Combat· West Africa Anti-Slavery Patrol
USS Marion vs Brothers
A capture that extended the patrol's reach beyond its usual ground.
Marines aboard the USS Marion took part in the seizure of the American ketch Brothers, found laden with the rice and water that were the unmistakable provisions of a slaver. Most of the squadron's work was concentrated on the West African slaving rivers, so a seizure in these more distant waters showed how the Marion ranged widely to catch vessels that thought themselves clear of the patrol. The boarding party acted under the 1820 Slave Trade Act, which branded the trade as piracy. The capture was bloodless. Identifying a slaver often turned on exactly this kind of evidence, a small vessel carrying far more food and water than her own crew could need, the telltale sign that she meant to take on a human cargo, even when no captives were yet aboard.
Record no. 368