HMS Nimble (1826)

HMS ''Nimble'' was a Royal Navy 5-gun schooner-of-war. She was employed in anti-slave trade patrol from 1826 until 1834, when she was wrecked on a reef with the loss of 70 Africans who had been rescued from a slave ship.

Background

In 1818, the United Kingdom and Spain entered into a treaty forbidding the importation of slaves into Spanish territories. One provision of the treaty set up a Mixed Commission Court in Havana to deal with Spanish ships caught by the Royal Navy while trying to carry Africans to slavery in Cuba. A similar British-Portuguese court in Sierra Leone ruled on Portuguese slave ships caught by the Royal Navy. The ''Nimble'' was assigned to the squadron that the Royal Navy maintained on the approaches to Cuba to enforce the provisions of the treaty. Slave ships captured near Africa and their cargoes of Africans were taken to Sierra Leone for disposition. Spanish slave ships captured near Cuba were taken to Havana to be dealt with by the Mixed Commission Court, while Portuguese ships caught in Caribbean or North American waters had to be taken to Sierra Leone. Despite the efforts of the Royal Navy, large numbers of Africans continued to be carried to slavery in Cuba, in part because Spanish officials in Cuba were often complicit in the illegal slave trade. More than 64,000 Africans may have been illegally landed in Cuba between 1822 and 1829.

Construction

She was built in 1822 as the Gran Colombian schooner ''Bolivar''. She may have been used as a slave ship at some point in her career. After the ''Magpie''-class schooner ''Nimble'' (built by McLean of Jamaica) was rejected as unsatisfactory in 1826, the Royal Navy purchased ''Bolivar'', renamed her ''Nimble'', and assigned her to the Royal Navy's West Indies Squadron.The first arrival of emancipated blacks in Trinidad
br> In Royal Navy service, ''Nimble'' carried four 18-pounder (8.2-kg) carronades and one 18-pounder cannon.

Career

From the records of slave ships captured, it is clear that ''Nimble'' was engaged in the interception of slavers throughout the years 1827 to 1834.

On 19 December 1827, ''Nimble'' ran aground near the Florida Keys while engaged in a gun battle with the Spanish slave ship ''Guerrero''. ''Guerrero'' sank and 41 Africans imprisoned in the hold drowned. The crew and 520 surviving Africans were rescued from ''Guerrero'' by wreckers. Spanish crew members from ''Guerrero'' hijacked two of the wrecking vessels and escaped to Cuba with 398 of the Africans. The remaining 120 Africans were taken to Key West. ''Nimble'' had lost her rudder when she went aground, but the wreckers helped ''Nimbles crew float her off the reef and fit the rudder from ''Guerrero'' on her.

''Nimble'' is recorded as salvaging the US vessel ''La Fayette'' on 13 May 1829. In June 1829, ''Nimble'' assisted after ''Monkey'' had captured the Spanish slave ship ''Midas'' near Bimini. ''Midas'' had left Africa in April 1829 with 562 Africans. Only 369 were still alive when ''Midas'' was captured by ''Monkey'', and 72 more died (of "smallpox, diarrhea & scurvy") before ''Monkey'' and ''Nimble'' could take ''Midas'' to Havana.

Lieutenant Joseph Sherer transferred from ''Monkey'' to ''Nimble''. On 16 November 1829, ''Nimble'' captured the Spanish slave ship ''Gallito'', carrying 16 crew and 136 Africans, near the Berry Islands, and took her to Havana. Head money for the 136 slaves was paid in 1831. Sherer was promoted to Commander on 29 December for his successes while captain of ''Monkey''.

On 13 July 1832, ''Nimble'' captured the Portuguese slave ship ''Hebe'', which was carrying 401 "Angolans". The Africans were in such poor condition that they were deemed unfit for a voyage to Sierra Leone, and were kept in the Bahamas. At first settled on isolated Highburn Cay, many were later recruited into the West India Regiment and the rest were apprenticed to white Bahamians.

In May 1833, ''Nimble'' captured the Spanish slave ship ''La Negrita'', carrying 189 Africans. When ''Nimble'' tried to take the captured ship to Havana for disposition by the Mixed Commission Court, she was turned away because of a cholera epidemic in Cuba, and the Africans were taken to Trinidad.

On 10 November 1833, ''Nimble'' captured the Spanish slave ship ''Joaquina'', carrying 348 Africans, after a battle near the Isle of Pines. The Spanish captain and two captive Africans were killed in the battle (another African died later of his wounds), and ''Joaquina'' sank.

A few days later, ''Nimble'' drove on shore the Spanish schooner ''Amistad Habanera'' on a lightly inhabited part of the Isle of Pines. After they had laded their slaves, ''Amistad Habanera''s crew blew up their schooner."West Indies" Foreign Miscellany.(1 February 1834) ''Preston Chronicle'' (Preston, England), issue 1118.

Reportedly, ''Nimble''s success in combating the slave trade so exasperated the Havana slave traders that they considered outfitting a ship and arming her with 20 guns, with the mission of capturing ''Nimble''.

On 7 December 1833, ''Nimble'' captured the Spanish slave ship ''Manuelita'', carrying a crew of 34 and 485 Africans, near the Isle of Pines. In August 1834, ''Nimble'' captured a Portuguese slave ship carrying 162 Africans and delivered them to the Bahamas.

While under the command of Lieutenant Bolton from 24 February 1833 until the wreck, ''Nimble'' captured six slave vessels with a total of 1,902 Africans aboard.

Fate

In November 1834, ''Nimble'' pursued the Spanish slave ship ''Carlota'' until ''Carlotta'' was wrecked on the Cuban coast. ''Nimble'' rescued 272 African slaves, which contributed to her wrecking. On the way to Havana, ''Nimble'' met bad weather, and on 4 November was driven onto a reef near Cay Verde on the north side of the Old Bahama Channel. The ship was lost and 70 of the Africans drowned. It was reported that the Africans in the hold were making so much noise that the crew could not hear the sound of the breakers on the reef. All her crew were saved, as were some 200 slaves. Bolton, his officers and crew, and the remaining Africans arrived at Havana on 17 November.

''Nimbles captain, Lieutenant Charles Bolton, was cleared by a court martial on 21 January 1835 of all blame in the loss of ''Nimble''.

Notes

Citations

References

*
*Craton, Michael and Gail Saunders. (1999) ''Islanders in the Stream: A History of the Bahamian People: Volume 2: From the ending of Slavery to the Twenty-first Century.'' University of Georgia Press. On-line a
Google Books
*
*
*Parliamentary papers, Volume XIX. (1831) ''Colonies and Slaves. Session 14 June - 20 October 1831.'' Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Found a
Google Books
*Parliamentary papers, Volume LI. (1835) ''Accounts and Papers. Fifteen Volumes. Volume 15. Slavery; State Papers. Session 19 February - 10 September 1835.'' Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Found a
Internet Archive
*
*Viele, John. (2001) ''The Florida Keys: The Wreckers.'' Sarasota, Florida: Pineapple Press, Inc.
*

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nimble
Schooners of the Royal Navy
African slave trade
Shipwrecks of the Bahamas
1822 ships
Maritime incidents in December 1827
Maritime incidents in November 1834
Ships built in Colombia