An American professor has received a prestigious award for a book about Bermuda's sailors and slaves in the 18th century.

Historian Michael Jarvis, from the University of Rochester, will be presented with the American Historical Association's Rawley Prize at the association's annual meeting in January.

The award which honours a single recipient each year will go to Dr. Jarvis for his book 'In the Eye of All Trade: Bermuda, Bermudians, and the Maritime Atlantic World, 1680-1783'.

According to a story posted on the University of Rochester's website, the book has been greeted by scholars. Georgetown University historian Alison Games said it "will make it impossible for historians to ignore the island any longer".

While history professor Mia Bay, of Rutgers University, called the work "Atlantic history at its best" and applauded the study for bringing to light "the far-flung worlds of Bermuda's free and enslaved seafaring men and their families".

The book explores the social and economic history of 18th-century Bermuda through the eyes of local seafarers, the website said.

It also chronicles the lives of sailors and slaves who "shuttled cargoes between ports, raked salt, harvested timber, salvaged shipwrecks, hunted whales and smuggled contraband".

In order to write the book Dr. Jarvis spent nearly a decade immersing himself in the subject. He led a small field team in Smith's on an archeological dig and also spent 18 weeks on-board a traditional wooden schooner in 1998.

According to the website, he learned by doing and said: "I experienced the dynamics of shipboard life on a small vessel — standing watch in all weather, monotonous diet, the hard work of raising anchor and setting sail.

"I also came to appreciate the lack of privacy and personal space, the interpersonal camaraderie and tensions among shipmates, the sense of freedom when stepping ashore and, personally for me, the hardship of being parted from my family."

To read the full story go to www.rochester.edu and click on 'Headlines in the Newsroom'.