn tells the children, can help them learn discipline, abstract thinking and how to be flexible about strategy.

The club has its own pool and McCottry, 72, a former Red Cross water safety instructor, rattles off some sobering statistics that illustrate why swimming is a focus: African Americans are 1.5 times more likely to drown than their white counterparts.

According to club member Alice Mahan, who is coordinator for the summer program, "Most of these kids, when they came, did not even want to get their faces wet."

One of them is 10-year-old Olivia Oliver. Entering the program two weeks ago, she did not know how to swim. Now, she says she's mostly confident in the water, but still a little nervous on the deep end. For her, the best part of the program was kayaking. "It was super fun and interesting to see all the jellyfish in the water," she says.

Left: Commodore McCottry shows photos from the children's fishing trip earlier that week. Right: The Seafarers clubhouse is fully decorated with sailing and boating items. Keren Carrión/NPR hide caption

Left: Commodore McCottry shows photos from the children's fishing trip earlier that week. Right: The Seafarers clubhouse is fully decorated with sailing and boating items.

The SYC also hosts Annapolis' only Sea Scout ship as part of the Boy Scouts of America-affiliated program. Some of its top Scouts have gone on to the U.S. Naval and Coast Guard academies.

Confidence and camaraderie

Lonnie Alsop, 69, who joined the club just a few months ago, says he's known about the Seafarers since he was a boy. "My father had friends who were members," he says. "My dad was not a boat owner. I was always hoping he would be, but that never happened."

Alsop says he's always had a love of water. "I bought my first boat when I was 16 years old, which was a speed boat," he says. "I went from there to larger and larger boats. And so finally I got involved in cigarette-style boats, and I had those for years."

"I always wanted to be a Seafarer, but my life has been so busy that I didn't think I had time to be totally involved in and do the types of things in the community that they are constantly involved in."

He says he's "looking forward to spending more time with them and getting involved in some of the programs that they're carrying on in the community."

The days of being turned away at fuel docks are long gone. Many places on the bay are very welcoming, Alsop says. But even now, he says he's "not super comfortable going to marinas where I'm not really familiar."

"To be honest with you, having the camaraderie of some of the guys who are of my same race makes [me] a little more confident," he says.

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• How This Historically Black Yacht Club Learned to Thrive by Centering Community

In 1959, the Seafarers Yacht Club's only goal was to establish a presence on the Chesapeake. Now, it's providing services to the community.

Diane m. byrne.

Contributing Boating Editor

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In 1959, four Black men who were boaters in Washington, DC, decided to take their love of the water to the Chesapeake Bay. Joseph Barr, Hugh Dowling, Ellsworth Randall and Albert C. Burwell had been part of the Seafarers Boat Club on the Anacostia River, but wanted to take advantage of the Chesapeake’s much larger cruising grounds. They decided Annapolis should be home port. But the doors of local yacht clubs were closed to them and marina owners refused to sell Black captains fuel.

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Undeterred, they created the Seafarers Yacht Club, one of the oldest Black yacht clubs in the US. At first, they met in each other’s homes. Later, the group rented a small storefront in downtown Annapolis. In 1967, they purchased an abandoned, two-room 1918 schoolhouse—the first elementary school for Black children in Annapolis’s Eastport area—and turned it into a clubhouse.

The founders organized cruises where service providers welcomed them, hosted cookouts when they couldn’t dine in restaurants, and built a swimming pool at the back of the clubhouse. Over time, as SYC grew, its mission to enjoy boating transformed into something larger, with a community-service focus that included teaching at-risk youth how to swim and boat, hosting dinners for seniors, and setting up the city’s first Sea Scouts program—think Boy and Girl Scouts on the water.

Community service has become a primary mission of the yacht club. Its programs range from summer camps to teach seamanship and swimming to local youth to a Sea Scouts chapter that has seen one member enter the US Naval Academy.  Courtesy Seafarers Yacht Club

Capt. Ade Adebisi, SYC’s immediate past commodore, has seen the club mature since joining in 2001, both in membership, which has seen an 80 percent turnover in the last 20 years, and focusing on the local community.

Adebisi first learned of the club through a chance encounter. One day out cruising, he and his family came across Dr. William Woodward, their family dentist—who, unbeknownst to Adebisi—was the club’s then-commodore. After being invited to meet the members, Adebisi never looked back. “These are accomplished individuals who come together and work towards a common goal and support one another,” he says. “We’re not just yacht-club members, we’re friends.”

The club now has 76 members, who own multiple boat types, from kayaks to cruising sailboats to 60-ft. sportfishing machines. During the summer, flotillas of member boats cruise the Chesapeake, or do weekend trips to destinations like Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. On more somber occasions, the group wears the club’s dress whites to member funerals. While the founders were all working-class men, today’s group is more demographically and racially diverse, comprised of business owners, professionals and military officers. The club’s female members are also active in running the organization, with many serving as board members.

Over the years, the club has seen business owners, professionals and military officers join its ranks. That’s reflected in the members’ boats.  Courtesy Seafarers Yacht Club

Adebisi says the club has made him a better boater, since many of the more seasoned members provide seamanship and boat-handling advice to others. “As a new boater, you’re just learning to deal with all the challenges that come with the water,” he says. “Now, you have other people around to gain experience from, and share stories.”

The current commodore, Capt. Benjamin McCottry, says camaraderie is one of the club’s main strengths. Officially, he’s been a member for six and a half years, but has been around the members “practically all my life,” back to when the 70-year-old was a child.

McCottry is most proud of how the organization gives back to the community. It hosts an annual Thanksgiving Day dinner for seniors, for instance, and uses a donated 28-foot powerboat to teach seamanship skills to local youth.

Three Past Commodores (left to right): Dr. Mel Wyche, David Turner and  Dr, William Woodward.  Courtesy Seafarers Yacht Club

In fact, the youth programs are of particular importance to McCottry and his fellow members. Since its early days, the Seafarers Yacht Club has provided swimming lessons in the club pool as part of a two-week summer program that also includes boating education.

“Drowning is the second-leading cause in the country of accidental death in children 12 and under,” McCottry says. “Not only do the kids learn how to swim and save themselves, but they also learn how to save somebody else—without endangering themselves.” Many of the youth, he says, come from homes where no one can swim.

The swimming instruction, as well as STEM-related programs and even chess lessons from a chess master to promote critical-thinking skills, all target local children ages eight to 12. They’re overseen by the club’s non-profit arm, the Seafarers Foundation. Older children aren’t forgotten, with the Foundation further overseeing the first—and only—Sea Scouts unit in Annapolis. Sea Scouts is a program of the Boy Scouts of America for male and female teens ages 14 through 20.

