their primary job was more like menial, lower task if you will coal stokers down in the engine room. and i'm sure they had cannoneers when they went to battle stations but their primary job probably was coal stokers in the confederate navy and if they were from an area where the navy was stationed or situated, they were more likely familiar with the area waterways. they probably were used as guides and what have you, guides quartermasters, you know. they could navigate certain areas that weren't known to the federal navy. of course, that happened on both sides. and the real irony of it is the federal navy wasn't segregated. the army was. the federal navy was integrated because of the type of duty, the conditions. the truth of the matter is there were a lot of african-american men in the navy that had prior sailing experience. they could have been freed men from up north mass marks new york, whatever. they could have been working on whaler or some kind of ocean-going vessel or they could have lived in canada or somewhere free and took their experience applying the waterways of st. law