In 1859, 392 enslaved African(s) were “liberated” in a state-run scheme usually resulting in involuntary indentures, conscription, or re-enslavement. Under the jurisdiction of 10, Case ID LA-E-3745 occurred via the Capitanía General de la Isla de Puerto Rico, San Juan
| RegID | LA-E-3745 |
|---|---|
| Case Name | Majestad (a) J. W. Reid |
| Year | 1859 |
| Government Department | Ministerio de Ultramar, Reino de España |
| Court | Capitanía General de la Isla de Puerto Rico, San Juan |
| Trial Outcome | Condemned |
| Enslaved Total | 1050 |
| Liberated Africans Total | 392 |
| Registered Total | 0 |
| Notes | On 5 February 1859, the Majesty, a ship whose cargo was rumoured to be almost a thousand Africans, ran aground just off Puerto Rico's eastern coast. Even before government officials and the vice-consuls of France and Great Britain arrived to the shores of Humacao to witness the event, landowners in the region rushed to buy more than 300 slaves and to conceal them on their estates. Aware of the repercussions of this flagrant violation to treaties abolishing the slave trade, the governor-captain general, Fernando Cotoner ordered the rest of the cargo (estimated at roughly 650) to be immediately transported to San Juan. About 100 men and women were reportedly so ill that they had to remain in Humacao. There is some discrepancy, however, between the number of emancipados that allegedly arrived to a 'deposit' in Cataño (392) and the number for which there are records in the Casa de Beneficencia (60). It could be that many were consigned 'permanently,' so that their cases were filed elsewhere. Some probably died. In addition, it seems plausible that the Casa housed only those who, because of ill health, required more surveillance. |
| Sources | Archivo General de Puerto Rico, Superior Gobierno, Capitanía General y Superintendencia Delegada de Real Hacienda de Puerto-Rico, caja 67, circ. 81, La Gaceta, 1 Mar. 1859; c.f. Teresita Martínez Vergne, "The Allocation of Liberated African labour through the Casa de Beneficencia, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1859–1864," Slavery & Abolition 12, no. 3 (1991): 200-216; SlaveVoyages, www.slavevoyages.org (accessed 2020), Voyage ID: 4976. |
| Cite as |
| X Capture | -7361285.583362 |
|---|---|
| Y Capture | 2089424.666272 |
| Ship Status | Liberated Africans |
| Date of departure from a place or port in Africa generally following the purchase of enslaved people. Include YYYY-MM-DD, if known. | |
| Region of departure from Africa. Required entry. For more information about the geographical hierarchy used in this digital resource, please refer to AfricanRegions.org. | West Central Africa North |
| Place or port of departure from Africa, if known. A controlled vocabulary for place names are associated with geographic coordinates using Google Maps Global Mercator EPSG:900913. See https://epsg.io/transform#s_srs=4326&t_srs=900913&x=NaN&y=NaN | Congo River |
| Capture date at sea or on land, if known. Date of the sentence. Include YYYY-MM-DD, if known. | |
| Location | Crashed into Puerto Rico near Cataño |
| Navy | Britain |
| Ship | |
| Captain | |
| Supporting Ships | |
| Sentence Date | |
| Date of arrival to the place where the trial, purchase, or asylum occurred, resulting in "liberation" and indenture. Includes YYYY-MM-DD, if known. | |
| Region of arrival around the world. Required field. For more information about the geographical hierarchy used in this digital resource, please refer to AfricanRegions.org. Other regions outside of Africa include, Western Europe, East Coast of North America, etc. | Caribbean |
| Place or port of arrival around the world. Required field. A controlled vocabulary for place names are associated with geographic coordinates using Google Maps Global Mercator EPSG:900913. See https://epsg.io/transform#s_srs=4326&t_srs=900913&x=NaN&y=NaN | Cataño |