A group kayak around the harbor in Annapolis.  Courtesy Seafarers Yacht Club

The Seafarers Yacht Club established its unit, Sea Scout Ship 1959, in 2019. Not only has it become one of the fastest-growing units in the nation, attracting nearly two dozen members, but also it received the prestigious National Flagship Award last summer. This recognizes outstanding program quality, youth achievements, and adult commitment. One member has gone on to attend the US Naval Academy.

“It’s doing rich work,” says Major General Errol Schwartz, the Seafarers Foundation president. What’s more, he sees opportunities to expand that rich work. He and his colleagues are exploring ways to offer programs year-round, plus close the age gap between those programs and the Sea Scouts.

Additionally, he wants to focus on health issues, especially in light of the pandemic. “We want to hear from the youth,” Schwartz says. “They’ve been pent up in this Zoom environment for two years. What are some of the things that are affecting them, mentally or otherwise?”

The club officers in dress whites, honoring a recently deceased member.  Courtesy Seafarers Yacht Club

Whatever it ultimately does, this “tight-knit family,” as Schwartz calls the Seafarers Yacht Club, will continue to honor its past. “Let’s not forget the people who got us here,” adds Adebisi.

Some of the original members are still alive and the work they did to buy and renovate that original two-room schoolhouse laid the foundations for today’s thriving club. “It’s important for us to maintain that history,” says Adebisi. “We’re proud of it.”

Diane Byrne is a longtime yachting journalist, specializing in the megayacht market; she has covered the industry since 1993. She is the founder and editor of MegayachtNews.com, a daily-updated…

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Seafarers Yacht Club

The Seafarers Yacht Club of Annapolis was founded in 1959 by a group from the Seafarers Yacht Club of Anacostia. It was the first African American yacht club in the Annapolis area [1] [2] . The club was founded in response to the refusal of Annapolis-area yacht clubs to admit African American captains, and the refusal of local marinas to let African Americans use their piers for fueling [2] [3] . After initially meeting in members’ homes and in a rented storefront in Annapolis, the Seafarers Yacht Club purchased its current property on Chester Avenue in Eastport in 1967 [2] . Prior to becoming the Seafarers Yacht Clubhouse, the building now home to the Club was a school that had been originally built in 1918. [2]

US Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla And Sea Scout Ship

In 1970, a US Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla, Flotilla 75, was organized at the Seafarers' Yacht Club House [2] . In 1980, the Flotilla became Flotilla 24-09, now based in Bowie [4] .

The Seafarers Yacht Club's charitable arm, the Seafarers Foundation , serves as the chartering organization for Sea Scout Ship 1959 [5] .

The Seafarers Yacht Club is located at 301 Chester Avenue in Annapolis, MD. Its coordinates are 38.96944939446944, -76.47898346651462 [6] .

• ↑ Fletcher, Patsy M. Historically African American Leisure Destinations Around Washington, D.C., Charleston, SC, History Press, 2015.
• ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 “Commodore’s Message.” Seafarers Yacht Club of Annapolis, Accessed 25 August 2022, https://www.seafarersyc.com/about .
• ↑ Neuman, Scott. "When Black boaters faced discrimination on the water, this yacht club became a refuge." NPR, 4 August 2023, https://www.npr.org/2023/08/04/1191257504/seafarers-yacht-club-annapolis-maryland
• ↑ "Welcome to the Flotilla 24-9, District 5SR Web Site." USCG AUX AUXWeb, Accessed 18 August 2023, https://wow.uscgaux.info/content.php?unit=054-24-09 .
• ↑ “About Seafarers.” Ship 1959, Accessed 25 August 2022, https://www.ship1959.org/seafarers .
• ↑ Google Maps, “Seafarers Yacht Club of Annapolis.” Google Maps, Accessed 6 September 2022, https://www.google.com/maps/place/Seafarers+Yacht+Club+of+Annapolis/@38.970042,-76.4796424,17.58z/data=!4m9!1m2!2m1!1sseafarers+yacht+club!3m5!1s0x89b7f63f5c6cede1:0xe71fb2a89593b916!8m2!3d38.9694317!4d-76.4789835!15sChRzZWFmYXJlcnMgeWFjaHQgY2x1YpIBCnlhY2h0X2NsdWLgAQA .

LAist is part of Southern California Public Radio, a member-supported public media network.

When Black boaters faced discrimination on the water, this yacht club became a refuge

ANNAPOLIS, Maryland — David Turner, whose father and grandfather worked the Chesapeake Bay as crabbers and oystermen, recalls "getting up at the crack of dawn" as a kid to help out on weekends and summers.

"I hated it," he says. Turner's childhood experience on Kent Island left him wanting "nothing to do with the water."

"That's why I went to college," he says.

He also remembers his father and grandfather's stories of racial discrimination they encountered on the bay. "They couldn't get parts," he says. "They couldn't get fuel."

Turner's dislike for the water eventually faded. In fact, as he got older, he found that the Chesapeake Bay was "in my bloodstream." He bought a boat. Then another. Eventually, in 2007, he joined the Seafarers Yacht Club of Annapolis.

The historically Black group of like-minded boaters is what drew him in. "I found a group of people who were serious about boating, serious about the community," he says. "They weren't worried about what they did for a living every day. They were interested in boating and the broader community."

A safe haven for Black boaters

If not for the nautical flagpole out front and the placard next to the entrance, the headquarters of the club, founded in 1959 by a handful of Black boaters, would blend seamlessly into the surrounding houses in the city's Eastport district. In many ways, it's a reflection of the area's history and how attitudes have evolved over time. The Maryland capital was once an infamous slave port, and until the early 1960s, the club's headquarters served as a segregated school for "colored children."

In and around Annapolis at that time, some fuel docks refused to serve Black boat owners, says SYC Commodore Benny McCottry.

"They would have to be creative and say, 'I'm here to get gas for the the boss' or something of that nature," he says. "So people would assume this boat didn't belong to them."

Today, the SYC is one of several yacht clubs started by Black boat owners that still dot the Chesapeake and its tributaries. It is equal parts boating organization, social club and community center. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Seafarers have continued to flourish, now boasting about 80 members.

A space for children to learn about the water

On a recent Friday inside the SYC's headquarters, about 40 children wearing matching yellow-and-blue shirts fidget in their seats as they gather for the final day of a two-week youth program. The popular summer curriculum aims to teach an eclectic variety of life skills — from boat handling and fishing to physical fitness.

But on this day, swimming and chess are at the top of the list. The children had been anticipating a cruise on the Chesapeake Bay, but the weather wasn't cooperating.

"Just like in chess, we need to adjust our plan," Vice Commodore Derrick Cogburn announces to the seated kids. Plan B is to watch Queen of Katwe , a film about Phiona Mutesi, a Ugandan girl who rises out of the slums of Kampala to become an international chess star.

Chess, Cogburn tells the children, can help them learn discipline, abstract thinking and how to be flexible about strategy.

