Sailortown
Sailortown
It was through the agency of the Royal Navy in the Equatorial and South Atlantic that prizes, both laden with slaves and empty, were dispatched to the Vice-Admiralty court at St Helena; this in turn set in train the reception, treatment and resettlement of tens of thousands of freed slaves. This chapter examines the reasons why the Admiralty and Foreign Office considered the island to be a place of such advantage for the West Africa Squadron, and sets out how it was integrated into naval operations from 1840 until the collapse of the Cuban slave trade a quarter of a century later. It also considers the other places in West Africa and the Atlantic to which Britain had access. The advent of a Vice-Admiralty court in Jamestown also created a new social and economic dynamic on the island. Naval sailors, once just transient visitors, now called at St Helena regularly, repeatedly and in large numbers, bringing income, vibrancy and, at times, no little chaos.
Keywords: Admiralty, Foreign Office, Royal Navy, Vice-Admiralty court, West Africa Squadron
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