American Seaman’s Friend Society

The ASFS was officially founded in 1828, with trustees from such port cities as Boston, Philadelphia, Charleston and Savannah. The first general agent was Reverend Joshua Leavitt, a temperance lecturer for the American Temperance Society and a revivalist who was an anti-slavery leader and a charter member of the Liberty Party of 1840. The ASFS initially published a magazine, and later expanded to publishing worship manuals for sailors. In October 1837, ASFS opened a small home in Lower Manhattan to deter sailors from living in seamy and degrading boarding homes. By 1840, there were three such homes for seamen , including one exclusively for Negroes. Also in 1837 the ASFS began to establish libraries on ships, a service that continued for many years. In 1970 the New York City headquarters closed and the organization’s remaining materials given to the Marine Historical Association in Mystic, CT.