slave trade

• Seamen (commerce protection)- Seamen had tough lives in cramped conditions with flogging administered for punishments. Pay was only £14 per year and injury and death were common. The Navy struggled to gain volunteers due to the hard jobs so impressment was used. It detailed the forcible recruitment of sailors through gold, getting sailors drunk or kidnapping them.
• Relationship between trade and navy- Impressment meant the navy drew manpower from civilian ships so a large merchant navy was encouraged. The government had adopted a 'blue water' policy which meant the merchant fleet and Navy were mutually sustainable. The Navy protected the merchants at sea and captured their trading competition during wars. The Navy captured more than 1000 French trading ships during the 7 Years War. Merchant shipping therefore boomed and created revenue enough to fund Naval expansion alongside the Navigation Acts which ensured a monopoly on trade.
• The slave trade- The trade was the biggest route for British shipping in the 18th century with 150 ships leaving ports annually to travel the triangular route. The slave trade in the West Indies were an important source of income for Britain in funding wars with France. However, Britain lost many men to combat and disease whilst there. Some argued the slave trade was the 'nursery of the Royal Navy' due to the sailors recruited from slave ships to join the navy. This became less valid when men were lost from defending the West Indies. Of 5000 men sent there, less than half returned.
• Ending the slave trade in the West Indies- Sailing between Africa and the West Indies with no medicines for diseases meant huge mortality rates that deprived the Navy of skilled manpower. The slave trade and the Royal Navy were no longer mutually dependent and the abolishment of the slave trade in 1807 saw the Navy become the enemy of slave traders.
• Disrupting the slave trade- The Napoleonic Wars meant few resources could be spared at first to enforce the end of the slave trade. A new squadron was created in 1808 of 2 boats to patrol 5000km of West African coastline. The West African squadron saw an increase of 7 boats patrolling in 1831 which had no hope of reducing the 135,000 slave ships that travelled across the Atlantic in the 1830s. The act of slavery was still legal in the colonies of the West Indies and many sloaves were smuggled into British plantations.
• Life in the West African Squadron- Officers saw long periods at sea with no welcoming cities, mosquitoes and constant heat. It was dangerous and tropical disease led to 204 mmen dying in 1829 alone. The effectiveness of the squadron was limited as after the Napoleonic Wars, they couldn't just board and seize ships. The Slavers could avoid being captured by waving flags of the nations whose boats were exempt from British seizure.
• Developments of the West African squadron- The squadron grew to 32 warships in 1847 and foreign secretaries were able to develop treaties which allowed the Navy to board and seize foreign trading ships. The Navy could only seize ships if slaves were being carried and they couldn't take action against ships just lingering on the coastline. This led to Spanish slave ships of Regulo and Rapido throwing 150 chained slaves overboard in 1831 when being chased by the Navy.
• Ending the slave trade- The 1840s saw the development of paddle steamers that followed slave ships down rivers which were previously inaccessible. The steamer HMS Hydra captured 4 slave shups between 1844 and 46. The slaver then began to use clipper ships which were smaller and only 200 tons with sails designed only for speed. The squadron managed to catch some on them which allowed for more slavers to be captured with one boat catching 11 slavers in one year.
• Success of suppressing the slave trade- Between 1810-60, the Navy freed around 150,000 slaves who were moved to the port in Freetown which later became the capital of Sierra Leone. This only represented 10% of the slaves transported to the Americas in this time however. When slavery was made illegally in America, then the slave trade was fully abolished in 1865. The reduction in demand dor slaves was more crucial in ending the trade than efforts to stop the trade at sea.