ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE HORRORS

Spanish Ship Set For Cuba

Hits Keys Reef Trying To Outrun British Schooner

By the end of the 17th century, the capture of men and women for colonial distribution in European markets was in full swing. The Atlantic slave trade operated from about 1525 to 1866.

During that period, roughly 12.5 million Africans were captured and shipped off the continent for New World harbors.

Human cargo was generally shipped in one of two ways, and the business model incorporated a mortality factor. If a “tight pack” was used, every inch mattered, and the objective was to squeeze every human being possible into the least amount of space. For the trade’s practitioners, it was a numbers game. Every square foot equaled a dollar figure, and the goal was to successfully transport as much viable product as possible for the least amount of dollars.

The other way to transport the enslaved people was a “loose pack” where fewer people were transported in the same space and, subsequently, fewer deaths theoretically occurred during the transAtlantic crossing because of the “improved” travel conditions. For the slavers, all that mattered was the total number of viable bodies that were ultimately delivered.

The trip across the Atlantic Ocean from Africa’s west coast is historically referred to as the Middle Passage. Of the 12.5 million people transported from Africa, nearly 2 million suffered unspeakable deaths during the Middle Passage and were tossed overboard like chum.

By 1827, the international slave trade had been illegal in Spain for seven years, the United States for 19 years, and Great Britain for 20. However, Spanish-held Cuba paid little heed to the prohibition, as evidenced in a letter written from a British officer in Havana to one in London dated July 31, 1827. It read, in part, “The illicit slave trader from this port … appears to be about to resume its former activity, no less than four Spanish vessels having during the present month sailed are the brigs Guerrero. … She is well armed, and has a crew of ninety men; and there can be little doubt that her purpose is to plunder their cargoes of slaves any weaker vessels that she may fall in within the coast of Africa.”

The Guerrero was just over 110 feet long with a beam of 27 feet, 5 inches. When the ship left the west coast of Africa to make the over 4,000-mile voyage to Havana, 561 enslaved people were held on board. On Dec. 19, 1827, Lt. Edward Holland and the 56man crew aboard the schooner H.B.M. (His Britannic Majesty) Nimble was patrolling the Florida Straits 250 miles north of Havana. The Guerrero was spotted off the coast of Orange Cay, Bahamas. The noon entry into the Nimble’s log read, “Observed stranger to be a suspicious looking brig. I set topsail, cleared (the deck) for action and fired two guns to bring strangers to whom we observed hauling up to avoid us; made more sail.”

By 6:15 p.m., the brig was firing her cannons at the gaining Nimble, and for the next 30 minutes, the two ships exchanged cannon and musket fire until the brig feigned surrender by firing a blank and flashing a conciliatory light. The Nimble ceased fire, and the brig made another run when she did. In its attempt to outrun the Nimble, the Guerrero slammed into Carysfort Reef off of Key Largo at full sail.

According to an 1831 edition of the United States Service Magazine, “The masts of the chase were heard to fall with a tremendous crash, followed with a horrid yell from those on board, which left no doubt of her being a Guineaman.” The ship’s hull split open and when the Guerrero filled with water, 41 Africans shackled in the ship’s hold drowned where they were chained. The Niles Weekly Register reported, “The cries of 561 slaves and crew were appalling beyond description.”

The following morning, wreckers aboard the Thorn, Florida and Surprize arrived on the scene. Approximately 20 Spaniards and 142 Africans boarded Captain Austin Packer’s 39-foot schooner. Aboard Captain Charles Grover’s schooner Thorn, 246 Africans and 54 Spaniards were boarded. The two ships set sail for Key West but were hijacked by the Spanish and redirected to Santa Cruz, Cuba, where the human cargo was sold to sugar field plantation owners.

The remaining 121 Africans were boarded onto the Nimble and delivered to Key West. One person died in transit. The Africans were clothed, fed and housed for 75 days. Four additional Africans died during that period. At Key West, rumors began to circulate around the island that Spanish warships would be sailing for the island, and it was decided that for everyone’s safety, it was best to transfer the surviving 117 people to the St. Augustine area.

