The United States and the Transatlantic Slave Trade to the Americas, 1776-1867 by Leonardo Marques

Author:Leonardo Marques
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: 2016-12-07T16:00:00+00:00

The Go-Betweens of Man-Stealers

By 1845, Maxwell, Wright & Co. and Hobkirk, Weetman & Co. had abandoned any African-related trade. It is clear from the depositions of crews and documents found aboard the vessels seized throughout 1844 that both companies were central to the US flag scheme developed by Manoel Pinto da Fonseca. Their withdrawal from the business, however, did not mean the disappearance of the US flag from the slave trade. On the contrary, it opened opportunities to individuals willing to operate in the gray area connecting legitimate commerce and the slave trade, favored by the growing demand for slaves in the second half of the 1840s. A few US nationals quickly occupied this space, most of them captains and ex-captains. Compared to Maxwell, Wright & Co. and other merchants of the first half of the 1840s, these individuals established even closer connections to slave traders. As the consul replacing Gordon in Rio de Janeiro complained, since the acquittal of Captain Libby of the Porpoise, “the persons incidentally concerned in the trade are much more open than they were before.”48

The more active position occupied by a few American captains became clear in a number of interrogations made by Parks before granting sea letters, a temporary register issued by consuls to purchasers of vessels. Most captains were using money advanced from charter-parties contracted with slave traders from Rio de Janeiro. As Parks made clear, “The vessels which sail under these letters are in most cases owned by Brazilians, who pay the applicant for the sea letter about five hundred milreis each vessel, for passing the examination before Mr. Tod and myself, and covering the property.” Captain Charles Rauch, for example, received money in advance from Nicolau Ventura Fortuna to buy the C. H. Rogers in 1848. Rauch, starting “before the mast” around 1826, had been commanding a vessel for the past eleven or twelve years. He bought the C. H. Rogers with a four-month payment in advance of the charter-party he had with Fortuna. Another vessel owned by Fortuna, the Safira, had already been captured that same year before embarking slaves. The following year, Brazilian authorities seized his vessel Tolerante, probably the same vessel condemned that year under the ownership of Manoel Pinto da Fonseca.49

Captain David C. Bevans explained the system in more detail. When buying the Brazil, a vessel that completed at least two voyages to Africa, Bevans got the money from Jenkins & Co. and hypothecated the vessel to the company. After the time specified he had to pay back that amount or give the vessel to the company, sailing the ship in return for wages. According to the US consul, “Nearly the whole of the slave trade in American bottoms is transacted by this house of Jenkins and company, either as principals or factors.” The company consisted of Jenkins from New York, an Englishman named Russell, and a Portuguese named Guimarães. When asked if the money borrowed from Jenkins & Co. came from the company itself or someone else, Bevans answered that there was a third party.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.