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ABSTRACT
In early November 1845, sailors from H.M.S. Alert boarded an unnamed vessel off Cape Lopez, Gabon, Africa. Inside its hold they found fifty-eight shackled Africans. Placing a prize crew on the slaver, Commander Charles Bosanquet requested that Lieutenant Noel K. Wasey sail the captured ship to Freetown, Sierra Leone, for adjudication. Facing difficult winds and currents, Wasey shifted course, destination São Luis, Maranhão, Brazil. In January 1846, the captured schooner ran aground in the port of São Luis. Learning of its arrival, a gang of traffickers kidnapped the Africans and transported them to the interior of the province as slaves. Documents preserved in Brazil and England provide insights into the lives and escapes of four of the Africans. The events at Maranhão shed light on key variables that contributed to ending the slave traffic to Brazil in the early 1850s.
Acknowledgements
The author wishes to thank the staffs at the National Archives of Brazil, The Public Archive of the State of Bahia, The National Archives of the United Kingdom, University of Idaho College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences Research Fellowship in the Humanities and Performing Arts, Anani Dzidzienyo, Roquinaldo Ferreira, Flávio dos Santos Gomes, Andrew Kersten, Paul Lovejoy, Beatriz Mamigonian, John Rankin, João José Reis, Mariana Lambert Passos Rocha, Renato da Silveira, Carlos Eugênio Líbano Soares, Manuel Barcia and two anonymous readers for Atlantic Studies.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Note on Contributor
Dale T. Graden is Professor of History at the University of Idaho. He is the author of From Slavery to Freedom in Brazil: Bahia, 1835–1900 (University of New Mexico Press, 2006) and Disease, Resistance, and Lies: The Demise of the Transatlantic Slave Trade to Brazil and Cuba (Louisiana State University Press, 2014).
Notes
1 Commander of the Alert Charles John Bosanquet to Lieutenant Edward Frodsham Noel K. Wasey. At sea off coast of West Africa, 1 November 1845, National Archives of the United Kingdom (hereafter TNA), Foreign Office (hereafter FO), Record Group 84, microfilm roll 633.
2 Wasey to Rear Admiral Samuel Inglefield, São Luis, 8 February 1846, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil, Itamaraty Historic Archive (at Rio de Janeiro; hereafter AHI), Communiqués of Great Britain, 284/4/2; Deposition of African Fernando. Police Barracks at São Luis, 25 October 1848. TNA: FO, 84/766. For a description of the difficulties of sailing or paddling north along the west coast of Africa, see Brooks, The Kru Mariner, 24.
3 British Consul Robert Falconer Corbett to president of Maranhão João José de Moura Magalhães. São Luis, 3 January 1846. TNA: FO, 84/633.
4 For a macro-history of health issues related to the traffic, see Barcia, The Yellow Demon.
5 Wasey to Rear Admiral Samuel Inglefield, São Luis, 8 February 1846. AHI: 284/4/2. It is striking the different recollections penned by Corbett and Wasey of the arrival into the port of São Luis of the captured slaver. It would appear that Corbett claimed the vessel arrived on Saturday afternoon (3 January) rather than on Friday (2 January) as a way to enhance his image and overlook his original panic and refusal to act.
6 Corbett to British envoy Hamilton Hamilton. São Luis, 2 February 1846. TNA: FO, 84/633.
7 Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonio Paulino Limpo de Abreu to Hamilton. Rio de Janeiro, 25 February 1846. TNA: FO, 84/633; Hamilton to Abreu. Rio de Janeiro, 1 March 1846. TNA: FO, 84/633. See also Hamilton to Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Lord Aberdeen. Rio de Janeiro, 24 April 1846. TNA: FO, 84/633.
