Letter From Benito Cereno to Captain Amasa Delano

To My Dear Friend Don Amasa Delano,

I would like to express my gratitude for your help and your brave seizure of the mutinous Negros aboard the San Dominick. Prior to our meeting, I spent several days praying that another vessel would find us and help to recapture the San Dominick from the disloyal Negro seamen. When we came upon your ship I knew that god had sent you to deliver my crew and myself from those ungrateful Negro villains.

My dear friend, I am writing to you out of a curiosity that has plagued me since our meeting. As you noticed when you visited the San Dominick, my health is slowly declining and I do not think that I will survive much longer. So, I thought that I would write to you while I still have the strength to hold a pen.

Don Delano, my understanding of the Americans is that they treat the Negros with much disregard and disdain. I hear that this is the natural order of things in America. I am told that the Negros in your country do not hold property or citizenship rights, but are brought to America to serve as laborers. My dear friend Don Delano, I do not intend criticize you and the Americans. However, since our meeting, I have been wondering why you did not aggressively investigate the seemingly unnatural arrangement between the Spaniards and Negros aboard San Dominick. It was clear to me that you were uncomfortable with incidents you witnessed while aboard. I was certain that as an American your suspicions would have encouraged you to seize the crew immediately and investigate the odd interactions between the Spaniards and Negros. Perhaps I misjudged the Americans.

Well my dear friend Don Delano, I would like to once again express my gratitude for your help aboard the San Dominick and perhaps we will meet again someday.

Sincerely,

Benito Cereno

Questions:

1) As W. Jeffrey Bolster describes in Black Jacks, one of the interesting aspects of the experiences of enslaved black seamen was that even though they traveled around the U.S. and to other countries via water, they were still governed by the laws of the land (U.S. land in Bolster’s account). How did the contradictions inherent in the idea of the “freedom of the seas” influence enslaved seamen? What does Benito Cereno reveal about how African Americans aboard vessels may have reacted to this contradiction?

2) According to David Waldstreicher in “Reading the Runaways,” runaway slaves often transformed their identities through clothing, ethnic markers, and speech in their efforts to ensure an effective escape. How did the unfamiliarity of Spanish slavery and race relations allow the Africans aboard the San Dominick to “fool” Captain Delano?