A letter written by the U.S. Marshal in St. Augustine to Richard Rush, Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, stated, “While they were in Key West, attempts were made to take them from the possession of my deputy, by force, and by bribery; and, the night before I removed them from the island, an attempt was made to carry off a part of them.”

Unable to support the enslaved, the U.S. Marshal rented the Africans out to St. Augustine area plantation owners. During their time in St. Augustine, 17 Africans either died or escaped. In the end, of the original 561 Africans pirated away from their homeland, 100 people were attempted to be repatriated to Africa. Nine more Africans died during the Atlantic crossing.

Bill “Scotty” Scott, who resided in Marathon with his wife Lissa from 2000-2019, passed away peacefully in his sleep on Sunday, Feb. 5 after a brief bout of pneumonia. Since 2020, the couple has resided in Boynton Beach.

Born and raised in Royal Oak, Michigan, Scotty graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Art with a degree in graphic design in 1966. While teaching at the Cooper School of Art he met and fell in love with his soul mate, Lissa. The couple married in 1972, and after working for a larger advertising agency, he founded Scott Design in Cleveland.

He grew the company to include 11 full-time illustrators, designers, typesetters and media buyers who handled a wide range of clients like Greater Cleveland Growth Association, the Lake County Visitors Bureau, Parker Hannifin, General Electric and the Cleveland Clinic.

His studio was reminiscent of the “Mad Men” era of advertising, and Scotty relished telling stories of three-martini lunches and box seats for major Cleveland sporting events. He never stopped cheering for the Browns, Indians and Cavaliers, nor did he ever retire from his passion, advertising and marketing.

After semi-retiring to the Keys, Scotty enjoyed spending time on his pontoon boat, dining and entertaining guests at his home with his cooking skills. He also continued with his work, creating logos and brochures for numerous local businesses like Paver Dave, Boyd’s Campground and A Deep Blue Dive along with iconic advertising campaigns for Summerland Wine and Spirits and celebrated orthodontist Charles Troxel.

A private service will be held with his remains to be scattered across the Keys, Cleveland and northern Michigan. In lieu of flowers, his family is asking for donations in his name for the American Cancer Society.

Joanne Weber Carlson, age 78, of Marathon, passed away peacefully at her home on Jan. 6 after a battle with cancer. Joanne was born in 1945 in Rockford, Illinois to the late James Patrick and Emma Darline.

Joanne moved from Rockford to the Washington, D.C. area in the mid1960s and worked as an X-ray technician at Georgetown University Hospital. In the early 1970s, Joanne moved to suburban Maryland and made a career change. She started a career in real estate and served as the president of the Montgomery County Board of Realtors during that time. While living in Maryland, she traveled frequently to a second home in the Florida Keys, ultimately making her permanent home in the Florida paradise.

Joanne is survived by her husband Carl, whom she met in Marathon in 2013. Together, they spent the last 10 years enjoying life in the Keys by boating, golfing and singing karaoke, as well as being known for dancing the night away. Joanne was a vibrant, generous and colorful woman. She enjoyed tap dancing and teaching water aerobics, was quite the mahjong competitor, and was a hardworking member of the Marathon Yacht Club.

Joanne is survived by her brothers, Thomas and Gerald; by her son Stephan; and by her grandchildren Shane and Brooke. Joanne often had her granddaughter Brooke come to visit in the Keys, where she learned to scuba dive, and those visits helped inspire Brooke to become a marine biologist.

Joanne’s family will fondly remember the way she would comically mispronounce certain brand names or foods, and will be left to wonder whether she always did so intentionally just to get a laugh out of them.

Joanne will be missed and will be well remembered as a fun-loving, kind and good friend, mother and wife whose joyfulness was contagious.

A celebration of life for Joanne will be offered by her husband and family on Sunday, March 12 from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Marathon Yacht Club. Family and friends are invited to pay their last respects.