8 Abreu to Hamilton. Rio de Janeiro, 25 February 1846. TNA: FO, 84/633.
9 Hamilton to Abreu. Rio de Janeiro, 1 March 1846. TNA: FO, 84/633. See also Hamilton to Aberdeen. Rio de Janeiro, 24 April 1846. TNA: FO, 84/633 and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Viscount Palmerston to Hudson. London, 18 April 1847. Foreign Office, General, Correspondence from Brazil. TNA: Record Group 128, microfilm roll 46.
10 Assunção, De caboclos a bem-te-vis, 180; Hawthorne, From Africa to Brazil, 137–172.
11 See Brooks, The Kru Mariner, 34. See also Clarke, Sketches of the Sierra Leone, 355. “The Kroo national mark is a black stripe, extending from the forehead along the ridge of the nose. At the outer angle of each eye are similar short horizontal lines. The body is often tattooed with figures of stars, and the figure of an anchor is sometimes traced upon their arms, in imitation of the English seaman with whom they associate.”
12 Corbett to Palmerston. São Luis, 29 February 1848. TNA: FO, 84/727.
13 Interview with Black Will. São Luis, 1 January 1848. TNA: FO, 84/727.
14 Corbett to Palmerston. São Luis, 15 February 1848. TNA: FO, 84/727.
15 Palmerston to Corbett. London, 4 September 1848. TNA: FO, 84/727. See also Palmerston to Corbett. London, 31 December 1848. TNA: FO, 84/727; and Palmerston to British envoy James Hudson. London, 26 January 1849. TNA: FO, 84/765.
16 Statement of Antonio José da Cunha, Lieutenant Coronel and Commanding Officer. São Luis, 7 October 1848. TNA: FO, 84/766.
17 Corbett to Hudson. São Luis, 14 November 1848. TNA: FO, 84/765.
18 Deposition of African Alexandre. Police Barracks at São Luis, 14 October 1848. TNA: FO, 84/766. Original translation in the document with edits by author.
19 Deposition of African Fernando. Police Barracks at São Luis, 25 October 1848. TNA: FO, 84/766. Original translation in the document with edits by author.
20 See Assunção, De caboclos, 219.
21 Deposition of African Fernando. Police Barracks at São Luis, 25 October 1848. TNA: FO, 84/766.
22 Ibid.
23 Hudson to Palmerston. Rio de Janeiro, 15 December 1846. TNA: FO, 84/634.
24 Foreign Minister Bento da Silva Lisboa (Baron of Cairu) to James Hudson. Rio de Janeiro, 25 January 1847. TNA: FO, 128/47; Foreign Minister Saturnino de Sousa e Oliveira Coutinho to Hudson. Rio de Janeiro, 16 August 1847. TNA: FO, 128/47.
25 Corbett to Hudson. São Luis, 14 November 1848. TNA: FO, 84/765; Corbett to Hudson. São Luis, 21 March 1847. TNA: FO 84/678; Hudson to Palmerston. Rio de Janeiro, 24 June 1847. TNA: FO, 84/678; Palmerston to Hudson. London, 24 September 1847. TNA: FO, 128/46.
26 Saturnino de Sousa e Oliveira to Howden. Rio de Janeiro, 16 August 1847. TNA: FO, 84/47.
27 Power of Attorney on behalf of Hermenegildo da Costa Nunes, signed by notary Antonio Alves de Noronha. Caxias, 1 December 1848. TNA: FO, 84/766.
28 Second Petition from Solicitor José Pedro dos Santos on behalf of Hermenegildo da Costa Nunes. São Luis, 15 February 1849. TNA: FO, 84/766; Third Petition from Solicitor José Pedro dos Santos on behalf of Hermenegildo da Costa Nunes. São Luis, 21 February 1849. TNA: FO, 84/766.
29 Corbett to Mathias José Pereira. São Luis, 6 February and 6 March 1849. TNA: FO, 84/766.
30 Palmerston to Hudson. London, 4 April 1850. TNA: FO, 84/801; Palmerston to Hudson. London, 22 September 1851. TNA: FO, 84/842; Hudson to Paulino de Sousa. Rio de Janeiro, 8 November 1851. TNA: FO, 84/847.
