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The Forgotten History of a British Ship that Fought a Notorious Slaver?and Won


the British Royal Navy’s
West Africa Squadron
El Almirante
Downes
Forgannes
El Almirante’s
Becalmed
the Origins of Epidemiology Are Linked
the Black Joke
Commodore
ships’
The Black Joke
Sybille
Uniao
the West Africa Squadron
the Royal Navy
White Saviorism
Black Joke’s


Henry Downes
Black Joke
the Black Joke’s
’d
The Black Joke
Joseph Francis
A.E. Rooks
Scribner


Brazilian
Africans
Spanish
American


Americas
Antilles
the Black Joke
Atlantic


the Black Joke
The Black Joke


Western Africa
Lagos
Havana
Britain


Black Joke

Positivity     41.00%   
   Negativity   59.00%
The New York Times
SOURCE: http://time.com/6137991/slave-trade-black-joke-almirante-royal-navy/
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Summary

A former slave ship itself, the Black Joke was captured in 1827 by the British Royal Navy’s West Africa Squadron, its incredible speed repurposed for chasing down and capturing slave traders as they attempted to make their way to the Americas.For five months, Downes, had been on watch for just one ship—the notorious slaver El Almirante, reputed to be back off the coast of Western Africa and known to have already illegally transported thousands of the enslaved to the Americas in its sordid career. Standing off the coast so as not to spook them, rumor reached Downes that one ship was a fancy, familiar Spanish brig nearly ready to set sail—after the waiting and unproductive cruising, El Almirante had, all unexpected, made its appearance.On the water, rumors traveled both ways; just as Downes had heard that this was the brig he sought, El Almirante had, in turn, been warned of the appearance of Black Joke. Downes, as undeterred as his opposite number on the slaver, set the Black Joke just out of sight of the harbor, periodically sending boats to check on the progress of the Spanish brig and make sure it continued to load human cargo, since the presence of the enslaved would be the vital evidence against El Almirante that might ultimately condemn it. For the rest of the night, far from taking the break they’d richly earned, the Black Joke evaded the slaver by means of paddling rather than tacking sails, always just out of reach of El Almirante’s guns. The Black Joke successfully attained El Almirante’s leeward quarter, and from there it gave the slaver all it could handle and then some.

As said here by A.E. Rooks