The Black Joke: The True Story of One British Ship's Battle Against the Slave Trade

Product Information

From 1815 the navy could draw on more resources, but its vessels were often too old and slow to catch the slavers.

Based on ethnographic fieldwork among Hindu nationalists in India, Udupa contests the idea that “fun” in political participation is opposed to Habermasian ideals of rational public debate. Ultimately, her intellectual passions are united by what the past can teach us about the present, how history shapes our future, and above all, really interesting stories.

As Rooks notes with a withering observation, “nothing, sometimes not even slavery, seemed to offend British sensibilities like nudity”. Along with daily ship positions, the log contains details of the capture of various slave ships beginning with the HENRIQUETA. That the British felt compelled to enforce their superiority may explain the roots of US foreign policy.

In a famous action on 25 or 26 April 1831, Black Joke was again under Ramsey's command when she captured the Marinerito.

I opted for 6 ish inch planks as that seems to have been standard deck plank size on post 1812 Baltimore Clippers of the time period. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products.

Although these people did not have to make the full journey into a life of slavery, their lives after “liberation” often fell far short of a free life. HMS Black Joke was a a Royal Navy vessel which began its life as a slave transport ship in the mid 1820s. There are a number of plans of brigs at the Collections site as well as scantlings from David Steel (1805) for similar sized ships.

Rooks tells us, for example, that of over 200 slaving ships leaving the coast of Africa each year in the late 1820s, just over 10% were sailing under the French or US flags. As Britain slowly attempted to snuff out the transatlantic slave trade by way of treaty and negotiation, enforcing these policies fell to the Black Joke and those that sailed with it as they battled slavers, weather disasters, and interpersonal drama among captains and crew that reverberated across oceans. Reproduction and distribution of content, with or without modification, without written permission of Laugh Factory Inc. She also guides the reader through the ways that the slave trade of the 17th - 19th centuries is still shaping global trade.

And perhaps there is another joke in the tune, because the B part is four bars longer than the A part, so it can trip you up! My interest was more in maritime history than the political angle, but this book does such an excellent job shedding light on the despicably horrific nature of the slave trade, that one can't help but become enmeshed in that angle of the story as well. These include a list of the officers and crew on board BLACK JOKE during the action and a description of the damage the vessel sustained. In September, in company with Fair Rosamond, Black Joke chased two Spanish slavers into the Bonny River. At one point, 15-year-old Midshipman Hinde had to bring Black Joke back alongside Marinerito to rescue the boarding party, including Ramsey, which had become stranded on the Spanish slaver's deck.

Early 19th century British naval history is not especially on-brand for me, but I'm glad I let myself be surprised by The Black Joke. This compelling book is a useful addition to the canon, showing both the violence and inhumanity of the trade and the heartening role of those who stood against it. Correspondence from Collier to the Admiralty, 12 December 1827, held at The National Archives, archival reference ADM 1/1682.