Feb 21, 2008 - Sale 2137

Sale 2137 - Lot 67

Price Realized: $ 5,760
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
THE SLAVE-SHIP DIAGRAM OF THE VIGILANTE (SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.) The Case of the Vigilante, a Ship Employed in the Slave Trade; With Some Reflections on that Traffic. Large folding diagram plate of the ship and its hold, a few very early paper repairs. 13 pages. 8vo, original drab gray wrappers, very lightly worn. London: Harvey Darton & Company, 1826

Additional Details

The capture by the British Navy of the notorious slaver Vigilante was a reminder that the slave-trade still flourished, despite the Act of 1807. The Vigilante was captured while moored together with three other brigs and two schooners at the mouth of the river Bonny on the coast of West Africa. All were armed with cannon, and several engaged the British vessels. When the Spanish ship Yeanam was boarded, a thirteen year old girl was found shackled and chained to a ten foot length of iron. The captain of the ship was ordered to free the girl, and put in the same irons himself. The Vigilante, a French vessel, had 345 slaves on board. Many slaves had jumped overboard and were "devoured by the sharks" when the firing began. A graphic and disturbing account, one of several anti-slavery tracts published by Harvey Darton in the 1820s. Afro-Americana1553-1906, #2109; not in the Blockson Collection.