West Africa Squadron

Common card · No. 263178

The West Africa Squadron, also known as the Preventive Squadron, was a squadron of the Royal Navy whose goal was to suppress the Atlantic slave trade by patrolling the coast of West Africa. Formed in 1808 after the British Parliament passed the Slave Trade Act 1807 and based out of Portsmouth, England, it remained an independent command until 1856 and then again from 1866 to 1867. The impact of the Squadron has been debated, with some arguing it played a significant or even decisive role in the extermination of the transatlantic slave trade and others arguing it was poorly resourced, hamstrung in the performance of its enforcement duties, plagued by corruption, and not chiefly responsible for the decline and end of the trade. Sailors in the Royal Navy considered it to be one of the worst postings because of the extremely high levels of tropical disease to which its members were exposed. Over the course of its operations, it captured about 6% of the transatlantic slave ships and freed about...

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