“They are Raising the Devil with the Trading Dows:” Reconsidering the Royal Navy’s Anti-Slave Trade Campaign from the Slave Trader Perspective

Abstract

This chapter examines the Royal Navy’s suppression campaign. In terms of the number of slaves the navy rescued as well as the number of slaving ships they destroyed, their campaign was highly successful. This was largely due to Royal Navy regulations, particularly pertaining to bounty. However, the navy eventually disrupted non-slave trade to such a great extent even European and American merchants in Zanzibar complained to the British Consulate. This was a result not only of the inseparable nature of the slave trade and general trade, but also the Royal Navy’s experience of suppression in the Atlantic. In this chapter the connection between their experience there and how they went about the same task in the western Indian Ocean is highlighted.