31 President Eduardo Olimpio Machado to Vice Consul Guilherme (William) Wilson. São Luis, 5 March 1852. TNA: FO, 84/878; Wilson to British consul Henry Southern. São Luis, 8 March 1852. TNA: FO, 84/878; Wilson to Southern. São Luis, 25 March 1852. TNA: FO, 84/878; Southern to Malmsbury. Rio de Janeiro, 26 April 1851. TNA: FO, 84/878; Wilson to Paulino de Sousa. São Luis, 13 November 1851. TNA: FO, 84/849.
32 Borroughs, “Suppression of the Atlantic Slave Trade.”
33 Bethell, “The Mixed Commissions for the Suppression of the Transatlantic Slave Trade,” 91–92; Nelson, “Liberated Africans in the Atlantic World.”
34 For background, see Scanlan, Freedom’s Debtors.
35 Descriptions and protests abound in the diplomatic correspondence. As examples, see British consul at Bahia Charles Weiss to President José Egydio Gordilho de Barbuda. Salvador, 18 February 1829, Public Archive of the State of Bahia (hereafter APEB), British correspondence with President, package 1189; Ouseley to Minister of Foreign Affairs Aureliano Coutinho. Rio de Janeiro, 8 May 1841. TNA: FO, 128/36; Cowper to Aberdeen. Recife, 30 September 1843. TNA: FO, 84/470; Hamilton to Paulino de Sousa. Rio de Janeiro, 10 January 1844. Foreign Office, Miscellanea, Brazil, Record Group 131, microfilm roll 9. In the words of British envoy James Hudson, “We must view the ports of Brazil as hostile ports.” British envoy James Hudson to Commodore Thomas Herbert. Rio de Janeiro, 4 December 1848. TNA: FO, 84/726.
36 Hudson to Palmerston. Rio de Janeiro, 24 March 1849. TNA: FO, 84/765.
37 Hudson to Palmerston. Rio de Janeiro, 10 July 1849. TNA: FO, 84/765.
38 Commander Grey Skipwith to Rear Admiral Reynolds. Rio de Janeiro, 17 October 1849. TNA: FO, 84/766. See also Skipwith to Commodore Herbert, on board steam sloop Hydra. Santos, 17 July 1849. TNA: FO, 84/765 who describes the capture of the slaver Fidalga by H.M.S. Hydra off Santos; Porter to Palmerston. Salvador, 23 August 1849. TNA: FO, 84/767 presents a description of the capture of the “notorious slave schooner Andorinha” off Bahia; Viscount Olinda to Hudson. Rio de Janeiro, 3 September 1849. TNA: FO, 84/766 protests against British aggressions.
39 Foreign Minister Paulino José Soares de Sousa to Hudson. Rio de Janeiro, 16 April 1850. TNA: FO, 84/803. See also Paulino de Sousa to Hudson. Rio de Janeiro, 28 January 1851. TNA: FO, 84/843 and Hudson to Palmerston. Rio de Janeiro, 11 February 1851. TNA: FO, 84/843. Slaves on board the Santa Cruz “concerted a plan to recover their liberty” previous to landing the previous December 1849. “Seven of their number were mercilessly flogged to death on board.” Hudson to Palmerston. 20 February 1850. TNA: FO, 84/802.
40 Hudson to Paulino de Sousa. Rio de Janeiro, 16 April 1850. TNA: FO, 84/803.
41 Hudson to Palmerston. Rio de Janeiro, 27 July 1850. TNA: FO, 84/805.
42 Bethell, The Abolition of the Brazilian Slave Trade, 327–363.
43 Hudson to Paulino de Sousa. Rio de Janeiro, 11 January 1851. TNA: FO, 84/843. British seizures of suspected slavers within Brazilian territorial waters continued until revocation in June 1852.
