Casey Schmitt, assistant professor of history in the College of Arts and Sciences, has won the John R. Lyman Book Award in World Maritime History for 2025 from the North American Society for Oceanic History (NASOH) for “The Predatory Sea: Human Trafficking and Captivity in the Seventeenth-Century Caribbean,” (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2025).
Schmitt examines the way early modern racialized slavery emerged between 1570 and 1670 in the Caribbean, a century before the height of the Atlantic slave trade, through practices of captive-taking and human trafficking. “The Predatory Sea” offers the first full-length study of this deeply entangled history of captivity and colonialism.
“Receiving recognition from the NASOH for ‘The Predatory Sea’ was tremendously exciting,” Schmitt said. “The book covers worlds of maritime vulnerability and opportunism during the seventeenth century, and it was deeply rewarding to have my research recognized by experts in maritime history.”
In her research, Schmitt focuses on human trafficking, colonization and illicit economies over the course of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. She is particularly interested in tracing individuals who crossed imperial boundaries – by choice and by coercion – to understand how processes like colonialism, imperialism, slavery and trade functioned in the interstices of early modern empires.
The John Lyman book awards, named in honor of John R. Lyman, an oceanographer, maritime historian and a founder of NASOH, are given annually in eight categories.
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