Enterprise (slave ship) facts for kids

The Enterprise was an American merchant ship that sailed along the Atlantic Coast in the early 1800s. It was part of the coastwise slave trade, which moved enslaved people within the United States. On February 11, 1835, bad weather forced the Enterprise into Hamilton, Bermuda's waters. The ship was carrying 78 enslaved people, along with other goods.

This event became a small international issue because British authorities freed almost all the enslaved people. Britain had ended slavery in its Caribbean colonies in 1834. At that time, Britain warned other countries that any slave ships found in Bermuda or Bahamas waters would be stopped and their human cargo freed without payment to the owners.

Bermuda customs officers called a gunboat and the Royal Navy to hold the Enterprise. A Bermudian man named Richard Tucker, who had once been enslaved himself, gave the ship's captain a legal paper called a habeas corpus writ. This paper ordered the captain to bring the enslaved people before the Bermuda Supreme Court. There, they could choose to gain freedom in Bermuda or return to slavery in the United States.

The court met from 9 p.m. to midnight on February 18. The Chief Justice spoke with each enslaved person. Seventy-two of the seventy-eight people from the Enterprise chose to stay in Bermuda and become free.

The freeing of these people was one of several similar events between 1830 and 1842. Officials in Bermuda and the Bahamas freed nearly 450 enslaved people from American ships. These ships had either crashed in their waters or entered their ports for other reasons. American owners kept asking their government for money to cover their losses. In the 1853 Treaty of Claims, the US and Britain agreed to settle various claims, including those for enslaved people freed after 1834. This was finally settled in 1855, with payments made to both British and American citizens.

The Slave Trade and British Law

Slavery in the United States

Both the United States and Great Britain had banned the international slave trade since 1807. This meant it was illegal to bring enslaved people from Africa to their countries. Both nations used ships to patrol the waters off Africa and in the Caribbean. Their goal was to stop illegal slave ships.

However, the United States still allowed a domestic slave trade. This was a trade of enslaved people within the country, along the East and Gulf coasts. This trade became very important as the Deep South grew cotton rapidly. There was a huge demand for workers. In the years before the American Civil War, nearly a million enslaved African Americans were forced to move to the Deep South. Two-thirds of these people were moved through the domestic slave trade. New Orleans was a major center for this trade.

Britain's Stance on Slavery

In 1818, the British government decided that any enslaved person brought to The Bahamas from outside the British West Indies would be freed. This rule led British officials to free nearly 450 enslaved people owned by Americans between 1830 and 1842. These incidents happened when American merchant ships crashed in the Bahamas or entered British ports for other reasons.

For example, the American slave ship Comet crashed in 1830 near Abaco Island. Another ship, the Encomium, crashed in February 1834. Customs officials took the enslaved people when they were brought into Nassau by rescue workers. British officials then freed them. This included 164 enslaved people from the Comet and 45 from the Encomium. Britain later paid the US for these two cases in 1855.

Great Britain officially ended slavery in August 1834. This applied to the British Isles, most of its colonies, and their waters. After ending slavery, Britain told other countries that any slave ships found in Bermuda or Bahamas waters would be stopped. Their human cargo would be freed without payment to the owners.

The Enterprise in Bermuda

In February 1835, the American ship Enterprise was seven days into a trip. It was sailing from Alexandria, Virginia to Charleston, South Carolina. A hurricane pushed the ship off course. It was forced to stop in Hamilton, Bermuda, a British colony, to get supplies.

When customs officers boarded the large, 127-ton ship on February 11, they found 78 enslaved people. The officers said the conditions were terrible. These captives were not listed on the ship's official cargo list. Alexandria and Washington, D.C., were big markets for selling enslaved people from the Chesapeake Bay area. Most of the enslaved people on the Enterprise were owned by Joseph Neal. They were considered very valuable because they were young, born in America, and spoke English. Most were between 7 and 15 years old, or 19 and 25. There were 41 females and 37 males.

The customs officials told Captain Smith that the enslaved people were illegal in Bermuda. They said the people would be taken from the ship. The British called for a gunboat and Royal Navy forces to guard the crew. When Captain Smith threatened to leave, local forces stopped the Americans.

Richard Tucker stepped in to help. He had started a local black Young Men's Friendly Lodge in 1832. This was a group that helped its members. Tucker got a legal paper called a habeas corpus writ from the court. This paper ordered Captain Elliot Smith to bring the enslaved people before the Chief Justice. They would then be asked if they wanted to continue with the ship to their destination and remain enslaved, or stay in Bermuda and be free.

The 78 enslaved people, many of them women with children, were taken off the ship for their court hearing. When they landed at Barr's Bay Park near Hamilton, a huge crowd had gathered to meet them. Many people in the crowd had been freed just the year before. They were excited that the American enslaved people might also gain freedom.

The Bermuda Supreme Court met at 9 p.m. on February 18 to speak with the enslaved people. The hearing lasted until midnight in a very full room. A large crowd of local people watched the session. Bermuda's Chief Justice Thomas Butterfield spoke with each enslaved person one by one. He asked if they wanted to return to the US and slavery, or stay in Bermuda as free people. During this session, the Court learned that many of the people had been free black individuals in Maryland. They had been kidnapped and sold into slavery.