The club has its own pool and McCottry, 72, a former Red Cross water safety instructor, rattles off some sobering statistics that illustrate why swimming is a focus: African Americans are 1.5 times more likely to drown than their white counterparts.

According to club member Alice Mahan, who is coordinator for the summer program, "Most of these kids, when they came, did not even want to get their faces wet."

One of them is 10-year-old Olivia Oliver. Entering the program two weeks ago, she did not know how to swim. Now, she says she's mostly confident in the water, but still a little nervous on the deep end. For her, the best part of the program was kayaking. "It was super fun and interesting to see all the jellyfish in the water," she says.

The SYC also hosts Annapolis' only Sea Scout ship as part of the Boy Scouts of America-affiliated program. Some of its top Scouts have gone on to the U.S. Naval and Coast Guard academies.

Confidence and camaraderie

Lonnie Alsop, 69, who joined the club just a few months ago, says he's known about the Seafarers since he was a boy. "My father had friends who were members," he says. "My dad was not a boat owner. I was always hoping he would be, but that never happened."

Alsop says he's always had a love of water. "I bought my first boat when I was 16 years old, which was a speed boat," he says. "I went from there to larger and larger boats. And so finally I got involved in cigarette-style boats, and I had those for years."

"I always wanted to be a Seafarer, but my life has been so busy that I didn't think I had time to be totally involved in and do the types of things in the community that they are constantly involved in."

He says he's "looking forward to spending more time with them and getting involved in some of the programs that they're carrying on in the community."

The days of being turned away at fuel docks are long gone. Many places on the bay are very welcoming, Alsop says. But even now, he says he's "not super comfortable going to marinas where I'm not really familiar."

"To be honest with you, having the camaraderie of some of the guys who are of my same race makes [me] a little more confident," he says.

‘A beautiful moment’: Seafarers Yacht Club, the…

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‘A beautiful moment’: Seafarers Yacht Club, the only Black yacht club in Annapolis, hosts its first regatta

Annapolis is well known for boating, so an event like a regatta isn’t anything new. What is new, however, is the Seafarers Yacht Club hosting one of the competitive races.

Last month, the only Black yacht club in Annapolis hosted its inaugural regatta.

While the Seafarers have been a part of the Eastport community for more than 60 years, they never stepped into the sport of sailboat racing. The 78-member club decided to change that in part because of a push from one of its members, Capt. Dale Clark, regatta chairman.

Clark has lived in the Washington, D.C., area for seven years and joined the Seafarers club four years ago. He started sailing at a young age thanks to an uncle who took him out on his boat. Later, he joined his high school sailing team. He has lived all over the world from Kenya to Morocco, where he still has a home. Now he transitions back and forth between D.C. and Annapolis.

“I’m just always trying to figure out ways to expand the community of boating and the best way I know how is by displaying it in the way that I fell in love with it,” Clark said this month. “I’ve seen regattas all over the world and I felt if we hosted one everyone could see how well we are represented on the water.”

The Sept. 24 race began at noon near the mouth of the Severn River. More than 30 boats participated in multiple heats on two courses depending on boat classification. Boats from all over participated, including vessels from the Seafarers and Eastport Yacht clubs along with Annapolis Yacht Club, Annapolis Sailing School and J World Annapolis, a boating school.

“The regatta was fantastic,” said Warren Richter, a member of the Eastport and Annapolis Yacht clubs and an Annapolis native. “The Seafarers did a great job of running it and it was a fantastic time on the water and on land.”

As the regatta began, all the boats cruised passed the anchored pin boat, which marks the course along with floating signs. The captains saluted the Seafarers’ commodore, Benjamin J. McCottry who was captain of the pin boat for the regatta.

“It was a beautiful moment to have our yacht club being represented so well and having our commodore in dress whites being saluted by all the other captains,” Clark said.

The moment represented how much has changed for Black boaters over the last 60 years.

In 1959, a group of Black boaters wanted to set up a home port in Annapolis but found that yacht club doors were closed to them because they were Black. Marina owners wouldn’t even sell them fuel. Joseph Barr, Hugh Dowling, Ellsworth Randal and Albert C. Burwell didn’t let this deter them from creating the Seafarers Yacht Club, which is now one of the oldest Black yacht clubs in the U.S.

In 1967, the Seafarers purchased an old schoolhouse in Eastport and began organizing cruises and hosting cookouts at their club when restaurants wouldn’t serve them. Over time, the mission grew into a larger community service focus including teaching at-risk youth how to swim and boat, hosting dinners for seniors, and creating the city’s first Sea Scout program.

Sea Scouts is a program of the Boy Scouts for teens, aged 14 to 20.

Events like the regatta show how far Eastport and the City of Annapolis have come.

“The community truly came together,” Clark said. “From the business community to the sailing community, to the boating community, everyone completely embraced this event. So much so that I had to turn sponsors away.”

The race was such a success that avid boaters like Kevin and Amanda McNeil had to be involved even though their schedule didn’t allow them to attend.

“We couldn’t make it due to a prior engagement, but we wanted to support the regatta, so we entered our boat and had my sister come up and do the race in our place,” Kevin McNeil said. “She said it was a great time and the gathering afterward was great too. Just a well-done affair.”

The event was capped off with an award presentation back on shore and an after-party complete with a live steel drum band and DJ. There was Caribbean and American cuisine provided by Weakness for Sweetness and Park Tavern.

“Seeing everybody enjoying the company and the music was a moment of complete tranquility,” Clark said. “There’s a lot of talk about division but there was none of that at this event. It was a nice break.”

Proceeds from the event were donated to the Seafarers Foundation to continue its work supporting underserved communities, especially in youth and senior activities.

“Now that we’ve started this the plan is to make it a tradition,” Clark said. “I’ve spoken to people who are excited to try sailing themselves and others who can’t wait till next year to participate again. This is the start of something great.”

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When Black boaters faced discrimination on the water, this yacht club became a refuge

ANNAPOLIS, Maryland — David Turner, whose father and grandfather worked the Chesapeake Bay as crabbers and oystermen, recalls "getting up at the crack of dawn" as a kid to help out on weekends and summers.

"I hated it," he says. Turner's childhood experience on Kent Island left him wanting "nothing to do with the water."

"That's why I went to college," he says.

He also remembers his father and grandfather's stories of racial discrimination they encountered on the bay. "They couldn't get parts," he says. "They couldn't get fuel."

Turner's dislike for the water eventually faded. In fact, as he got older, he found that the Chesapeake Bay was "in my bloodstream." He bought a boat. Then another. Eventually, in 2007, he joined the Seafarers Yacht Club of Annapolis.

The historically Black group of like-minded boaters is what drew him in. "I found a group of people who were serious about boating, serious about the community," he says. "They weren't worried about what they did for a living every day. They were interested in boating and the broader community."

