WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10: A University historian has won an acclaimed prize for a book about Bermuda’s sailors and slaves in the 17th century.

University of Rochester historian Michael Jarvis has won the 2010 James A. Rawley Prize in Atlantic History for his book, ‘In the Eye of All Trade: Bermuda, Bermudians, and the Maritime Atlantic World, 1680-1783’.

According to a story posted on the University’s website, the honor is given to a single recipient each year by the American Historical Association, the country's premier scholarly organization for historians.

The story also says that, writing for the selection committee, Mia Bay, a professor of history at Rutgers University, called the work "Atlantic history at its best". She lauded the study for bringing to light "the far-flung worlds of Bermuda's free and enslaved seafaring men and their families", and for "illuminating the many, and at times unexpected, ties of empire".

According to the University’s story, the book “explores the social and economic history of 18th-century Bermuda through the eyes of the Island's seafarers. Jarvis takes readers aboard small Bermudian sloops and follows white and enslaved sailors throughout the British North American and Caribbean colonies. He shows how these sailors and slaves shuttled cargoes between ports, raked salt, harvested timber, salvaged shipwrecks, hunted whales, captured prizes, and smuggled contraband”.

It adds: “In the process, Jarvis details the unique character of maritime slavery, revealing dimensions of slaves' living and working conditions beyond the plantation. He also documents how Bermuda's small family-owned ships helped to link together the economies of the British colonies in "significant but underappreciated" ways and how those vibrant trade relationships were disrupted by the American Revolution and ultimately ended with the creation of an independent United States”.

Based on two decades of research, In the Eye of All Trade draws on a wealth of historical evidence, from the historian's traditional tools – archives and documents – to less conventional sources – folklore, architecture, food, and "recovered experiences".

"I am a firm believer in 'experiential' history," Mr. Jarvis explains in the University’s story. He advocates exploring the sites and, whenever possible, engaging in the same activities as one's historical subjects. To immerse himself in colonial life, he has worked as a blacksmith in a historic village, raked salt in the Turks Islands, and visited ruined sugar mills – experiences he credits with providing deeper insights into the life of his subjects.

His work is also informed by more than a decade of archaeological field work. This past June, he led a small field team to Smith's Island, Bermuda, where they located more than a dozen archeological sites. The experience gave him "some inkling of the island as the Sea Venture's shipwrecked castaways would have found it in 1609 in its original wild state".

For this book, Mr. Jarvis lived onboard a traditional wooden schooner in 1998 for about 18 weeks, sailing in the wake of the traders he chronicles. "I experienced the dynamics of shipboard life on a small vessel – standing watch in all weather, monotonous diet, the hard work of raising anchor and setting sail," says Jarvis. "I also came to appreciate the lack of privacy and personal space, the interpersonal camaraderie and tensions among shipmates, the sense of freedom when stepping ashore and, personally for me, the hardship of being parted from my family".

But reliving the traditional seafaring life was not all drudgery, Jarvis admits. Like his historical subjects, he dove on shipwrecks, found mahogany trees in the thick woods of Mona Island, swam with turtles at East Plana Cay, and enjoyed "the great luxury of eating minutes-old sushi from a yellowfin tuna we caught".