44 Hudson to Palmerston. Rio de Janeiro, 15 March 1851. TNA: FO, 84/844. Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Data Base accessible on line at https://www.slavevoyages.org/ (hereafter TAST), voyage 4930. See also Commander Edward Tatham of H.M.S. Geyser, “Observations on the Barracoons on the coast of Brazil. Between Santos and Marambaya.” 6 April 1851. TNA: FO, 84/844.
45 Commander Thomas George Drake of HMS Conflict, on board the Conflict. Rio de Janeiro, 29 January 1851. TNA: FO, 84/843.
46 Porter to Hudson. Salvador, 28 January 1851. TNA: FO, 84/848; Chief of Police João Mauricio Wanderley to President Francisco Gonçalves Martins. Salvador, 18 November 1851. APEB, package 5709; Verger, Fluxo e refluxo, 434–438.
47 Huzzey, Freedom Burning, 44–46.
48 See Martinez, The Slave Trade and the Origins of International Human Rights Law. For a helpful map of locations of Mixed Commission Courts and British Vice-Admiralty Courts, see Huzzey, Freedom Burning, 48.
49 Ouseley to Monteiro. Rio de Janeiro, 15 January 1839. TNA: FO, 128/31. See also Ouseley to Palmerston. Rio de Janeiro, 21 August 1838. TNA: FO, 84/254; Palmerston to Ouseley. London, 21 August 1841. TNA: FO, 128/34; Hamilton to Carneiro Leão. Rio de Janeiro, 7 April 1843, TNA: FO, 131/6; Paulino de Sousa to Hamilton. Rio de Janeiro, 28 November 1843. TNA: FO, 131/6 and rebuke, Hamilton to Paulino de Sousa. Rio de Janeiro, 23 December 1843. TNA: FO, 131/6. See Linebaugh and Rediker, The Many-Headed Hydra, 143–162; 241–247.
50 Mamigonian, Africanos livres, 278–283; Palmerston to Hudson. London, 5 July 1851. TNA: FO, 84/842.
51 Mamigonian, Africanos livres, 222.
52 Williams, “A necessária distinção entre liberdade e emancipação,” 151–170. See also Aberdeen to Mixed Commission Judges. London, 9 August 1845. TNA: FO, 128/34; Hesketh to Hudson. Rio de Janeiro, 30 September 1851. TNA: FO, 84/847.
53 Troutman, “Grapevine in the Slave Market.”
54 Bethell, The Abolition of the Brazilian Slave Trade, 316–319.
55 British ambassador Stephen Henry Fox to Foreign Secretary Duke of Wellington. Rio de Janeiro, 25 March 1835. TNA: FO, 128/20; President Aureliano de Souza e Oliveira Coutinho to Minister of Justice José Antonio Pimenta Bueno. Rio de Janeiro, 21 March 1848. National Archives of Brazil (hereafter BNA), Gifi series, package 17.1-5F-338. See Reis, Rebelião escrava no Brasil.
56 Camargo, “1848: o grande medo senhorial.” For an overview of the debate related to slave resistance and the end of the slave trade to Brazil, see Mamigonian, Africanos livres, 209–233 and Pirola, Escravos e rebeldes nos tribunais do império, 153–158.
57 Howden to Palmerston. Rio de Janeiro, 20 March 1848. TNA: FO, 84/725. For concerns in Rio de Janeiro, see Chief of police Antonio Simoens da Silva to Eusébio de Queirós. Rio de Janeiro, 2 December 1849. BNA, Secretary of Police, package IJ 6 212. See Araújo, “Desafiando a escravidão,” 140–232.