A safe haven for Black boaters

If not for the nautical flagpole out front and the placard next to the entrance, the headquarters of the club, founded in 1959 by a handful of Black boaters, would blend seamlessly into the surrounding houses in the city's Eastport district. In many ways, it's a reflection of the area's history and how attitudes have evolved over time. The Maryland capital was once an infamous slave port, and until the early 1960s, the club's headquarters served as a segregated school for "colored children."

In and around Annapolis at that time, some fuel docks refused to serve Black boat owners, says SYC Commodore Benny McCottry.

"They would have to be creative and say, 'I'm here to get gas for the the boss' or something of that nature," he says. "So people would assume this boat didn't belong to them."

Today, the SYC is one of several yacht clubs started by Black boat owners that still dot the Chesapeake and its tributaries. It is equal parts boating organization, social club and community center. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Seafarers have continued to flourish, now boasting about 80 members.

A space for children to learn about the water

On a recent Friday inside the SYC's headquarters, about 40 children wearing matching yellow-and-blue shirts fidget in their seats as they gather for the final day of a two-week youth program. The popular summer curriculum aims to teach an eclectic variety of life skills — from boat handling and fishing to physical fitness.

But on this day, swimming and chess are at the top of the list. The children had been anticipating a cruise on the Chesapeake Bay, but the weather wasn't cooperating.

"Just like in chess, we need to adjust our plan," Vice Commodore Derrick Cogburn announces to the seated kids. Plan B is to watch Queen of Katwe , a film about Phiona Mutesi, a Ugandan girl who rises out of the slums of Kampala to become an international chess star.

Chess, Cogburn tells the children, can help them learn discipline, abstract thinking and how to be flexible about strategy.

The club has its own pool and McCottry, 72, a former Red Cross water safety instructor, rattles off some sobering statistics that illustrate why swimming is a focus: African Americans are 1.5 times more likely to drown than their white counterparts.

According to club member Alice Mahan, who is coordinator for the summer program, "Most of these kids, when they came, did not even want to get their faces wet."

One of them is 10-year-old Olivia Oliver. Entering the program two weeks ago, she did not know how to swim. Now, she says she's mostly confident in the water, but still a little nervous on the deep end. For her, the best part of the program was kayaking. "It was super fun and interesting to see all the jellyfish in the water," she says.

The SYC also hosts Annapolis' only Sea Scout ship as part of the Boy Scouts of America-affiliated program. Some of its top Scouts have gone on to the U.S. Naval and Coast Guard academies.

Confidence and camaraderie

Lonnie Alsop, 69, who joined the club just a few months ago, says he's known about the Seafarers since he was a boy. "My father had friends who were members," he says. "My dad was not a boat owner. I was always hoping he would be, but that never happened."

Alsop says he's always had a love of water. "I bought my first boat when I was 16 years old, which was a speed boat," he says. "I went from there to larger and larger boats. And so finally I got involved in cigarette-style boats, and I had those for years."

"I always wanted to be a Seafarer, but my life has been so busy that I didn't think I had time to be totally involved in and do the types of things in the community that they are constantly involved in."

He says he's "looking forward to spending more time with them and getting involved in some of the programs that they're carrying on in the community."

The days of being turned away at fuel docks are long gone. Many places on the bay are very welcoming, Alsop says. But even now, he says he's "not super comfortable going to marinas where I'm not really familiar."

"To be honest with you, having the camaraderie of some of the guys who are of my same race makes [me] a little more confident," he says.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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The Storied History of the Seafarers

• By Tonya Russell
• May 1, 2022

It might be difficult to remember a time when boating wasn’t a friendly pastime, but the memories are fresh in George “Lefty” Smith’s mind. He bought his first boat at 33, and just sold his fifth boat 51 years later. He’s the oldest surviving commodore of the Seafarers Yacht Club of Annapolis, one of the oldest Black yacht clubs in the country. It has not only survived over six decades, but also grown, evolved and thrived.

The Annapolis club got its start in 1959, and members playfully argue that they were the first Black yacht club because the D.C. Seafarers, which started in 1945, was originally a boating club. Semantics, of course, but four members from the D.C. club—Joseph Barr, Hugh Dowling, Ellsworth Randall and Albert Burwell—traveled 34 miles to form their club, taking their love of boating to the predominantly Black Eastport neighborhood of the city. The Annapolis clubhouse in itself is significant because it was originally the Colored School, a two-room schoolhouse for Black children built in 1918, when the area was still segregated. But the Seafarers’ roots run back to our nation’s capital.

A Place to Boat

Back in D.C., the Seafarers Boat Club had a 14-year head start. The founder, Lewis T. Green Sr., was a woodcarver and public-school teacher with a penchant for building vessels. He inquired about leasing government land to store his 49-foot boat, Valeria , but was repeatedly ignored, then rejected. This is no surprise because his requests came years before major civil rights legislation.

Green’s friend, Mary McCleod Bethune, an advisor to Franklin D. and Eleanor Roosevelt, interceded on his behalf, and the first lady ordered the Department of the Interior to reverse its decision. Green’s relationship with McCleod Bethune was the catalyst for starting his own clubhouse and changing the course for Black Americans interested in boating.

With the reversal, Green was given government land, and the early members got started building docks and the club. The team was able to transform an underdeveloped marsh into a space that would attract Black boaters from all over the Delaware-Maryland-Virginia (Delamarva) area. They worked hard to make it welcoming, and their work cleaning up the Anacostia River is still recognized.

In 1965, the club merged with the D.C. Mariners and officially changed its name to the Seafarers Yacht Club. (That definitely gives credence to Annapolis’ claims of being the first “yacht” club.) Over time, the D.C. and the Annapolis locations both thrived.

In the Navy’s Backyard

While D.C. is the seat of government, Annapolis is a national focal point of all things maritime. As interest grew in the local Black community, the club became well-represented by Black professionals. (That includes the second commodore, Joseph Barr, who was a member of Tuskegee’s first veterinary school class.) It attracted people who sought the same pleasurable experience as the traditionally white boaters in the area, and they found strength in numbers.

Back in the early days, they faced adversity on the water. Present-day secretary Bill Woodward described the dangers members once confronted in the area. “At Point Lookout, they used to shoot at us if they caught you by yourself,” Woodward says. “I’m not sure if they were trying to hit us or intimidate us.” 

Sitting and chatting in the historic Annapolis clubhouse, Smith recalled those early days, when Black people were still being overtly excluded from boating. Strength in numbers was what kept them safe and kept the sport fulfilling during those times.

“I remember when we couldn’t even buy gas,” Smith explains. Black boaters often had to lie, saying that they were transporting their bosses’ boats in order to fuel up. But they loved the sport and kept going, and went out on the water together. Now there are generations of boaters who have made their way through the Seafarers.

Charting the Course

Today, the Seafarers is more than just a place to boat, which is evident while listening to Annapolis commodore Benny McCottry rattle off the club’s calendar. It has plenty of boating fun built in, but also community outreach. One thing that still holds true is that historically Black organizations seek to create equity and empower their surrounding neighborhoods. “This is not just a boating club, but a club that has a heart for the community,” Smith says.

