Capture of the Veloz Passagera

Capture of Veloz Passagera
Part of the Suppression of the Slave Trade
Date7 September 1830
Locationnear Prince's Island, West Africa, Atlantic Ocean
Result British victory
Belligerents
 United Kingdom African Slave Traders
Commanders and leaders
United Kingdom William Broughton Jozé Antonio de la Vega
Strength
1 sloop-of-war 1 ship
Casualties and losses
3 killed
12 wounded
1 sloop-of-war damaged
43 killed
20 wounded
1 ship captured

The Capture of Veloz Passagera was a single ship action that occurred during the United Kingdom's blockade of Africa in the early and mid 19th century. Royal Navy sloop-of-war HMS Primrose, of eighteen guns, under Captain William Broughton, captured the much larger 20 gun Cuban slave ship under Master Jozé Antonio de la Vega.[1]

Capture

Primrose encountered Veloz Passagera off West Africa, in the day, near Prince's Island on 7 September 1830. A severe engagement ensued in which the British were victorious. Forty-three slavers out of 150 were killed in action and another 20 were wounded, while the Royal Marines and sailors lost three killed and twelve wounded. The engagement was one of the few fought during several decades of anti-slavery operations off the African coast and the most significant in terms of casualties and the strength of the opposing forces.

Veloz Passagera had a cargo of 555 slaves aboard her and the British charged her surviving crew charged in England piracy. On 6 Jun 1831 account of proceeds of the bounty granted for 551 slaves and a moiety of the hull, etcetera, were deposited in the Registry of the High Court of Admiralty on 16 June.[2] Veloz was sent Sierra Leone for adjudication by the British and the Spanish Mixed Court of Justice, which condemned her on 16 October 1830. Captain Broughton sailed Primrose back to England as well, leaving Africa in December to follow up on the court proceedings.[3][4]

Citations and references

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