One woman named Ridgely, with her five children, chose to return to the United States. The other 72 people chose to stay in Bermuda. That night, February 18, 1835, the Supreme Court freed them. A journalist who was there wrote that it was hard to describe the great joy and wonder people felt.

The Attorney General started a collection to help the freed people. $70 was quickly raised from those attending the court. Mayor William Cox of Hamilton offered them a vacant storehouse to sleep in. Kind people and the Friendly Society helped the newly freed people find homes and jobs. They quickly became part of the local community.

The Enterprise case added to the disagreements between Great Britain and the United States over slavery. This was happening after Britain had ended slavery in its lands. The United States, however, continued its domestic slave trade, which was very profitable in the South. This was one of several times when British officials in Bermuda or the West Indies freed enslaved people owned by Americans. While the US and Britain worked to stop the international slave trade from Africa, the US wanted to protect its own slave ships if bad weather or accidents forced them into British colonial ports. In the case of the Enterprise and other events, local British citizens took action to help American enslaved people.

Other Incidents of Freedom

The Hermosa and Creole Cases

In 1840, the Hermosa, an American ship in the coastwise slave trade, was carrying 38 enslaved people. It was going from Richmond to New Orleans to sell them. The ship ran aground on one of the Abacos islands in The Bahamas. After rescuers took the ship to port, the captain would not let the enslaved people off. He and the US consul tried to arrange for another ship to take his human cargo. But British judges, with armed force, boarded the Hermosa. They took the enslaved people off and freed them when they reached shore. The Americans protested this action.

The Creole Case became very famous. It happened in November 1841 when a slave revolt took place on an American ship called the Creole. Nineteen enslaved people took control of the ship's crew. They ordered the ship to sail to Nassau, Bahamas. One of the leaders had heard about the Hermosa case the year before. He knew the British had ended slavery. In the end, 128 of the 135 enslaved people from the Creole were freed by the British colonists. This was the most successful slave revolt in US history.

The US was worried not only about paying slave owners for their losses. It also feared that the success of the Creole enslaved people would encourage others to try similar ship revolts. They worried this would threaten the coastwise slave trade and slavery in the South.

Negotiations for the Webster-Ashburton Treaty (1842) were happening at this time. This treaty partly helped ease the international tensions. The Martin Van Buren administration had officially asked for the American enslaved people from the Creole to be returned. Britain refused. Slave owners in the Southern US kept asking Congress for money for their lost "property."

In letters to US Secretary of State Daniel Webster, the British diplomat Lord Ashburton said that British law against slavery could not be changed. However, he promised Webster that, for the sake of good relations, the British Crown would tell the governors of its colonies near the US not to interfere too much when American ships accidentally entered British waters.

Later Incidents and Compensation

The 1853 Treaty of Claims between Great Britain and the United States included claims from slave owners. These owners had lost money because Britain had freed enslaved people in the Enterprise, Hermosa, and Creole incidents. A special commission met in London from September 15, 1853, to January 15, 1855. Their job was to decide the total amount of money to be paid under this treaty. This treaty covered various claims dating back to December 1814. In February 1855, the US Congress passed a law accepting the commission's decision and setting aside money for the US payment.

For several years after the Webster-Ashburton Treaty was signed, the United States had no complaints against Britain about freeing enslaved people from American ships in Caribbean ports. But even if officials were told to ignore such cases, the people living in British colonies (many of whom had once been enslaved themselves) sometimes took direct action to free American enslaved people.

On July 20, 1855, the New York Times reported an incident. In late June, Jamaicans had taken an American enslaved man from the ship Young America at Savanna-la-Mar, Jamaica. He was then "set at large" (freed). According to the US Consul in Jamaica, the man had boarded the Young America with papers showing he was a free man named Nettles. Later, he said his real name was Anderson, and he was an enslaved person escaping from a Mr. Robinson. The Consul noted that if this was true, Anderson would become free "on touching British soil." The Consul had written to the Port Collector in Norfolk, Virginia. He advised ship captains to avoid bringing black crew members to Jamaica. This was because many would try to escape there. He noted that it was hard to get them back because local people strongly opposed slavery. Also, the US and Great Britain did not have a treaty to help get them back.

Legacy

• The Bermudian Heritage Museum in St. George has an exhibit about the Enterprise and the freeing of its enslaved people.
• Lucinda Spurling's documentary, The Lion and the Mouse: The Story of American and Bermuda (2009), features a teacher named Verona Trott. She talks about her ancestor, Mahalay Warfield, who was one of the 72 enslaved people freed from the Enterprise.
• To celebrate the 175th anniversary of the freeing of the enslaved people from the Enterprise, local authorities asked sculptor Chesley Trott to create a statue. The statue, called We Arrive, was revealed in February 2010.
• In February 2010, the Freedom Schooner Amistad helped celebrate the 175th anniversary of the Enterprise slaves' freedom. It made a friendly visit to Bermuda. The Amistad is an American tall ship launched in 2000. It honors the U.S. Supreme Court decision that supported the rights of Africans on the Amistad to free themselves.