The Annapolis clubhouse added a swimming pool in the 1980s, and by that point, it would become an extension to all of Eastport, with programs geared to youth enrichment.

“We’ve run about 600 kids through our chess program,” says Edward Morris, the club’s chaplain and also a longtime member. “It’s two weeks long, and we have a local chess master come in. Like any summer program, the first day is bedlam, but the next day, you could drop a quarter and know what year it was made because of the silence and complete focus.”

In recent years, the Seafarers also added the Sea Scout program, which teaches children about maritime life. Annapolis also recently gave $1,000 to a local food bank, and the club has hosted local seniors for Thanksgiving dinners.

In the turbulence and political unrest of the past few years, at times the club has found itself providing a safety net for its members. Annapolis’ immediate past commodore, Ade Adebisi, explains: “There is really strength in numbers with Black boaters, and when there are a few of us, people tend to check themselves in terms of their hostility.”

Still, the boating community as a whole is far different than it was back in 1945. “We’re a predominantly Black club, but there are members that belong to other organizations, some that are predominantly white. Some prefer to be among Black people,” Adebisi says. “It’s all about the level of comfort.”

Today, Annapolis and D.C. are only two of several Black yacht clubs in the Delamarva area. D.C.’s Universal Sailing Club is celebrating 20 years, and smaller social clubs have also flourished. While the original clubs were born out of necessity, there is no denying that Black yacht clubs are still hubs for camaraderie and connections.

Read Next: A Sense of Boating History

Over 50 and 60 years after the clubs’ foundings, Smith points out their progress. His main takeaway? “These men are getting bigger boats,” he chuckles.

The Black yacht clubs are no longer solely Black, and they’ve managed to create a space that speaks to all walks of life, from all races and genders. What attracts other members is what’s at the heart of the Black boating experience, with an emphasis on community. Adebisi jokes: “There is a rule that if you have any problems with your boat, ask five Seafarers, you will get at least 12 different solutions.”

McCottry expresses hope for the way that boating is going. “Other boaters see that we’re the Seafarers, and they want to have cocktails and a beer with us,” he says. “I’ve been asked to join several clubs, including some prestigious ones. There’s a lot more openness now, but change had to take place within individuals.”

To make boating more inclusive, the Seafarers members believe that it is important to understand the Black boating experience. According to Woodward: “It’s not very different from any other boating experience, except the boater happens to be Black,” he explains. “It’s no different in terms of personal enjoyment, personal satisfaction, personal growth and development.”

Adebisi adds that other boaters should understand that Black boaters exist, and they have same level of boating competency: “We have the same interests, and we have the means. And we can also develop the expertise and discipline that it takes to be good. Period.”

For Woodward, the club reflects his father, who instilled in him a love for the water when he was young. He explains that even if there were no yacht club, he’d still be boating. That love supersedes any adversities that boaters might face. While times have changed, the love and desire that were embodied by the early Seafarers are still alive and well.

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When Black boaters faced discrimination on the water, this yacht club became a refuge

ANNAPOLIS, Maryland — David Turner, whose father and grandfather worked the Chesapeake Bay as crabbers and oystermen, recalls "getting up at the crack of dawn" as a kid to help out on weekends and summers.

"I hated it," he says. Turner's childhood experience on Kent Island left him wanting "nothing to do with the water."

"That's why I went to college," he says.

He also remembers his father and grandfather's stories of racial discrimination they encountered on the bay. "They couldn't get parts," he says. "They couldn't get fuel."

Turner's dislike for the water eventually faded. In fact, as he got older, he found that the Chesapeake Bay was "in my bloodstream." He bought a boat. Then another. Eventually, in 2007, he joined the Seafarers Yacht Club of Annapolis.

The historically Black group of like-minded boaters is what drew him in. "I found a group of people who were serious about boating, serious about the community," he says. "They weren't worried about what they did for a living every day. They were interested in boating and the broader community."

A safe haven for Black boaters

If not for the nautical flagpole out front and the placard next to the entrance, the headquarters of the club, founded in 1959 by a handful of Black boaters, would blend seamlessly into the surrounding houses in the city's Eastport district. In many ways, it's a reflection of the area's history and how attitudes have evolved over time. The Maryland capital was once an infamous slave port, and until the early 1960s, the club's headquarters served as a segregated school for "colored children."

In and around Annapolis at that time, some fuel docks refused to serve Black boat owners, says SYC Commodore Benny McCottry.

"They would have to be creative and say, 'I'm here to get gas for the the boss' or something of that nature," he says. "So people would assume this boat didn't belong to them."

Today, the SYC is one of several yacht clubs started by Black boat owners that still dot the Chesapeake and its tributaries. It is equal parts boating organization, social club and community center. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Seafarers have continued to flourish, now boasting about 80 members.

A space for children to learn about the water

On a recent Friday inside the SYC's headquarters, about 40 children wearing matching yellow-and-blue shirts fidget in their seats as they gather for the final day of a two-week youth program. The popular summer curriculum aims to teach an eclectic variety of life skills — from boat handling and fishing to physical fitness.

But on this day, swimming and chess are at the top of the list. The children had been anticipating a cruise on the Chesapeake Bay, but the weather wasn't cooperating.

"Just like in chess, we need to adjust our plan," Vice Commodore Derrick Cogburn announces to the seated kids. Plan B is to watch Queen of Katwe , a film about Phiona Mutesi, a Ugandan girl who rises out of the slums of Kampala to become an international chess star.

Chess, Cogburn tells the children, can help them learn discipline, abstract thinking and how to be flexible about strategy.

The club has its own pool and McCottry, 72, a former Red Cross water safety instructor, rattles off some sobering statistics that illustrate why swimming is a focus: African Americans are 1.5 times more likely to drown than their white counterparts.

According to club member Alice Mahan, who is coordinator for the summer program, "Most of these kids, when they came, did not even want to get their faces wet."

One of them is 10-year-old Olivia Oliver. Entering the program two weeks ago, she did not know how to swim. Now, she says she's mostly confident in the water, but still a little nervous on the deep end. For her, the best part of the program was kayaking. "It was super fun and interesting to see all the jellyfish in the water," she says.

The SYC also hosts Annapolis' only Sea Scout ship as part of the Boy Scouts of America-affiliated program. Some of its top Scouts have gone on to the U.S. Naval and Coast Guard academies.

Confidence and camaraderie

Lonnie Alsop, 69, who joined the club just a few months ago, says he's known about the Seafarers since he was a boy. "My father had friends who were members," he says. "My dad was not a boat owner. I was always hoping he would be, but that never happened."

Alsop says he's always had a love of water. "I bought my first boat when I was 16 years old, which was a speed boat," he says. "I went from there to larger and larger boats. And so finally I got involved in cigarette-style boats, and I had those for years."

