Predator Of The Seas: The History Of The Slaveship That Fought For Emancipation, Taylor - B+

                  In 1807, the UK enacted the Act of Abolition banning the slave trade. Efforts to catch slavers generally failed because the Royal Navy's ships of the line were immeasurably slower than the slavers. 

                  The brig Henriqueta was built near Baltimore around 1820, and like all American ships, she was built for speed. She was purchased by a Brazilian, Jose Lima, who used it to successfully build up his slaver business. The Henriqueta was very fast, and was capable of holding over 500 humans, and transported 504 survivors on her first trip from Africa to Brazil. The brig continued to transport thousands of Africans each year and made Lima one of the richest men in Brazil. However, as the British became more and more frustrated with the continued high level of slaver activity, they decided to impound ships even if there was no contraband aboard. The Henriqueta adopted the ruse of flying under an American flag. She had delivered 3040 slaves to Brazil over six voyages. But, by virtue of a very lucky shot that dismasted her, her seventh was halted and over 500 Africanfreed. The ship was auctioned and purchased by an Englishman and soon was sailing for the Royal Navy as the Black Joke. Evidencing a change in policy, "she would be set free to cruise independently in battling the very atrocities she had enabled." In her first week, she captured a Spanish vessel headed to Cuba with 155 souls aboard. Their next success was a Brazilian with 695 slaves aboard, the largest capture in the history of the West African Squadron. Among the issues facing the squadron were fever, smallpox, and  violent weather.  They also faced the excruciating frustration of capturing slavers more than once. Oft times, the buyer at auction sailed the ships back to Brazil and sold them to the previous owner. They were fighting an uphill battle as slavers delivered far more of the enslaved to Brazil, Cuba and the Indies than ever before. The US did not cooperate in any way and more importantly, France was exempt from interference by virtue of a treaty. Thousands of Africans continued to pour into the New World.  In tropical water, a ship's wood often deteriorated and by 1831, the Black Joke was not what she once was. A heavily armed Spaniard, the Marienereto, vowed to sink her. Although "the scourge of Africa's oppressors" was fading, the Black Joke prevailed. A year later, the Admiralty decommissioned the ship and she was burnt on the shore at Sierra Leone.

            In 1833, Parliament abolished slavery in the colonies effective the following year, and in the Indies in 1838. The Royal Navy was able to end Brazil's trading in 1851. The British patrolled the African coast until 1867 and are believed to have saved 160,000 Africans from slavery. Nonetheless, it should be noted that prior to fighting slavery, the English in the 16th and 17th centuries, enslaved 3.2 million Africans, of whom an estimated 700,000 died in the Middle Passage.