| Charlie White | |
| Fictional Character | |
| Southern Victory POD: September 10, 1862 | |
| Appearance(s): | American Front through Blood and Iron |
| Type of Appearance: | Direct |
| Nationality: | United States |
| Race: | Negro |
| Occupation: | Cook, Fisherman, Navy sailor |
| Military Branch: | United States Navy |
Charles "Charlie" White was a Negro cook aboard the F/V Ripple, serving with George Enos before and early into the Great War.[1] When the Ripple was captured by a Confederate commerce raider in 1915, Charlie was poorly treated and verbally abused by CS Naval personnel.[2]
After the Ripple's crew were repatriated to Massachusetts, Charlie and George joined the US Navy. Initially, they served together on the steam trawler Spray which was used as a decoy to attract Confederate raiders. Hidden underwater was a submersible which would deal with the raider while it concentrated on the fishing boat. The crew succeeded once, with the towed Bluefin torpedoing a Confederate submersible.[3]
However, widespread publicity of the event made Confederate forces much more cautious with only one more successful sinking on the West Coast early in the program. The US Navy decided to cancel the program and reassigned White to serve as a cook on a warship based in San Diego.[4] Charlie became the senior cook aboard a US Navy ship, quite an accomplishment for a black man at the time.
While most of the crew shared their country's prejudices against blacks, the crew also viewed Charlie as one of their own, and were quite protective of him.[5]
