Francis William Jones Hurst (February 13, 1840 – July 21, 1902), a native of the British West Indies, was a major figure in the cross-Atlantic shipping business in the 19th century.

The War immediately threatened the thriving trade between cotton plantations in those states and markets in Europe, especially after the Union Navy established a blockade of Confederate ports.

[3] The Banshee made eight successful runs between the Bahamas and Wilmington, North Carolina, before being captured on its ninth voyage in November 1863.

[1] In 1866 –one year after the War ended with the Confederacy's surrender – Hurst settled in New York, where he became United States manager for the British-based National Steam-ship Company.

In testimony to a congressional committee in 1888, he described the company's emigrant passengers as English, Irish, and Scots, with some from Germany and northern Europe.