Daniel Drayton

Daniel Drayton was an American sea captain, writer, and abolitionist. He is chiefly remembered for his role in the Pearl incident of 1848, when he and Edward Sayres helped 77 enslaved people attempt to escape from Washington, D.C., by schooner. The attempt failed, and Drayton was arrested and convicted for aiding the escape.

He later wrote Personal Memoir of Daniel Drayton, for Four Years and Four Months a Prisoner (for Charity's Sake) in Washington Jail (1855). Published by the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, the book tells his side of the Pearl story and describes his imprisonment in Washington after the capture.

Today, Drayton is remembered less as a literary figure than as a firsthand witness to one of the most dramatic antislavery episodes of the era. His memoir remains valuable for readers interested in abolition, resistance to slavery, and the lived history behind the Pearl escape attempt.