Brig.
Hull:
wood. Comp.:
ca. 150. Built:
< 1841.
On October 27, 1841, the American brig Creole sailed from Hampton Roads, Virginia, bound for New Orleans with a cargo of 135 slaves. Early in November, the slaves mutinied, killing a white crew member, taking possession of the vessel, and forcing the pilot to sail for Nassau, Bahama Islands. British authorities arrested nineteen of the ringleaders on criminal charges but freed the rest. Although the United States had outlawed the African slave trade in 1808 (one year after the British), it was still legal to transport slaves between domestic ports in coastal waters. In the meantime, Britain had emancipated slaves within the empire in 1833 and was vigorous in its persecution of the slave trade. Under various international treaties, British ships could stop and search suspected slavers, and in 1841 the United States was the only major maritime nation not committed to helping eradicate the slave trade.
President John Tyler's administration was by no means active in its opposition to slavery, and Secretary of State Daniel Webster demanded that the British extradite the slaves as mutineers, claiming that they were the lawful property of U.S. citizens. He also insisted on an indemnity for the conduct of the officials in Nassau. Britain's rejection of these demands heightened tensions between Washington and London, then in the midst of negotiations over the Webster-Ashburton Treaty. The slaves were not returned and the United States had to be content with an "apology for the necessity of the act." Under the terms of the treaty, signed in 1842, the United States agreed to form a squadron to patrol on the West African Station to suppress the slave trade. In 1855, a joint Anglo-American commission awarded the United States an indemnity of $110,330 for the freed slaves.
Flanders, Dictionary of American Foreign Policy.
