Latest / The Atlantic Slave Trade: Empire Built on Human Suffering — Fexingo History / The Fight to Stop the Slave Trade: The West Africa Squadron
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've covered a lot of ground on this show — the captives, the ships, the economies, the rebellions. But today I want to look at what happened after Britain made the slave trade illegal in 1807. Because you'd think that would be the end of it, right? But it took decades of naval patrols, gunboat diplomacy, and a whole lot of legal wrangling to actually try to stamp it out. Luna: I remember you mentioning the 1807 Abolition Act in an earlier episode. So Britain abolished it, but the trade went on? Lucas: Exactly. The Act made it illegal for British subjects to trade in enslaved people, and it banned the Royal Navy from transporting them. But other nations — Portugal, Spain, Brazil, the United States — had their own interests, and the trade continued, sometimes right under the British flag. So Parliament decided to back up the law with force. In 1808, they established the West Africa Squadron, a Royal Navy unit specifically tasked with patrolling the Atlantic coast of Africa and stopping slave ships. Luna: That sounds like a huge job. How big was the coast they had to cover? Lucas: We're talking thousands of miles, from present-day Senegal down to Angola. And at first, the squadron was tiny — maybe a handful of ships, often old and slow. They had to contend with disease, hostile locals, and the sheer difficulty of catching ships that were fast and knew the waters. Early on, it was almost symbolic. Lucas: One of the first commodores was George Ralph Collier. He took command in 1818, and he pushed for more resources, better ships, and more aggressive tactics. But he was also frustrated — he called the squadron 'a sort of disgrace' because of how few ships he had. Still, he managed to capture a number of vessels and helped set the precedent for how the squadron would operate. Luna: So what happened when they actually caught a slave ship? What did they do with the people on board? Lucas: That's where it gets complicated. They'd bring the ship to a port like Freetown in Sierra Leone, which was a British colony founded for freed people. There were courts — the Vice-Admiralty Court, and later the mixed commission courts — where the case would be judged. If the ship was condemned, the captives would be declared free, but 'free' in a very limited sense. They were often apprenticed to local settlers or put to work in the colony, and they didn't always have a path back to their homelands. Luna: That's more like a legal technicality than a rescue. Lucas: Yeah, and that's a point historians have debated. The squadron was supposed to liberate, but the reality was often harsh. Still, those courts were the first time an international legal framework said, this trade is illegal, and these are its consequences. It wasn't perfect, but it was a start. Lucas: And you know, thinking about how much time and expense went into building that squadron — it's a reminder that the work wasn't just about passing a law. It took real resources to enforce it. And that's kind of what keeps me going with this show — the fact that so much history is about that struggle to turn ideals into practice. It's why we put so much care into each episode. If you've gotten something from these conversations, a couple of dollars a month — you know, buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo — genuinely helps keep the whole thing ad-free and running. Every little bit makes a difference for me and Luna. Luna: Yeah, it really does. We're just two people, so even a small boost goes a long way. Lucas: So, back to the squadron. In the early years, the results were mixed. They captured some ships, but the trade actually expanded in the 1810s and 1820s, partly because the demand for enslaved labor in Brazil and Cuba was soaring. The squadron was outgunned and outmaneuvered. It wasn't until the 1830s and 1840s, when Britain negotiated treaties with Spain, Portugal, and Brazil, that the squadron got more teeth — and more ships. Luna: So what changed? Did they get faster ships or something? Lucas: Yes, exactly. They started using small, fast schooners and brigs that could outrun the slavers' ships. And they also got the right to stop and search vessels flying those flags if they were suspected of being slavers. That was a big deal legally. But the slavers adapted too — they built even faster clippers, sometimes called 'slavers' that could outrun the Navy. It became a kind of arms race on the high seas. Lucas: One of the most famous incidents was in 1837, when a British ship, the HMS Buzzard, caught a Spanish slaver called the Amistad — but that's a story for another episode. The point is, the squadron was becoming more effective, but the trade persisted, especially on the southern routes to Brazil and the Indian Ocean. Lucas: There was also the issue of the American flag. The Americans were reluctant to let the British stop their ships, so many slavers flew the Stars and Stripes as a shield. It wasn't until the 1840s and 1850s that the US agreed to joint patrols, and even then, it was a slow process. Luna: It sounds like a constant game of cat and mouse. Lucas: It really was. And there were also moral questions that the squadron's officers had to face. Some were abolitionists at heart, but others were just doing a job. And there were cases where crews were accused of mistreating the people they were supposed to be freeing. It wasn't always a clean operation. Lucas: By the 1850s, the squadron had grown to around 30 ships, and they were capturing hundreds of vessels a year. The trade was starting to break down. But it also pushed the trade to other regions — the Indian Ocean, for example, where Zanzibar became a new hub. So the squadron's success was real, but it was never complete. Luna: So in the end, did the squadron actually help end the Atlantic slave trade? Lucas: Most historians would say yes, it played a crucial role. By the time the Atlantic trade was finally suppressed in the 1860s, the West Africa Squadron had captured over 1,600 ships and freed tens of thousands of people. But it also came at a huge cost — over 1,500 British sailors died, mostly from disease. And there's a darker irony: the same empire that fought so hard to end the trade was still profiting from other forms of colonial exploitation. So it's a complex legacy. Lucas: But I think what I find most fascinating is that the squadron's existence forced nations to define what 'illegal' meant on the world's oceans. It was one of the first large-scale international human rights enforcement efforts. And it changed how we think about the responsibility of nations to intervene in atrocities beyond their borders. Luna: That's a big legacy. I never really thought about the enforcement side of abolition. Lucas: Right, and that's what we're digging into today — the practical, messy, human side of making a law real. It's not a clean story, but it's an important one. And it leads us to think about how we enforce our own moral commitments today. What do we actually do when we say 'never again'? Lucas: So next time you're on the water, maybe spare a thought for those sailors patrolling off West Africa. I'll have more on the specific battles and personalities in a future episode. But for now, I think we've covered the big picture. Luna: Thanks, Lucas. That was really eye-opening.