| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | Antelope |
| Builder | Freeport, Maine |
| Completed | 1802 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen | 112 (bm) |
Antelope was a slave ship that the United States captured in 1820 with more than 280 captive Africans aboard. It had been legally engaged in the African slave trade under the flag of Spain when it was taken over by a privateer at Cabinda. The legal case on the fate of the captured Africans, known as The Antelope , lasted for seven years, with some of the Africans being turned over as slaves to Spanish owners, while 120 were sent as free people to Liberia. Both the commandeering of the boat, as well as the ensuing trial, are the subject of the book Dark Places of the Earth, by Jonathan M. Bryant.
The importation of slaves into the United States became illegal in 1808, under the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves. That act did not include any effective penalties for violation, and did not specify what was to be done with illegally imported slaves. In practice, each state auctioned off such slaves and kept the proceeds. In 1819 the Act in Addition to the acts prohibiting the slave trade gave the President authority to use U.S. Navy and other armed ships to capture slave ships, and to see to the "safe-keeping, support and removal beyond the United States" of any Africans found on captured slave ships. [1]
Antelope was a ship of a little more than 112 tons burthen built in Freeport, Maine, in 1802. In 1809 she was sold to a foreign owner, and in 1819 she passed to a Spanish owner in Cadiz, who renamed her Fenix. The new owner of Antelope was licensed in August 1819 by the Spanish government of Cuba to trade for new slaves from Africa. In early March 1820 Antelope was at Cabinda loading African slaves when a privateer flying the flag of an unspecified Latin American republic (several of which were then rebelling against Spanish rule) accosted Antelope and seized goods and supplies and the best of the slaves from the ship. After the privateer left, Antelope resumed loading slaves. [2]
A hermaphrodite brig of a little less than 200 tons burthen named Baltimore, under the flag of the Venezuelan revolutionary Luis Brión, arrived in Baltimore in 1819. In December 1819 the ship, now named Columbia, sailed from Baltimore under a letter of marque issued by the Uruguayan revolutionary José Gervasio Artigas. The crew of Columbia had all sworn that they were not citizens of the United States, but a United States Revenue-Marine cutter removed four of the crewmen as U.S. citizens before escorting the ship out to sea. Once at sea the ship's name was changed to Arraganta. [3]
Arraganta boarded or chased American, British and Spanish ships on the way to Africa. In early 1820 Arraganta encountered the American registered brig Exchange, out of Bristol, Rhode Island, and seized at least 25 Africans that it was carrying. On March 23, 1820, Arraganta arrived at Cabinda, where it found Antelope and three ships flying the Portuguese flag, all loading African slaves. The crew of Arraganta captured the four ships, and loaded the Africans from the Portuguese ships onto Arraganta and Antelope. [4]
Antelope was renamed General Ramirez, and together with Arraganta sailed to Brazil, where Arraganta wrecked on the coast. Some of the crew and captive Africans on Arraganta were drowned or captured. The rest of the survivors were taken aboard Antelope, which sailed to Dutch Surinam, where the crew of Antelope tried unsuccessfully to sell the Africans, and then to Swedish St. Bartholomew, where the unarmed Antelope obtained cannon and supplies. Antelope then sailed to Florida (which was still Spanish at the time), loitering near St. Augustine while flying the American flag. Word of a suspicious ship reached St. Marys, Georgia, and the revenue cutter Dallas sailed in search of it. Dallas found Antelope sailing north near Amelia Island on June 29, 1820, and stopped it. [5]
The first mate of Dallas counted 281 living Africans, and two bodies, on Antelope. Noting that the crew were all English-speaking, and not satisfied with the explanations offered for the presence of Antelope in the area, Dallas arrested the captain and crew, and took the ship and its cargo to St. Marys. Crew, ship, and the Africans aboard it were subsequently moved to Savannah, Georgia. Richard W. Habersham, the United States District Attorney for Georgia, reported on July 19 that there were "about 270" Africans (nine of the Africans had died before reaching Savannah). The Africans were placed in the custody of John Morel, United States Marshall for the District of Georgia. Morel reported in early August that he had received 258 Africans. No explanation for the discrepancy was offered. Marshall Morel confined the Africans in an open area at the Savannah race course, which became known as the "African encampment". [6]
