Sometime after 9:00 as the moon lit up the night sky, Constellation's starboard 32-pounder long gun fired a shot across Cora's bow to signal her to heave to and prepare to be boarded. Cora ignored the shot and raced along the coast. Constellation closed the gap to within a half mile and fired several more warning shots to no avail. In a desperate attempt to gain speed, the slaver's crew frantically began lightening ship. They threw an empty boat, hatches, anchors, spars, and casks into the ocean. Despite this futile effort, the flagship drew even closer. With one chance left, Cora cut across Constellation's bow in an attempt to get to seaward of the warship, but the sloop's next shot cut away part of Cora's ri gging and forced the barque to give up the chase. A boarding party led by First Lieutenant Donald M. Fairfax boarded Cora and immediately discovered the 705 Africans crammed together on the slave deck. Midshipman Wilburn Hall recalled the revolting stench ofso many men, women , and children packed together with no sanitation. The yo ung officer later wrote, "The slaves were nearly all on the slave-deck, shouting and screaming in terror and anxiety. I leaned over the m ain hatchway holding a lantern, and the writhing mass of humani ty, with their cries and struggles, can only be compared in one's mind to the horrors of hell as pictured in former days." 5 Upon hearin g that Cora was indeed a slaver with hundreds of Africans packed below, Constellation's crew let out a thunderous cheer. The crew was entitled to $25 for
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An extra deck or enough lumber to build one underway were typical signs ofa merchant ship intended to ship a human cargo.
every recaptured African landed in Monrovia, as well as a portion of the proceeds gained if the slave ship was sold at auction . On 27 September sailors from Constellation finished repairing Cora's rigging fo r the journey back to the United Stares. Inman ordered Master Thomas H . Eastman and a prize crew of eleven sailors and three marines to sail the barque to Norfolk, Virginia, for adjudication. The crew first sailed to Monrovia and delivered the Africans into the custody of Reverend John Seys, the U nited States Agent for Recaptured Africans. Despite measures to improve ventilation and living conditions, eleven Africans died before reaching Monrovia. The Republic of Liberia was the designated haven for Africans o n board slave ships seized by the US Navy. There was no single "home" to return them to, and many American officials feared that returning the Africans to the Congo River basin wo uld only result in their recapture. Local committees assisted the traumatized Africans, called "Co ngoes," after their arrival. Many of the Africans were appren ticed to America-Liberian fam ilies. Over rwo hundred of those liberated from Cora settled in
USS Constellation firing on the American slave ship Cora, 25 September 1860.
SEA HISTORY 132, AUTUMN 2010
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Careysburg where they performed mill work. Ten other m en were apprenticed to a saw mill near the Junk River. One of the yo unger o nes, Reverend Seys described, 'Thad] already learned sufficient of the business as to be able to take the place at the engine of a man who had been receiving $4 a month wages. The place is one requiring much vigilance in the application and stopping of steam at certain junctures, and so steady, so punctual and reliable is the Co ngo lad that the Liberian's services are no longer required."6 Berween August and October 1860, Liberia was overwhelmed with nearly 3,000 wo uld-be slaves freed by American warships. So much success on the high seas in a short span of time was taxing Liberia's ability to care for the new arrivals. Some of the "Congoes" apprenticed that year ran away and a small number committed suicide. With no fam ily or friends and no way to return home, most conformed to the dominant culture and lived new lives. Master Eastman departed Mo nrovia and headed to Norfolk to deliver Cora's first m ate Morgan Fredericks, second mate John Wilson, and third mate Hans O lsen into th e custody of the United States Marshal. Because of adverse weather en route, he altered course and sailed Cora to New York, anchoring off the Brooklyn Navy Yard on 8 December 1860. Justice was rarely served in adj udicating slave trade cases and this trial was no exception. The evidence was damning and the US Distri ct Court in New York confiscated Cora and auctioned off the barq ue for $8 ,900. Some of Cora's officers did not wait for a verdict on their guilt. Less than rwen ty-fo ur hours after Cora's arrival in New Yo rk, Morgan Fredericks broke o ut of his stateroom , climbed through a port hole, and plunged into the East River m aking his escape. Captain John Latham was brought to New York in the United States store ship Relief After the court denied his bail, a mysterious friend negotiated Latham's furlo ugh from
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