Mar 30, 2023 - Sale 2631

Sale 2631 - Lot 3

Price Realized: $ 2,250
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,200 - $ 1,800
(SLAVERY & ABOLITION.) Correspondence regarding the delivery of the American slave ship Sarah Ann to justice. 7 Letters Signed by various parties to Midshipman James C. Williamson of the United States Navy. Each one or two pages, various sizes; folds, minimal wear. Various places, March to May 1840
Set Alert for Similar Items

Additional Details

The schooner Sarah Ann sailed out of New Orleans under an American captain, fitted out with irons and slave decks in preparation for an illegal slaving expedition. The ship was captured in a creek along the coast of Africa by the British Navy and brought to Sierra Leone, where it was turned over with its crew to the USS Grampus of the United States Navy's North Atlantic Squadron (see the New York Daily Herald of 13 May 1840). The ship and two of its crew were then entrusted to James Cara Williamson (1813-1871) of Jersey City, NJ, a passed midshipman aboard the Grampus. He was assigned to bring the Sarah Ann back to the United States as a prize.

Offered here are 7 letters to Williamson from superior officers regarding this mission. They begin on 18 March 1840 in Sierra Leone with a letter from Lt. Paine of the USS Grampus: "You will receive from the British officer in charge the schooner Sarah Ann and proceed with all expedition to prepare her for sea. You will take care that Ramon Front the master and Albert Slater do not escape, taking them with you to the U. States." Four days later, Paine elaborated, spelling out the route to Boston, and warning that the prisoners should be treated with great caution: "Allow no communication between your prisoners and other persons. . . . Keep your prisoners in irons at night, and only allow one to be at large at a time. . . . Your petty officer in charge of the deck and the helmsman must always be armed with a pistol which should be primed afresh every evening." The collection concludes with 5 letters relating to Williamson's transfer of prisoner Slater to the authorities in New York, and his new orders for redeployment, including two letters signed by Secretary of the Navy James Kirke Paulding.