"I always wanted to be a Seafarer, but my life has been so busy that I didn't think I had time to be totally involved in and do the types of things in the community that they are constantly involved in."

He says he's "looking forward to spending more time with them and getting involved in some of the programs that they're carrying on in the community."

The days of being turned away at fuel docks are long gone. Many places on the bay are very welcoming, Alsop says. But even now, he says he's "not super comfortable going to marinas where I'm not really familiar."

"To be honest with you, having the camaraderie of some of the guys who are of my same race makes [me] a little more confident," he says.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

When Black boaters faced discrimination on the water, this yacht club became a refuge

ANNAPOLIS, Maryland — David Turner, whose father and grandfather worked the Chesapeake Bay as crabbers and oystermen, recalls "getting up at the crack of dawn" as a kid to help out on weekends and summers.

"I hated it," he says. Turner's childhood experience on Kent Island left him wanting "nothing to do with the water."

"That's why I went to college," he says.

He also remembers his father and grandfather's stories of racial discrimination they encountered on the bay. "They couldn't get parts," he says. "They couldn't get fuel."

Turner's dislike for the water eventually faded. In fact, as he got older, he found that the Chesapeake Bay was "in my bloodstream." He bought a boat. Then another. Eventually, in 2007, he joined the Seafarers Yacht Club of Annapolis.

The historically Black group of like-minded boaters is what drew him in. "I found a group of people who were serious about boating, serious about the community," he says. "They weren't worried about what they did for a living every day. They were interested in boating and the broader community."

A safe haven for Black boaters

If not for the nautical flagpole out front and the placard next to the entrance, the headquarters of the club, founded in 1959 by a handful of Black boaters, would blend seamlessly into the surrounding houses in the city's Eastport district. In many ways, it's a reflection of the area's history and how attitudes have evolved over time. The Maryland capital was once an infamous slave port, and until the early 1960s, the club's headquarters served as a segregated school for "colored children."

In and around Annapolis at that time, some fuel docks refused to serve Black boat owners, says SYC Commodore Benny McCottry.

"They would have to be creative and say, 'I'm here to get gas for the the boss' or something of that nature," he says. "So people would assume this boat didn't belong to them."

Today, the SYC is one of several yacht clubs started by Black boat owners that still dot the Chesapeake and its tributaries. It is equal parts boating organization, social club and community center. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Seafarers have continued to flourish, now boasting about 80 members.

A space for children to learn about the water

On a recent Friday inside the SYC's headquarters, about 40 children wearing matching yellow-and-blue shirts fidget in their seats as they gather for the final day of a two-week youth program. The popular summer curriculum aims to teach an eclectic variety of life skills — from boat handling and fishing to physical fitness.

But on this day, swimming and chess are at the top of the list. The children had been anticipating a cruise on the Chesapeake Bay, but the weather wasn't cooperating.

"Just like in chess, we need to adjust our plan," Vice Commodore Derrick Cogburn announces to the seated kids. Plan B is to watch Queen of Katwe , a film about Phiona Mutesi, a Ugandan girl who rises out of the slums of Kampala to become an international chess star.

Chess, Cogburn tells the children, can help them learn discipline, abstract thinking and how to be flexible about strategy.

The club has its own pool and McCottry, 72, a former Red Cross water safety instructor, rattles off some sobering statistics that illustrate why swimming is a focus: African Americans are 1.5 times more likely to drown than their white counterparts.

According to club member Alice Mahan, who is coordinator for the summer program, "Most of these kids, when they came, did not even want to get their faces wet."

One of them is 10-year-old Olivia Oliver. Entering the program two weeks ago, she did not know how to swim. Now, she says she's mostly confident in the water, but still a little nervous on the deep end. For her, the best part of the program was kayaking. "It was super fun and interesting to see all the jellyfish in the water," she says.

The SYC also hosts Annapolis' only Sea Scout ship as part of the Boy Scouts of America-affiliated program. Some of its top Scouts have gone on to the U.S. Naval and Coast Guard academies.

Confidence and camaraderie

Lonnie Alsop, 69, who joined the club just a few months ago, says he's known about the Seafarers since he was a boy. "My father had friends who were members," he says. "My dad was not a boat owner. I was always hoping he would be, but that never happened."

Alsop says he's always had a love of water. "I bought my first boat when I was 16 years old, which was a speed boat," he says. "I went from there to larger and larger boats. And so finally I got involved in cigarette-style boats, and I had those for years."

"I always wanted to be a Seafarer, but my life has been so busy that I didn't think I had time to be totally involved in and do the types of things in the community that they are constantly involved in."

He says he's "looking forward to spending more time with them and getting involved in some of the programs that they're carrying on in the community."

The days of being turned away at fuel docks are long gone. Many places on the bay are very welcoming, Alsop says. But even now, he says he's "not super comfortable going to marinas where I'm not really familiar."

"To be honest with you, having the camaraderie of some of the guys who are of my same race makes [me] a little more confident," he says.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

When Black boaters faced discrimination on the water, this yacht club became a refuge

ANNAPOLIS, Maryland — David Turner, whose father and grandfather worked the Chesapeake Bay as crabbers and oystermen, recalls "getting up at the crack of dawn" as a kid to help out on weekends and summers.

"I hated it," he says. Turner's childhood experience on Kent Island left him wanting "nothing to do with the water."

"That's why I went to college," he says.

He also remembers his father and grandfather's stories of racial discrimination they encountered on the bay. "They couldn't get parts," he says. "They couldn't get fuel."

Turner's dislike for the water eventually faded. In fact, as he got older, he found that the Chesapeake Bay was "in my bloodstream." He bought a boat. Then another. Eventually, in 2007, he joined the Seafarers Yacht Club of Annapolis.

The historically Black group of like-minded boaters is what drew him in. "I found a group of people who were serious about boating, serious about the community," he says. "They weren't worried about what they did for a living every day. They were interested in boating and the broader community."

A safe haven for Black boaters

If not for the nautical flagpole out front and the placard next to the entrance, the headquarters of the club, founded in 1959 by a handful of Black boaters, would blend seamlessly into the surrounding houses in the city's Eastport district. In many ways, it's a reflection of the area's history and how attitudes have evolved over time. The Maryland capital was once an infamous slave port, and until the early 1960s, the club's headquarters served as a segregated school for "colored children."

In and around Annapolis at that time, some fuel docks refused to serve Black boat owners, says SYC Commodore Benny McCottry.

"They would have to be creative and say, 'I'm here to get gas for the the boss' or something of that nature," he says. "So people would assume this boat didn't belong to them."

Today, the SYC is one of several yacht clubs started by Black boat owners that still dot the Chesapeake and its tributaries. It is equal parts boating organization, social club and community center. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Seafarers have continued to flourish, now boasting about 80 members.

