Service in The Slave Trade
Wanderer's new owner had several alterations made to the ship, some of which—particularly the installation of tanks which could hold 15,000 US gallons (57,000 L) of fresh water—suggested that Wanderer was being fitted out as a slave ship. As she was attempting to leave New York harbor, she was seized as a suspected slaver on 9 June 1858 by the steam revenue cutter USRC Harriet Lane of the United States Revenue Cutter Service, towed back to Manhattan Island, and anchored near the Battery.
The next morning, United States Government officials inspected the schooner and found that—while her extremely fast lines and her equipment and provisions would be valuable assets should she enter the slave trade -- there was no conclusive evidence of intent to engage in slaving on the part of her owner, her master, or crew.
Wanderer was thus free to clear port, and she sailed for Charleston, South Carolina, where she arrived on 25 June 1857. There, her fitting out as a slave ship was completed before she got underway for Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, on 3 July 1857.
Wanderer left Port-of-Spain on 27 July 1857, crossed the Atlantic Ocean to Africa, and entered the Congo River on 16 September 1857. Braving an epidemic of yellow fever which was then raging in the Congo, she took on board some 500 Africans and sailed for North America on 18 October 1857. She was chased briefly by the U.S. Navy sloop-of-war USS Vincennes as she left the mouth of the river but quickly outdistanced Vincennes. At the end of a six-week voyage in which many of the captives died, Wanderer arrived at Jekyll Island, Georgia, on 28 November 1857 and delivered her human cargo.
Word of Wanderer's arrival quickly spread, and a great deal of litigation ensued—both civil and criminal—but resulted in no convictions. During the next two years, ownership of the vessel changed several times and, on one occasion, the ship was stolen and taken to sea on a piratical and slaving voyage. Near the coast of Africa, the first mate led a mutiny and left the pirate captain at sea in a small boat before bringing the ship back to Boston, Massachusetts on 24 December 1859 and turning her over to authorities there.
Read more about this topic: USS Wanderer (1857)
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