History | |
---|---|
Name | Antelope |
Builder | Freeport, Maine |
Completed | 1802 |
General characteristics | |
Tons burthen | 112 (bm) |
Antelope was a slave ship that the United States captured in 1820 with more than 280 captive Africans aboard. It had been legally engaged in the African slave trade under the flag of Spain when it was taken over by a privateer at Cabinda. The legal case on the fate of the captured Africans, known as The Antelope, lasted for seven years, with some of the Africans being turned over as slaves to Spanish owners, while 120 were sent as free people to Liberia. Both the commandeering of the boat, as well as the ensuing trial, are the subject of the book Dark Places of the Earth, by Jonathan M. Bryant.