John Smith, former first mate of Arraganta and captain of Antelope after she was captured by the privateer, was prosecuted for piracy, but acquitted. He then filed a claim for the return of Antelope and her cargo as a legitimate prize taken by a licensed privateer. Claims for ownership of the Africans were filed on behalf of the Kings of Portugal and Spain, while Richard Habersham filed a claim to place the Africans, as free persons under the provisions of the 1819 Act in Addition to the acts prohibiting the slave trade, into the custody of the United States. [7]
The case eventually reached the United States Supreme Court in 1825. Francis Scott Key had urged it to take the case and argued on behalf of the United States government that all the captives should be freed and returned to Africa. The justices partly agreed with Key and Attorney General William Wirt and rejected the claims of John Smith and the King of Portugal. [8] However, four justices were also slaveowners and awarded some of the Africans as slaves to Spanish owners. Chief Justice John Marshall remarked that the international slave trade, while against the law of nature, was not piracy nor contrary to international law of the day. The highest American court ultimately found ownership had only been established for 93 captives, and so directed that 120 be returned to Africa. [9] The 120 freed Africans were sent to Liberia in July 1827, where they founded the colony of New Georgia. [10]
New Georgia is a township in Montserrado County, Liberia that was first settled by Africans who had been taken from slave ships that were seized or wrecked near the United States, then sent to Liberia after several years had passed.
Port au Prince was built in France in 1790. The British Royal Navy captured her in 1793 off Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Her original name was General Dumourier; her new owners named her for her place of capture. She became a letter of marque, slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people, and privateer cum whaler. In 1806 she anchored at a Tongan island where the local inhabitants massacred most of her crew and then scuttled her.
The Antelope, 23 U.S. 66 (1825), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States considered, for the first time, the legitimacy of the international slave trade, and determined "that possession on board of a vessel was evidence of property".
African Slave Trade Patrol was part of the Blockade of Africa suppressing the Atlantic slave trade between 1819 and the beginning of the American Civil War in 1861. Due to the abolitionist movement in the United States, a squadron of U.S. Navy warships and cutters were assigned to catch slave traders in and around Africa. In 42 years about 100 suspected slave ships were captured.
The West Indies Anti-Piracy Operations were a series of military operations and engagements undertaken by the United States Navy against pirates in and around the Antilles. Between 1814 and 1825, the American West Indies Squadron hunted pirates on both sea and land, primarily around Cuba and Puerto Rico. After the capture of Roberto Cofresi in 1825, acts of piracy became rare, and the operation was considered a success, although limited occurrences went on until slightly after the start of the 20th century.
Numerous ships have sailed under the name Antelope. Notable ones include:
Kingsmill was a French vessel launched in 1793 under a different name, captured in 1798, and sold to British owners who renamed her. She then became a slave ship, making three voyages from Africa to the West Indies in the triangular trade in enslaved people. A French privateer captured her in 1804, but she returned to her owners within the year. In 1807, after the end of British participation in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, Kingsmill became a West Indiaman. In 1814 she became the first ship to trade with India under a license from the British East India Company (EIC) after the EIC lost its monopoly on British trade with India. She was badly damaged in 1821 and subsequently disappears from the registers.
Antelope was launched at Nantes in 1804 under another name. The British captured her and the High Court of Admiralty condemned her on 1 June 1807. She sailed to the Pacific, possibly as a whaler, where she captured a Spanish vessels. In 1811 she made one voyage to India for the British East India Company. She next traded with South America and the Mediterranean. A United States privateer captured her in 1814, but the Royal Navy quickly recaptured her. She was probably broken up circa 1824.
