West Africa Squadron
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The West Africa Squadron, also known as the Preventive Squadron, was a squadron of the Royal Navy whose goal was to suppress the Atlantic slave trade by patrolling the coast of West Africa. Formed in
HMS Black Joke and prizes (clockwise from top left) Providentia, Vengador, Presidenta, Marianna, El Almirante, and El Hassey
HMS Black Joke
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HMS Black Joke was a cutter, probably built in Baltimore in 1824, originally launched as the Brazilian slave ship Henriqueta. The Royal Navy captured her in September 1827, and purchased her into the
West Africa Squadron
…in Britain, they regained the upper hand. One of the most successful ships of the West Africa Squadron was just such a repurposed Baltimore clipper, HMS Black Joke, which Britain had captured from Brazil in September 1827. Under the Squadron's control, she caught 11 slavers in one year. By the 1840s, the West…
Henriqueta's owner José de Cerqueira Lima
HM Brig Black Joke engaging the Spanish slave brig Maranerito in the Bay of Biafra, 26 April 1831, by George Philip Reinagle