About this item
The true account of the British Royal Navy's crusade to put an end to the African slave trade once and for allDespite the British being early abolitionists, a significant slave trade remained down the east coast of Africa through the mid-1800s, even after the Civil War ended it in the United States. What further undermined the British Empire was that many of the vessels involved in the trade were themselves British ships.The Royal Navy's response was to dispatch a squadron to patrol Africa's coast. Following what began as a simple policing action, this is the story of the four Royal Naval officers who witnessed how rampant the slave trade remained and made it their personal mission to end it. When the disruption in trade ships started to step on toes within the wealthy merchant class, the campaign was cancelled.
About the Author
John Broich earned his History PhD. from Stanford University in 2005 and taught at Amherst College before joining Case Western Reserve University in 2007. He teaches WWII, British Empire, world environmental history, and other topics at CWRU. Broich's writing appears in the Washington Post, Smithsonian.com, History Today, TheGuardian.com, BBC History Magazine, and elsewhere. His lectures appear on C-SPAN and he is a frequent commentator on public radio and podcasts.
