Who was the first African-American Ship Pilot in the U.S. Navy?

Robert Smalls (April 5, 1839 – February 23, 1915) was an enslaved African American who, during and after the American Civil War, became a ship's pilot, sea captain, and politician. He freed himself, his crew and their families from slavery on May 13, 1862, by commandeering a Confederate transport ship, the CSS Planter, in Charleston harbor, and sailing it to freedom from Confederate controlled waters to the Federal blockade. His example and persuasion helped convince President Lincoln to accept African-American soldiers into the Union Army.