Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2020/Fall/105i/Section 52/Captain Allan F. Leigh

Overview

Allan F. Leigh was a white sea captain born in the early 1900s in Hull, England. Leigh grew up to become a fisherman and immigrated to New York City. There, he continued his career as a fisherman, met his wife, and settled down in Florida. He was interviewed for the Federal Writer’s Project in which he described the sequence of his life.

Early Life

Captain Allan F. Leigh was born in Hull, England. His exact birth date is unknown. Leigh was the oldest son with seven younger siblings. His father was a fisherman but made barely enough money to keep food in the house. When Allan was in sixth grade, his father died. His mother died two years later. Leigh’s Aunt took care of his siblings in Sussex, England, while he lived independently. He could not afford to visit his siblings.

Early Career

Leigh began his career as a fisherman in sixth grade, following his father’s death. He dropped out of school and worked a job on a fishing boat to help his mother support the family. As Leigh got older, he worked hard to make enough money to support himself. He ended up on a voyage to New York City. Despite his initial struggle to find a job, he later signed as a fisherman on a fleet for the grand banks off of Newfoundland. In the off season, Leigh worked as “a carpenter’s helper in a New Jersey shipyard.” For five years, he continued working both of these jobs.

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Promotion

In the summer of 1929, Leigh was offered the position as the master of fishing vessels, where he would manage and lead the fishing operations, off the Florida capes. Leigh believed he was qualified as his wife taught him grammar and mathematics during the winters, yet he still needed to receive his citizenship papers. He was granted citizenship a few weeks later and accepted the position. In 1939, Leigh made “from two to four hundred dollars a month during fishing season.”

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Personal Life

Before being promoted as the master of fishing vessels, Leigh married Dora L. When he transferred to Florida for this position, she followed, and they rented a bungalow in Miami. They had their first baby, Allan Jr., a year later, their second, Patricia, two years later, and their last, Roy, a year after that. By the time Leigh was interviewed in 1939, he owned “a five room house, furnished and paid for.” His kids did well in school, and his wife made extra money teaching at a church and running a small confectionery. He heard from his siblings in England frequently, and Dora’s mother visited them every winter. Leigh lived the rest of his life as a proud Democrat with no plans of leaving the south or America.

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Death

His death date is unknown.

Social Issues

The Collapse of Fisheries in the 20th Century

After World War 2, the industrialization of fisheries advanced fishing technology. An article focusing on fisheries in Newfoundland and Labrador describes how the industrialization ultimately led to the collapse of cod stocks in these areas.

Fishermen adopted more efficient technology after the second world war, including “more efficient nets, tracking devices, and other gear.” While these advancements allowed fishermen to catch more fish than traditional methods, the new technology had consequences on the industry. Fishing became less sustainable, and “decades of over-fishing severely depleted cod stocks until they collapsed in the 1990s.”

This collapse left 30,000 people out of work. Furthermore, it left “many fishing communities with populations that were both older and smaller than ever before,” as the unemployed moved to find jobs and education elsewhere.

Another article describes over-fishing in Key West, Florida, during the 1900s. While photographs in the 1950’s and 60’s “show sports fishermen with huge groupers and sharks,” “by the 1980s they were catching only a few groupers and more jacks.” This over-fishing continued into the 2000’s, where the primary catch, a small snapper, was unworthy of a photograph. While the fish stocks in Florida did not collapse as they did in Newfoundland and Labrador, over-fishing became a common problem globally and could lead to the collapse of more fisheries if it isn’t combated.

European Immigration the the U.S. Post-World War 1

Prior to World War 1, there was open immigration to America, with the exception of Chinese exclusion. Around twenty-five million Europeans immigrated to the U.S. during this time period.

However, post-World War 1, both an anti- German American sentiment as well as the Red Scare led the U.S. public to support the implementation of immigration restrictions. The immediate response taken by the U.S. government was reducing “European immigration to three percent of the foreign-born population.” Furthermore, the Johnson Reed Act in 1924 required those immigrating to provide a passport and visa, and also required that they “pass inspection at official ports of entry.” This act also limited the number of immigrants per year to 155,000. However, quotas that broke down the 155,000 immigrants favored northern and western European countries, allowing them to make up two-thirds of the total.

The quotas favoring Europeans not only ranked “European countries in a hierarchy of desirability, but also created “a common "white" race set apart from non-whites, such as Asians, for whom an entirely different racial policy (exclusion) applied.” The Johnson Reed Act ultimately demonstrated the bias towards a white race and the racial vision of the U.S.