a marvelous account by a man by the name of william b gould, who had escaped from slavery, from wilmington, north carolina. and he was a very skilled carpenter and plasterer and having escaped from wilmington, made his way to the blockading squadron, and he enlisted and he became the captain steward. so theoretically he was very skilled and had he had some seafaring experience, might have been rated as a seaman. he was rated as a contraband because he had escaped from slavery and. then on the ship, he became the captain steward. and so happened the ships that he served on were in the north atlantic. so they were chasing commerce, confederate commerce, raiders throughout the north atlantic. whenever he made the ship, made port, it was his job to go out and get fresh provisions for the captain. and he describes the wonderful times that he had moving about the the various port cities europe as a free man in the united states navy uniform and he describes being treated like a tourist and in fact around to tourist attractions. now he's exceptional in one sense, though, i think other stewards, especially as captain steward's who then went out into