03026ckm a2200373 a 4500 000149385 20230711172727.0 kjobo 030409s1860 nyunnn| ||||||| kneng d Fels-241 3 ppl PPL gihc The Africans of the slave bark "Wildfire" [graphic] / M.N. [New York: Harper & Brothers, June 1860] 1 print: engraving; image 28 x 24 cm. (11 x 9.25 in) Illustration in Harper's Weekly, vol. IV, no. 179 (June 2, 1860), p. 344. Caption underneath the image reads: "The slave deck of the bark 'Wildfire,' brought into Key West on April 30, 1860. -- [From a Daguerrotype.]" Engraving shows the manner in which hundreds of African slaves were crowded on the deck of the "Wildfire," an American vessel captured off the northern coast of Cuba in April 1860. According to the accompanying text, the ship had left the Congo River thirty-six days before her capture, and had roughly five hundred Africans on board. The capture of the "Wildfire" was led by Lieutenant Craven of the United States steamer Mohawk. His experience was recounted in Harper's Weekly as follows: "Soon after the bark was anchored we repaired on boad, and on passing over the side saw, on the deck of the vessel, about four hundred and fifty native Africans, in a state of entire nudity, in a sitting or squatting posture, the most of them having their knees elevated so as to from a resting place for their head and arms. They sat very close together, mostly on either side of the vessel, forward and aft, leaving a narrow open space along the line of the centre for the crew of the vessel to pass to and fro. About fifty of them were full-grown young men, and about four hundred were boys aged from ten to sixteen years. It is said by persons acquainted with the slave-trade and who saw them, that they were generally in a very good condition of health and flesh, as compared with other similar cargoes, owing to the fact that they had not been so much crowded together on board as is common in slave voyages, and had been better fed than usual." (p. 344) Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Scenes from the Slave Trade. Slave trade United States. lctgm Slave ships Key West Florida. lctgm Engravings 1850-1860. gmgpc Periodical illustrations 1850-1860. gmgpc SP3 African American History Harper's weekly. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1860. Imprint NY. New York. 1860. Library Company of Philadelphia Rare **Per H 1529.F v IV n 179 June 2 1860 p 344 Digital image https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2651 1529.F R **Per H 1529.F v IV n 179 June 2 1860 p 344 1529.F R **Per H 1529.F v IV n 179 June 2 1860 p 344 (CPomAG)80005872 142297 142297 000149385 CONV 00 20051208 1945 000149385 20060120 1813 000149385 20060201 1536 000149385 20071018 1953 000149385 EDITH 40 20090213 1114 000149385 ANN 40 20171109 1446 ppl NY. New York. 1860. Imprint