Francisco José do Nascimento (April 15, 1839 – March 5, 1914), known as Dragão do Mar (''Sea Dragon''), was an

Afro-Brazilian Afro-Brazilians (; ), also known as Black Brazilians (), are Brazilians of total or predominantly Sub-Saharan African ancestry. Most multiracial Brazilians also have a range of degree of African ancestry. Brazilians whose African features are mo ...

raft fisherman ( ''jangadeiro''),

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

and

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...

figure, who in 1881 led a strike of his fellow ''jangadeiros'' in the port of

Fortaleza Fortaleza ( ; ; ) is the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeastern Brazil. It is Brazil's 4th largest city—Fortaleza surpassed Salvador, Bahia, Salvador in 2022 census with a population of slightly over 2.4 mi ...

, state of

Ceará Ceará (, ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. It is the List of Brazilian states by population, eighth-largest Brazilian State by ...

, refusing to transport enslaved black people to be sold in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

and other Brazilian provinces.

Life

Francisco José do Nascimento was born in

Canoa Quebrada Canoa Quebrada (meaning ''broken canoe'' in Portuguese), known as the pearl of the east coast of Ceará, Brazil, is an international tourist beach resort 164 km from Fortaleza, in the municipality of Aracati. This small fishing village, am ...

. He was known as "Chico da Matilde", after his mother, Matilde da Conceição. His father died when he was eight years old. Unable to raise her child, Matilde sent Nascimento to work for the Portuguese commander José Raimundo de Carvalho. He learned to read and write and worked at the commander's sailboat ''Tubarão'' until he was 20 years old. Nascimento married to Joaquina Francisca and worked at the port of Fortaleza as a pilot, driving ships to the harbor. The state of Ceará was struck by a severe drought in 1877–78. Several landowners rushed to sell their slaves to the southern port of Rio de Janeiro. In the state, there was a strong abolitionist movement, led by white intellectuals. Nascimento, a ''

mulatto ( , ) is a Race (human categorization), racial classification that refers to people of mixed Sub-Saharan African, African and Ethnic groups in Europe, European ancestry only. When speaking or writing about a singular woman in English, the ...

'', distraught with his role in the slavery, associated with the abolitionists. On August 30, 1881, the ''jangadeiros'' of Fortaleza were on strike, refusing to transport black slaves to southern Brazil. Though fishermen, the ''jangadeiros'' made extra income providing transport on their ''

jangada A jangada is a traditional fishing boat (in fact a sailing raft) made of wood used in the North Region, Brazil, northern region of Brazil. The construction of the jangada incorporates some improvements in Neolithic handcraft - better materials ...

s'' to ocean-going vessels. The port authority fired Nascimento and other ''jangadeiros''. Nevertheless, the state of Ceará abolished slavery in 1884, four years before the rest of Brazil. Nascimento was celebrated and invited to visit Rio de Janeiro. There he was received as a hero by the local abolitionists; the writer Aluísio de Azevedo was the first to refer to him as "Dragão do Mar". Nascimento died in 1914, in Fortaleza. His grave, lost for many years, was found in July 2020 in the

Cemitério de São João Batista The Cemitério de São João Batista () is a municipal necropolis originally owned and operated by the ''Santa Casa da Misericórdia do Rio de Janeiro'' (Holy House of Mercy of Rio de Janeiro), and run, since August 2014, by the private company Ri ...

Honors

The

Dragão do Mar Center of Art and Culture The Dragão do Mar Center of Art And Culture (in Portuguese: Centro Dragão do Mar de Arte e Cultura) is a government funded cultural center in Fortaleza, Ceará in Brazil. The center contains facilities for exhibitions, a theatre, a library, a ci ...

, founded in 1999 in Fortaleza, was named after him. In 2017, Francisco José do Nascimento's name was written into the ''Book of Steel'' (also known as ''The Book of National Heroes'') kept at the

Tancredo Neves Pantheon of the Fatherland and Freedom The Tancredo Neves Pantheon of the Fatherland and Freedom () is a cenotaph in the Brazilian capital Brasília, dedicated to the honour of national heroes. It was conceived during the national shock following the death in 1985 of president-elect ...

, the national

cenotaph A cenotaph is an empty grave, tomb or a monument erected in honor of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere or have been lost. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although t ...

, in Brasília.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dragao do Mar 1839 births 1914 deaths Brazilian abolitionists Burials at Cemitério de São João Batista People from Aracati