Log of the proceedings of H. M. S. Comus

About the Project

The logbook of the proceedings of the ship, H.M.S. Comus. The log reports the actions taken by the ship as part of a six-month assignment with the West African Squadron, including accounts of encounters and armed conflicts with pirate slavers. The mission of the ship, under Captain John Taileur, was to suppress piracy and disrupt the illegal West African slave trade. During the mission, they captured 10 ships and freed close to 10,000 enslaved men and women. The H.M.S. Comus, a 22-gun sixth rate man-of-war had a distinguished record capturing Spanish, Danish, and other ships, including the American ship, Jane Barnes, during the War of 1812. The Comus was also the first man-of-war to ascend the Old Calabar River to Duke Town (Nigeria), where in March 1814, her armed boats captured seven Portuguese and Spanish vessels with 550 enslaved on board. Help us transcribe this historically important and detailed Log of the Comus that provides early evidence of the Royal Navy’s vigorous policy to enforce the British ban on slavery by shutting down slave trade routes and seizing slave ships at sea.

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Completed!

Project Progress (details)
50 pages completed
Difficulty
4 out of 5
(details)

147

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50

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