58 “A indústria de saveiros,” O argos cachoeirano (Cachoeira). 9 November 1850, p. 2. See also George Jackson to Palmerston. Rio de Janeiro, 5 March 1836. TNA: FO, 84/198; President João Magalhães to Minister of Justice José Pimenta Bueno. Salvador, 2 and 11 March 1848. BNA: Justiça, IJ 1 710; Municipal Council of the city of Salvador to Imperial Chamber of Deputies. “Representations on the Subject of the Traffic,” published in Correio Mercantil, Salvador, 3 August 1850. TNA: FO, 84/802; Porter to Palmerston. Salvador, 18 November 1850. TNA: FO, 84/808.
59 Hudson to Palmerston. Rio de Janeiro, 8 May 1848. TNA: FO, 13/258; Hudson to Palmerston. Rio de Janeiro, 5 August 1848. TNA: FO, 84/726; Camara, Questão do Tráfico, 20. The English translation of the speech is at FO 84:879; Graden, From Slavery to Freedom, 33–40.
60 Parron, “The British Empire,” 19–22. See also “Speech by Former Minister of Justice Euzebio de Queiroz Coitinho to Chamber of Deputies.” Rio de Janeiro, 16 July 1852. TNA: FO, 84/879.
61 Viotti da Costa, The Brazilian Empire, 1–77.
62 Adams, “The Abolition of the Brazilian Slave Trade.”
63 Mamigonian, Africanos livres. See Robert Hesketh and John Morgan to Hudson. Rio de Janeiro, 1 November 1846. TNA: FO, 128/45; Hudson to Rear Admiral Reynolds. Rio de Janeiro, 3 February 1850. TNA: FO, 84/801.
64 A few Brazilian judges contributed to the mounting pressures by siding with African slaves who sought their freedom claiming they had been transported to Brazil after the 1831 law. See interim Chief of police Nicolas de Silva Lisboa to Minister of Justice Manoel Antonio Galvão. Rio de Janeiro, 18 March 1845. BNA: IJ 6 203; Sebastião Machado Nunes to Minister of Justice Eusébio de Queirós. Rio de Janeiro, 18 October 1848. BNA: IJ 1 450.
65 Samo and Grigg to Hamilton. Rio de Janeiro, 17 December 1842. TNA: FO, 84/398.
66 Carneiro de Campos to Aureliano de Souza Oliveira Coutinho. Rio de Janeiro, 29 December 1842. TNA: FO, 84/398.
67 Hudson to Paulino de Sousa. Rio de Janeiro, 26 April 1850. TNA: FO, 84/803; Hudson to Palmerston. Rio de Janeiro, 11 November 1850. TNA: FO, 84/807.
68 Hudson to Palmerston. Rio de Janeiro, 13 September 1851. TNA: FO, 84/847. Decision signed by Emperor Pedro II and Eusébio de Queirós Mattoso Camara, Rio de Janeiro, 2 August 1851. See also Pessoa, “O comércio negreiro na clandestinidade.”
69 Hudson to Palmerston. Rio de Janeiro, 11 December 1851. TNA: FO, 84/847. TAST, Voyage 4927. Rodrigues, O infame comércio, 186–201.
70 Petition of Joaquim Nicolau de Brito to the British Minister, Protector of the Liberated Africans of this Corte. Rio de Janeiro, 15 January 1851, in Hudson to Palmerston. Rio de Janeiro, 11 February 1851. TNA: FO, 84/843.
71 Hudson to Palmerston. Rio de Janeiro, 11 February 1851. TNA: FO, 84/843.
72 Mamigonian, “Os direitos dos libertos africanos”; Reis, Ganhadores.
73 Hudson to Palmerston. Rio de Janeiro, 14 August 1851. TNA: FO, 84/842.
74 Southern to Granville. Rio de Janeiro, 11 March 1852. TNA: FO, 84/878.
75 Most likely TAST voyage number 3771. The slaver Maria departed Bahia in 3 November 1847 and returned in 8 January 1848, where it disembarked 650 slaves.
