Africa Squadron
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Africa Squadron | |
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![]() A photograph of the sloop-of-war USSJamestown(date unknown). She captured two slave ships with the Africa Squadron. | |
Active | 1819–1861 |
Country | ![]() |
Branch | ![]() |
Type | Naval squadron |
Role | African Slave Trade Patrol |
TheAfrica Squadronwas a unit of the United States Navy that operated from 1819 to 1861 in theBlockade of Africato suppress theslave tradealong the coast of West Africa. However, the term was often ascribed generally toanti-slavery operationsduring the period leading up to theAmerican Civil War.
The squadron was an outgrowth of the 1819 treaty between the United States and the United Kingdom that was an early step in stopping the trade, and further defined by theWebster–Ashburton Treatyof 1842. Although technically coordinated with a BritishWest Africa Squadronbased inSierra Leone,in practice the American contingent worked on its own.
Matthew Perrywas the first commander of the squadron, and based himself inPortuguese Cape Verde.
The squadron was generally ineffective, since the ships were too few, and since much of the trading activity had shifted to theNiger Riverdelta area (present-dayNigeria), which was not being covered. In the two years of Perry's leadership, only one slaver was reported to have been captured, and that ship was later acquitted by aNew Orleanscourt. In the 16 years of squadron operation, only the crews of 19slave shipswent to trial. These slavers were acquitted or only lightly fined. Other commanders, however, were more successful.
African slave trade patrol
[edit]The Africa Squadron's cruising area eventually ranged fromCape Frioto the south (about 18 degrees south latitude), toMadeirain the north. However, the squadron's supply depot was inCape Verde archipelago,approximately 2,500 nautical miles (4,600 kilometers) from the northernmost centers of the slave trade in the Bight of Biafra and southward. The navy department did not move the depot location until 1859, when it was set up atSão Paulo de Luanda,inPortuguese Angola,about eight degrees south latitude. At the same time the department put Madeira out of bounds for the squadron.
The majority of the squadron's cruising in its first decade was along the coast of Western Africa, with particular attention toLiberianinterests. By the 1850s much of the slave trade in this area had been eliminated by the British, based in their colony atSierra Leone,as well as the Liberians.
This however, did not stop the board of directors of theAmerican Colonization Societyfrom writing the President of the United States to bolster the Africa Squadron's "fleet" in 1855 in accordance with theWebster-Ashburton treatyin an attempt to crack down on sailors and slavers use of sea-letters to claim American nationality in their attempt to further the slave trade on the African coast.[1]
Vessels seized
[edit]Africa Squadron
[edit]Vessel | Captor | Date | Location |
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Uncas | Porpoise | 1 March 1844 | Gallinas |
Spitfire | Truxtun | 24 March 1845 | Pongas R. |
Patuxent | Yorktown | 27 September 1845 | Cape Mount |
Pons | Yorktown | 30 September 1845 | Kabenda |
Merchant | Jamestown | 3 December 1845 | Sierra Leone |
Panther | Yorktown | 15 December 1845 | Kabenda |
Robert Wilson | Jamestown | 15 January 1846 | Porto Praya |
Malaga | Boxer | 13 April 1846 | Kabenda |
Casket | Marion | 2 August 1846 | Kabenda |
Chancellor | Dolphin | 10 April 1847 | Cape Palmas |
Excellent | John Adams | 23 April 1850 | Ambriz |
Martha | Perry | 6 June 1850 | Ambriz |
Chatsworth | Perry | 11 September 1850 | Ambriz |
Advance | Germantown | 3 November 1852 | Porto Praya |
R.P. Brown | Germantown | 23 January 1853 | Porto Praya |
H.N. Gambrill | Constitution | 3 November 1853 | Kongo |
Glamorgan | Perry | 10 March 1854 | Kongo |
W.G. Lewis | Dale | 6 November 1857 | Kongo |
Brothers | Marion | 8 September 1858 | Mayumba |
Julia Dean | Vincennes | 28 December 1858 | Cape Coast Castle |
Orion | Marion | 21 April 1859 | Kongo |
Ardennes | Marion | 27 April 1859 | Kongo |
Emily | Portsmouth | 21 September 1859 | Loango |
Delicia | Constellation | 21 September 1859 | Kabenda |
Virginian | Portsmouth | 6 February 1860 | Kongo |
Falmouth | Portsmouth | 6 May 1860 | Porto Praya |
Thomas Achorn | Mystic | 29 June 1860 | Kabenda |
Triton | Mystic | 16 July 1860 | Loango |
Erie | Mohican | 8 August 1860 | Kongo |
Storm King | San Jacinto | 8 August 1860 | Kongo |
Cora | Constellation | 26 September 1860 | Kongo |
Bonito | San Jacinto | 10 October 1860 | Kongo |
Express | Saratoga | 25 February 1861 | Possibly Loango |
Nightingale | Saratoga | 21 April 1861 | Kabenda |
Triton | Constellation | 20 May 1861 | Kongo |
Falmouth | Sumpter | 14 June 1861 | Kongo |
Source: Canney, D.L.,Africa Squadron,Potomac Books, 2006, pp. 233–234
See also
[edit]- Pacific Squadron
- Home Squadron
- West Indies Squadron
- Mediterranean Squadron
- Brazil Squadron
- North Atlantic Squadron
- East India Squadron
- Zanzibar slave trade
- Indian Ocean slave trade
- Red Sea slave trade
References
[edit]- ^Foote, Commander A.H. (1855).African Squadron: Ashburton Treaty: Consular Sea Letters.Philadelphia:Philadelphia: William G. Geddes.pp. 1–16.
Sources
[edit]- Richard Andrew Lobban Jr. and Peter Karibe Mendy,Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau,3rd ed. (Scarecrow Press, 1997ISBN0-8108-3226-7) pp. 66–68
- Canney, Donald L. (2006).Africa Squadron: The U.S. Navy and the Slave Trade, 1842–1861.Washington, D.C.: Potomac.ISBN9781597974646.
- Slavery in Africa
- United States Navy in the 19th century
- Ship squadrons of the United States Navy
- 19th century in Africa
- Military units and formations established in the 1840s
- 1843 establishments in the United States
- Military units and formations disestablished in 1861
- Abolitionism in Africa
- Anti-slavery military operations