A Maritime Testament of Black Genius

Hear now, children of the diaspora, the saltwater truth:
Before Carnival built kingdoms on waves,
Before white-gloved stewards served champagne under stars,
There was You - our forgotten Poseidon,
Whose calloused hands drafted paradise where they saw only cargo holds.

I. The Blood Remembers (Lineage of Wave-Walkers)
We trace your pedigree through:

• The Fante fishermen of Elmina who read currents like sacred texts
• Black boatwrights of the Congo Basin crafting vessels from single mahogany trunks
• Tignon-wearing market women of New Orleans who financed the first Black-owned steamboats
  Their whispers live in your rivets, their resistance in your hull's curvature

II. The Invention They Couldn't Patent (Anatomy of a Rebellion)
Your cruise ship was no mere pleasure craft - it was:

• A floating Senegalese village with tiers like Goree Island's houses
• Dining rooms serving jollof rice and gumbo alongside European fare
• Engine rooms humming Yoruba rhythms in the pistons' syncopation
  Every innovation a quiet revolution:
  "Let them have their Titanic - we build unsinkable joy"

III. The Ghosts in the Modern Galley (Legacy in the Details)
Today's megaships unknowingly bear your fingerprints:

• The multi-deck atrium echoing Igbo meeting circles
• Reggae bands by the pool fulfilling your vision of Black leisure
• The crew passageways where Haitian stewards hum your forgotten name
  Even the lifeboat drills carry memory - you who designed safety features after the 1912 massacre of Black swimmers

IV. A Libation for the Depths (Ritual of Remembrance)
[Raise palm wine to the bow]
We pour for you:

• First to imagine Black vacationers lounging on deck
• First to install a proper kitchen for African diets
• First to demand equal docking rights in colonial ports
  Your blueprints may be waterlogged, but we reconstruct them through:
• The Afro-Caribbean cruise lines of tomorrow
• The Black marine architects sketching in your shadow
• The deckhands who still bless the engines with coconut oil

Final Testament:
When they say "cruise history began in 1839 with white travel agencies"
We roll the waves like scrolls to reveal your truth:
The first paradise at sea had dreadlocked engineers
The original all-inclusive resort had no color lines
The real maiden voyage began when a Black mind said
"Let my people rest upon the waters"

Call:
Speak their names into the ship's horn:

• The stolen shipbuilders of Benin
• The Negro steamboat inventors erased from patents
• The Pullman porters who inspired luxury service
  Until the ocean spits back all our swallowed histories

Ashé to the deep dreamers!
Ase to the wave-changers!
Let the ships at last bear their true makers' names! ⚓🌍✊🏾