76 Deposition of Thomas Hadden. Rio de Janeiro, 29 November 1850. AHI: 284/4/3.
77 Hudson to Paulino de Sousa. Rio de Janeiro, 9 December 1850. AHI: 284/4/3.
78 Paulino de Sousa to Hudson. Rio de Janeiro, 31 December 1850. AHI: 290/3/19; Hudson to Palmerston. Rio de Janeiro, 11 February 1851. TNA: FO, 84/843.
79 Paulino de Sousa to Hudson. Rio de Janeiro, 24 October 1850. TNA: FO, 84/807. Hudson to Paulino de Sousa. Rio de Janeiro, 16 April 1850. TNA: FO, 84/803. See also Hudson to Palmerston. Rio de Janeiro, 12 May 1850. TNA: FO, 84/803.
80 Bradley, commander of the Crescent, “Particulars respecting five African British Subjects sent by Her Majesty’s Legation in Brazil from the Crescent on board the British brig Salonica for conveyance to Demerara.” Rio de Janeiro, 2 February 1852. TNA: FO, 84/878.
81 Couceiro, Bumerangue encapsulado, 18–19, 48–49.
82 Azevedo, Orfeu de Carapinha; Azevedo, O direito dos escravos; Grinberg, Liberata; Cowling, Conceiving Freedom; Abreu, “Slave Mothers”; Silva, “Caminhos e descaminhos.”
83 Hudson to Palmerston. Rio de Janeiro, 18 February 1850. TNA: FO, 13/274. See description of corruption of “publick [sic] functionaries” at Victoria that allowed the departure of the slaver Dianna in Aberdeen to Hamilton. London, 6 May 1846. TNA: FO, 128/45.
84 Thomas Gregory and Edward Fitzgerald to Marquis of Londonderry. Freetown, 8 September 1822. TNA: FO, 131/1.
85 Howden to Saturnino de Sousa e Oliveira. Rio de Janeiro, 20 October 1847. TNA: FO, 13/245.
86 Ouseley to Monteiro. Rio de Janeiro, 15 January 1839. TNA: FO, 128/31. See Eltis, Economic Growth and Drescher, The Mighty Experiment.
87 Bethell, The Abolition of the Brazilian Slave Trade.
88 Eltis, Economic Growth and Huzzey, “The Politics of Slave-Trade Suppression.”
89 Drescher, Capitalism and Antislavery; Drescher, The Mighty Experiment; Hochschild, Bury the Chains.
90 Chalhoub, Cidade febril; Graden, Disease, Resistance, and Lies.
91 Slenes, “Malungu, ngoma vem!”; Slenes, “A árvore de Nsanda transplantada”; Mamigonian, Aficanos livres.
92 Ferreira, The Cost of Freedom.
93 Mamigonian, Africanos livres.
94 Needell, The Party of Order; Parron, A política da escravidão.
95 Parron, “The British Empire.”
96 Huzzey, Freedom Burning, 132–147; Temperley, “Anti-Slavery as Cultural Imperialism.”
97 Huzzey, Freedom Burning, 1–4, 141–145. See also the helpful map in Eltis and Richardson, “Slave-Ship Captures,” 284–285. See also Hudson to Paulino de Sousa. Rio de Janeiro, 5 April 1851, FO 84:844.
98 Gallagher and Robinson, “The Imperialism of Free Trade.” See also DuBois, Dusk of Dawn, 577, 583–584.
99 Hudson to Palmerston. Rio de Janeiro, 5 August 1848. TNA: FO, 84/726. For insightful perspectives on bias in Brazil and the United States, see British consul H. Augustus Cowper to Foreign Minister Earl of Malmsbury. Recife, 6 May 1852. TNA: FO, 84/880.
100 See Andrews et.al., “The West was Built on Racism”; Durkin, “DNA Scientist James Watson”; DuBois, Dusk of Dawn, 625–680; Conceição, Negritude favelada; Guimarães, Racismo e anti-racismo no Brasil; Fischer et.al., “Law, Silence, and Racialized Inequalities.”