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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060
African Slave Trade Patrol 1820-1861
Long illegal, the infamous slave trade was declared by
Congress in 1819 to be piracy, and as such, punishable by death.
The Navy's African Slave Trade Patrol was established to search
for and bring to justice the dealers in human misery. Never exceeding
a few ships in number, the Patrol, which from time to time included
the USS Constitution,USS Constellation, USS Saratoga
and USS Yorktown, relentlessly plied the waters off West
Africa, South America, and the Cuban coast, a principle area for
slave disembarkation. By the start of the Civil War more than
100 suspected slavers had been captured.
07 August 1996