A space for children to learn about the water

On a recent Friday inside the SYC's headquarters, about 40 children wearing matching yellow-and-blue shirts fidget in their seats as they gather for the final day of a two-week youth program. The popular summer curriculum aims to teach an eclectic variety of life skills — from boat handling and fishing to physical fitness.

But on this day, swimming and chess are at the top of the list. The children had been anticipating a cruise on the Chesapeake Bay, but the weather wasn't cooperating.

"Just like in chess, we need to adjust our plan," Vice Commodore Derrick Cogburn announces to the seated kids. Plan B is to watch Queen of Katwe , a film about Phiona Mutesi, a Ugandan girl who rises out of the slums of Kampala to become an international chess star.

Chess, Cogburn tells the children, can help them learn discipline, abstract thinking and how to be flexible about strategy.

The club has its own pool and McCottry, 72, a former Red Cross water safety instructor, rattles off some sobering statistics that illustrate why swimming is a focus: African Americans are 1.5 times more likely to drown than their white counterparts.

According to club member Alice Mahan, who is coordinator for the summer program, "Most of these kids, when they came, did not even want to get their faces wet."

One of them is 10-year-old Olivia Oliver. Entering the program two weeks ago, she did not know how to swim. Now, she says she's mostly confident in the water, but still a little nervous on the deep end. For her, the best part of the program was kayaking. "It was super fun and interesting to see all the jellyfish in the water," she says.

The SYC also hosts Annapolis' only Sea Scout ship as part of the Boy Scouts of America-affiliated program. Some of its top Scouts have gone on to the U.S. Naval and Coast Guard academies.

Confidence and camaraderie

Lonnie Alsop, 69, who joined the club just a few months ago, says he's known about the Seafarers since he was a boy. "My father had friends who were members," he says. "My dad was not a boat owner. I was always hoping he would be, but that never happened."

Alsop says he's always had a love of water. "I bought my first boat when I was 16 years old, which was a speed boat," he says. "I went from there to larger and larger boats. And so finally I got involved in cigarette-style boats, and I had those for years."

"I always wanted to be a Seafarer, but my life has been so busy that I didn't think I had time to be totally involved in and do the types of things in the community that they are constantly involved in."

He says he's "looking forward to spending more time with them and getting involved in some of the programs that they're carrying on in the community."

The days of being turned away at fuel docks are long gone. Many places on the bay are very welcoming, Alsop says. But even now, he says he's "not super comfortable going to marinas where I'm not really familiar."

"To be honest with you, having the camaraderie of some of the guys who are of my same race makes [me] a little more confident," he says.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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When Black boaters faced discrimination on the water, this yacht club became a refuge

• Scott Neuman

ANNAPOLIS, Maryland — David Turner, whose father and grandfather worked the Chesapeake Bay as crabbers and oystermen, recalls "getting up at the crack of dawn" as a kid to help out on weekends and summers.

"I hated it," he says. Turner's childhood experience on Kent Island left him wanting "nothing to do with the water."

"That's why I went to college," he says.

He also remembers his father and grandfather's stories of racial discrimination they encountered on the bay. "They couldn't get parts," he says. "They couldn't get fuel."

Turner's dislike for the water eventually faded. In fact, as he got older, he found that the Chesapeake Bay was "in my bloodstream." He bought a boat. Then another. Eventually, in 2007, he joined the Seafarers Yacht Club of Annapolis.

The historically Black group of like-minded boaters is what drew him in. "I found a group of people who were serious about boating, serious about the community," he says. "They weren't worried about what they did for a living every day. They were interested in boating and the broader community."

A safe haven for Black boaters

If not for the nautical flagpole out front and the placard next to the entrance, the headquarters of the club, founded in 1959 by a handful of Black boaters, would blend seamlessly into the surrounding houses in the city's Eastport district. In many ways, it's a reflection of the area's history and how attitudes have evolved over time. The Maryland capital was once an infamous slave port, and until the early 1960s, the club's headquarters served as a segregated school for "colored children."

In and around Annapolis at that time, some fuel docks refused to serve Black boat owners, says SYC Commodore Benny McCottry.

"They would have to be creative and say, 'I'm here to get gas for the the boss' or something of that nature," he says. "So people would assume this boat didn't belong to them."

Today, the SYC is one of several yacht clubs started by Black boat owners that still dot the Chesapeake and its tributaries. It is equal parts boating organization, social club and community center. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Seafarers have continued to flourish, now boasting about 80 members.

A space for children to learn about the water

On a recent Friday inside the SYC's headquarters, about 40 children wearing matching yellow-and-blue shirts fidget in their seats as they gather for the final day of a two-week youth program. The popular summer curriculum aims to teach an eclectic variety of life skills — from boat handling and fishing to physical fitness.

But on this day, swimming and chess are at the top of the list. The children had been anticipating a cruise on the Chesapeake Bay, but the weather wasn't cooperating.

"Just like in chess, we need to adjust our plan," Vice Commodore Derrick Cogburn announces to the seated kids. Plan B is to watch Queen of Katwe, a film about Phiona Mutesi, a Ugandan girl who rises out of the slums of Kampala to become an international chess star.

Chess, Cogburn tells the children, can help them learn discipline, abstract thinking and how to be flexible about strategy.

The club has its own pool and McCottry, 72, a former Red Cross water safety instructor, rattles off some sobering statistics that illustrate why swimming is a focus: African Americans are 1.5 times more likely to drown than their white counterparts.

According to club member Alice Mahan, who is coordinator for the summer program, "Most of these kids, when they came, did not even want to get their faces wet."

One of them is 10-year-old Olivia Oliver. Entering the program two weeks ago, she did not know how to swim. Now, she says she's mostly confident in the water, but still a little nervous on the deep end. For her, the best part of the program was kayaking. "It was super fun and interesting to see all the jellyfish in the water," she says.

The SYC also hosts Annapolis' only Sea Scout ship as part of the Boy Scouts of America-affiliated program. Some of its top Scouts have gone on to the U.S. Naval and Coast Guard academies.

Confidence and camaraderie

Lonnie Alsop, 69, who joined the club just a few months ago, says he's known about the Seafarers since he was a boy. "My father had friends who were members," he says. "My dad was not a boat owner. I was always hoping he would be, but that never happened."

Alsop says he's always had a love of water. "I bought my first boat when I was 16 years old, which was a speed boat," he says. "I went from there to larger and larger boats. And so finally I got involved in cigarette-style boats, and I had those for years."

"I always wanted to be a Seafarer, but my life has been so busy that I didn't think I had time to be totally involved in and do the types of things in the community that they are constantly involved in."

He says he's "looking forward to spending more time with them and getting involved in some of the programs that they're carrying on in the community."

The days of being turned away at fuel docks are long gone. Many places on the bay are very welcoming, Alsop says. But even now, he says he's "not super comfortable going to marinas where I'm not really familiar."

