Francisco Ferreira began working on ships in 1768, when he was only around 7 to 10 years old. If his father's surname is anything to go by, his master, José Ferreira de Azevedo, was probably also the master of his parents, Manoel Ferreira and Tereza de Oliveira. Born in Cabo Verde, Ferreira was a 'tall man, with a shock of hair, a high forehead, childlike features and black eyebrows'. He was able to write his name and performed the roles of servant and steward. ${ }^{8}$  
Although beginning work at a young age was common among freed and enslaved men, beginning at an older age was not unheard of, as freedmen often sought a new life and profession somewhere new, far away from their place of captivity. There are reports of men of an age advanced for the life expectancy at that time, particularly for the life expectancy of those in captivity. Francisco Pedro from the Brazilian state of Paraíba, for example, spent 60 of his 81 years of life as an on-board servant. ${ }^{9}$ Other older men performed younger men's jobs: Felix Rodrigues da Costa was a freedman who 'seemed' to be around 60 years old and made his second voyage, from Lisbon to Bahia, in 1767; Antonio de Sá, a freedman from the Bight of Benin, was around the same age and had over seven years of experience. ${ }^{10}$  
The involvement of enslaved people in the seafaring world from such a young age was not a decision made by the individuals themselves, but rather by their masters. For freedmen, entry into the world of maritime labour could have taken place while they were enslaved and still unable to freely choose their own destiny; if it had taken place once they had been freed, this entry could have stemmed from a desire to leave behind the site of their enslavement and to escape the gaze of their former masters.  
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