Royal Navy Versus the Slave Traders: Enforcing Abolition at Sea 1808-1898
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Royal Navy Versus the Slave Traders: Enforcing Abolition at Sea 1808-1898 by Bernard Edwards
On 16 March 1807, the British Parliament passed The Abolition of the Slave Trade Act. In the following year the Royal Navy's African Squadron was formed, its mission to stop and search ships at sea suspected of carrying slaves from Africa to the Americas and the Middle East. With typical thoroughness, the Royal Navy went further, and took the fight to the enemy, sailing boldly up uncharted rivers and creeks to attack the barracoons where the slaves were assembled ready for shipment. For much of its long campaign against the evil of slavery Britain's Navy fought alone and unrecognised. Its enemies were many and formidable. Ranged against it were the African chiefs, who sold their own people into slavery, the Arabs, who rode shotgun on the slave caravans to the coast, and the slave ships of the rest of the world, heavily armed, and prepared to do battle to protect their right to traffic in the forbidden black ivory. The war was long and bitter and the cost to the Royal Navy in ships and men heavy, but the result was worthy of the sacrifices made. The abolition of the slave trade led to a scramble for empires and, in place of slaves, Africa began to export cocoa, coffee, timber, palm oil, cotton and ores, all very much in demand in the West.
Edwards, Bernard: - Bernard Edwards is an established writer in the maritime field. He saw service in British merchant ships as a young cadet during the Second World War, and later, as a navigating officer and captain-in-command, voyaged extensively to all corners of the globe. The years have left him with a wealth of experience of ships and the sea, on which he draws when creating with painstaking attention to detail this struggle for supremacy on the high seas in wartime.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781844156337 |
| ISBN 10 | 1844156338 |
| Title | Royal Navy Versus the Slave Traders: Enforcing Abolition at Sea 1808-1898 |
| Author | Bernard Edwards |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Pen & Sword Books Ltd |
| Year published | 2008-06-20 |
| Number of pages | 224 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |