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

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After two hours of exchanging shots, and after suffering several casualties, the brig hoisted a flag of truce. From 1815 the navy could draw on more resources, but its vessels were often too old and slow to catch the slavers. The commodore of the capturing ship bought her and added the sleek ship to his fleet in the Royal Navy and this rechristened her Black Joke. My classes did not get into that, either: purposefully or not, they gave the impression that the transatlantic slave trade stopped just because Great Britain said so.

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. Calm seas and light winds gave 'Black Joke' the advantage on the day and this is reflected in the image by Huggins. This came barely a week after the ship’s rechristening in Freetown, a remarkable feat considering that many of the ships in the WAS spent weeks or months patrolling the West African coast without encountering, let alone capturing, a single slaver. Recorded in John Walsh, Third Book of the Most Celebrated Jiggs, Lancashire Hornpipes, Scotch and Highland Lilts, Northern Frisks published in 1731. Those Africans who persisted in demanding true liberation were shipped off to the interior to fend for themselves.

In November of the same year, Black Joke was forced to leave the coast of Bioko (Fernando Po), due to fever on board.

Acquired by the navy, she was renamed Black Joke after a popular ribald sea shanty, and so began the ship’s remarkable career as a scourge of slaving. A table entitled "Specimen of slave trade by Spanish brig EL ALMIRANTE at Sagos commencing Aug 25 28" lists types of slaves and values in dollars. This book tells the story of the Black Joke, a former slaver who converted to the opposite side, trying to eliminate the slave trade. The camber will be the same along the whole length of the deck so a simple jig should make quick work of all the bulkheads. This book chronicles the multinational naval aspect, when the trafficking of enslaved Africans was made illegal by the British, but not yet illegal by the Spanish, French, Portuguese, Brazilians, etc.

The Black Joke began its sea life as a “slaver”, a ship transporting slaves from Africa to the Western Hemisphere. And while I was still confused reading this book, due to my own inability to properly imagine what a ship looks like, especially a ship from the 1800s, I was never irritated. Changes to copyright legislation in 2014 mean that the Record Office can supply copies of building control plans for non-commercial, private use and study. Those who participate in the creation, curation, and sharing of disparaging memes defend these actions as merely rhetorical, having no material impact on the populations that are being targeted. HMS Black Joke was a a Royal Navy vessel which began its life as a slave transport ship in the mid 1820s.