Barton was launched in Bermuda, probably in 1799, and built of Bermuda cedar. She first appeared in registers under the Barton name in 1801 as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. The French captured her in 1803 before she had delivered the captives she had purchased for her second voyage. She returned to British ownership but her whereabouts between 1804 and 1810 are obscure. In 1811, she was again captured by a French privateer, which however gave her up. She grounded on 27 April 1819 at the entrance to the Sierra Leone River and was wrecked.
Lord Nelson was launched in 1798 at Liverpool and subsequently made five voyages carrying enslaved people from West Africa to the West Indies in the triangular trade in enslaved people. On her first voyage she helped suppress a revolt on another vessel by that vessel's captives. This gave rise to an interesting case in salvage money. A French naval squadron captured Lord Nelson off Sierra Leone on her sixth voyage, before she had embarked any captives.
Bellona was built in Spain in 1797 and was taken in prize circa late 1804. She made one voyage as a privateer, sailing from Liverpool to the River Plate area. On her return she made a voyage as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She was wrecked as she was coming back into Liverpool after having delivered her captives to Charleston.
Agreeable was launched at Bermuda in 1786, probably under a different name. French owners acquired her at some point and sailed her as Agréable. In 1793 the British captured her. Subsequently, between 1793 and 1808, she made six voyages as a slave ship, alternating between the triangular trade in enslaved people, and sailing as a regular West Indiaman. French privateers captured her between the second and third voyages, and the third and fourth voyages, but each time the British Royal Navy recaptured her. In the case of the second capture she was in French hands long enough for them to send her out as a privateer. She herself captured an American vessel in 1808 as she was returning to Liverpool from her last enslaving voyage. After the end of British participation in trans-Atlantic enslaving trade, Agreeable traded more widely, particularly to South America. She was condemned at Buenos Aires in 1814 after running aground in the River Plate. She was repaired and continue to sail to Brazil until she returned to Liverpool in June 1819.
Reimsdyke was launched at Batavia in 1796. She was taken in prize in 1797 and became a British West Indiaman. In 1801 she became a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She made one complete voyage. In 1803 the Royal Navy captured her on her second voyage as she was sailing under the colours of the Batavian Republic and she was condemned in prize. She drifted out to sea after her capture and disappeared with over 200 captives still aboard.
Elizabeth was launched at Liverpool in 1798. She made five complete voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. Spanish privateers captured her in 1805 while she was on her sixth voyage after she had embarked enslaved people and took her into Montevideo.
Clarendon was launched in France in 1788, under another name. She was taken in prize in 1804. In 1805, Clarendon began a voyage as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people but fell prey to Spanish privateers after she had embarked captives.
Rebecca was launched at Charleston in 1802, possibly under another name. She first appeared in online British sources in 1805. In 1805, Rebecca began a voyage as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people but fell prey to Spanish privateers after she had embarked captives.
Brothers was launched in 1782 at Liverpool as a Guineaman. She made seven complete voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. A French privateer captured her in 1795, on her eighth voyage after she had embarked her captives. In a highly unusual move, the privateer sold Brothers and the captives she was carrying to the master of a Spanish vessel that the privateer had captured. The purchaser then took Brothers into Havana.
Golden Age was launched at Havana in 1779, almost certainly under another name. She was taken in prize circa 1783. From late 1783 she sailed from Liverpool as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She made four complete voyages. On her third her captives rebelled, but were unsuccessful. A French private frigate captured her in 1793 after she had disembarked her captives from her fifth enslaving voyage. Her captors took her into Philadelphia where she was sold to a French owner who named her Republican, and sailed her to France.
The importation of slaves from overseas to the United States was prohibited in 1808, but criminal trafficking of enslaved people on a smaller scale likely continued for many years. The most intensive periods of piracy were in the 1810s, before the U.S. Congress passed laws with massive fines and penalties including execution for illegal importers, and in the 1850s, when pro-slavery activists decided that the solution to rapid inflation in slave prices was simply to flood the market with humans abducted from across the ocean.
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