The Black Joke

**Longlisted for the Mountbatten Maritime Media Awards 2022**A groundbreaking history of the Black Joke, the most famous member of the British Royal Navy''s anti-slavery squadron, and the long fig ...

**Longlisted for the Mountbatten Maritime Media Awards 2022**A groundbreaking history of the Black Joke, the most famous member of the British Royal Navy''s anti-slavery squadron, and the long fight to end the transatlantic slave trade.Initially a slaving vessel itself, the Black Joke was captured in 1827 and repurposed by the Royal Navy to catch its former compatriots. Over the next five years, the vessel liberated more enslaved people than any other in Britain''s West Africa Squadron.As Britain attempted to snuff out the transatlantic slave trade by way of treaty and negotiation, enforcing t