"To be honest with you, having the camaraderie of some of the guys who are of my same race makes [me] a little more confident," he says. [Copyright 2023 NPR]

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AFRO American Newspapers

The Black Media Authority

Seafarers: Historic Black Yacht Club

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By Jessica Dortch, AFRO Staff, [email protected]  

Being Black in America is hard.  In the 50s and 60s, it was even harder. 

A group of Blacks in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area were interested in boating on the Chesapeake Bay, but, unfortunately, the color of their skin restricted their access to premier boating products and supplies. Thus, in 1959, this same group of Blacks created Seafarers Yacht Club (SYC) of Annapolis, Md., because “…The best way to get around exclusion is to form your own,” as Mel Wyche, past commodore of Seafarers Yacht Club, said.

Seafarers Yacht Club of Annapolis, Md. was founded in 1959 by a group of Blacks who lived in the D.C. metropolitan area. (Courtesy of www.seafarersyc.com)

SYC members wanted to settle in Annapolis, and after the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education, which, according to the History Channel , deemed racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional, a once ‘Blacks only’ vacant schoolhouse became the Seafarers new home. 

The members of SYC, including the only surviving original member of the club, 93-year-old Joe Carpenter, celebrated their 60 th anniversary on Sept. 14 with a special cruise from Annapolis to the Baltimore Inner Harbor. Since the club’s inception, the group has grown from its original 13 members to include so many other African-American men and women. 

“In the club we’ve got African Americans from all walks of life,” Wyche said. “You have no idea what kind of talent we have in that club until you talk to them individually. You learn how accomplished some of these people are, in the club,” he added.

Being a member in one of very few African-American yacht clubs is an accomplishment that gives its members and their families a sense of pride. Ade Adebisi, current commodore, recalls bringing his children to SYC.

Seafarers Yacht Club members celebrated the 60th anniversary of the club with a special anniversary cruise from Annapolis to the Baltimore Inner Harbor.

“It has done a lot for our children because by being a part of this club, our children grew up in an environment of highly successful African Americans,” said Adebisi.  

Everyone is familiar with the African proverb “It takes a village to raise a child,” but SYC was founded on this principle, and is still ingrained in the work they provide to the community through the Seafarers Foundation. “Right here in Annapolis you have such a large population of African American children who live close to the water, but have never been in the water. One of the core functions of the foundation is to put on an annual summer youth program…to provide swimming lessons to African American children,” Derrick Cogburn, treasurer of SYC and board member of the Seafarers Foundation, told the AFRO.

This two-week program, starting in the second week of July, was created to teach Black youth, specifically, how to swim. Since the foundation began 10 years ago, the program has expanded to provide youth in Annapolis and surrounding areas with a well-rounded education in boating, water safety, etiquette, and life skills. Recently, the foundation partnered with the U.S. Chess Center to offer lessons to the youth. 

Interested yet? SYC isn’t just about boating, the club hosts various events throughout the year including hand dancing classes, Mardi Gras, Thanksgiving dinner, and the club’s upcoming event, ‘An Evening of Jazz.’ On Oct. 19, from 7:30 to 11:30 p.m., club members along with their families and friends are invited to spend an elegant evening at the SYC clubhouse listening to smooth jazz by Aaron Rhines & The Groove Unit. Adebisi, a member of SYC since the early 2000s said, “There will be food, dancing, jazz music. It will be a great Saturday evening in the Fall.” For more events from Seafarers Yacht Club of Annapolis, Md., visit www.seafarersyc.com .

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Chesapeake Bay Magazine

The Best of the Bay

1st Seafarers Yacht Club Regatta to be Held in Annapolis

The regatta benefits the Seafarers Foundation, which runs programs for schoolchildren and is charter organization for the Sea Scouts.

A sailing regatta is nothing new in Annapolis, but this one—the “first annual” Seafarers Regatta—is the first of its kind for the city, and it’s bringing together a wide range of local sailing organizations.

In an era when few Chesapeake Bay area marinas and yacht clubs welcomed them, “a group of working-class men bonded together” to form the Seafarers Yacht Club (SYC). At first, they met in each other’s homes; later a rented storefront became their clubhouse. In 1967 the group purchased an abandoned Eastport building that had once been a schoolhouse for Black children. Since then the building at 301 Chester Avenue in Annapolis has been the permanent home of the Seafarers Yacht Club.

SYC also established the Seafarers Foundation, a 301(c) corporation that operates a Summer Youth Program, provides Thanksgiving meals for senior citizens, and supports local food banks. Under the leadership of Vice Commodore Derrick Cogburn, the foundation is the chartered organization for Sea Scout Ship 1959, called Seafarers Commitment , which was named the 2021 Sea Scouts National Flagship. 

“For the most part we’re known as a powerboat club,” says Commodore Benjamin McCottry. “But we don’t want to put ourselves in that box. We do have sailboaters and we’re all drawn together from a shared love of the water.”

With the city’s reputation as the sailing capital of the world, SYC member Dale Clark, who later became Regatta Chair, suggested the idea of a regatta to Commodore McCottry. He, in turn, proposed it to the club’s Board of Directors. “We’ve never done it before,” was the response.

But there was no doubt they could. And as SYC quickly discovered, help was right around the corner.

Eastport is a strong sailing community, as most area sailors would agree.

“All we had to do was put out the word and the support followed. The mentoring of Eastport Yacht Club and its Commodore Mark Jones was invaluable,” both McCottry and Clark recall. “Because they hold races almost every week, a structure was already in place. We held meetings at both clubhouses.”

On and off the water, SYC members learned the basics of becoming race officials. “As a powerboater, it was all new to me,” McCottry recalls, including the experience he describes as his “trial by storm” where he learned that a rainstorm was no reason to call a race. “I was soaked to the skin, but it was all a part of sailboating and the learning process.”

On September 24, 2022, this joint effort will come together as the First Annual Seafarers Regatta, organized by Eastport Yacht Club and assisted by the Seafarers Yacht Club. The race begins at noon at the mouth of the Severn River. It’s capped at 40 participants; so far 22 have signed up, including vessels from Eastport and Seafarers Yacht Clubs, Annapolis Sailing School, the Annapolis Yacht Club, and J World, among others. There is no rain date; if winds are 4 knots or less, there will be no race. Net proceeds from the event will be donated to the Seafarers Foundation to continue its work to support underserved and underrepresented communities, especially in youth and senior activities.  

Captain Clark invites “all of Annapolis to show up” at the Seafarers Yacht Club Awards Ceremony and Party to hear Caribbean music from  Baltimore’s CAISO Steel Drum Band, and enjoy a selection of Caribbean food. Beer and wine will be available.

For more information on the First Annual SYC Regatta, and to purchase event tickets click here:

seafarersyc.com/regatta

-Niambi Davis

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