page_title: White-Jacket
section_title: Detail
hierarchical_section_title: White-Jacket / Detail
caption_attribution_description: English: Purser Edward Fitzgerald USN to A.P. Upshur 18 Oct 1841 re permission to bring his slave Robert Lucas aboard USS United States. Lucas is later depicted in Herman Melville's White -Jacket.
context_page_description: White-Jacket; or, The World in a Man-of-War is the fifth book by American writer Herman Melville, first published in London in 1850. The book is based on the author's fourteen months' service in the United States Navy, aboard the frigate USS Neversink.
context_section_description: Many of the enlisted crew became figures in White-Jacket. Foremost among them is Melville's hero Jack Chase, captain of the maintop, in reality Englishman John J. Chase, age 53. Chase had fought at the Battle of Navarino and deserted St. Louis|1828|6 to fight for Peruvian independence. The log confirms Melville's narrative, Chase returned to the frigate on 29 May 1842 and his pardon at the request of the Peruvian ambassador for his services to the government of Peru. Another character is the ship purser (Edward Fitzgerald) and like many naval officers a slaveholder. In October 1841 with the written consent of the Secretary of the Navy, purser Fitzgerald entered his "servant" (slave) Robert Lucas as a landsman (in reality his personal steward) as a crew member and collected Lucas nine dollar per month wages. In the novel White-Jacket, Lucas becomes "Guinea" the body servant, the only person aboard except the hospital steward and the invalids exempt from being present at muster for punishment.
caption: Purser Edward Fitzgerald USN to A.P. Upshur 18 Oct 1841 re permission to bring slave Robert Lucas (Guinea) aboard USS United States
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "MG5200 series", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "MP Navigator EX 4.0", "Image DateTime": "2014:07:16 17:54:59", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "210", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2014:07:16 17:54:59", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF FileSource": "Reflection Print Scanner", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto"}