The Neirsée Incident of 1828 and the Transatlantic Slave Trade

Introduction: The Neirsée Incident in Historical Context

Although Britain and France were formally attempting to dismantle the transatlantic slave trade, the global economy had come to depend on it. The Neirsée incident of 1828 reveals the difficulties inherent in ending the slave trade due to the deep interconnectedness of that economy. For several years prior to the incident, Britain had outlawed the trafficking of enslaved people, which is why the British Navy intervened and seized the ship. Yet Britain did not hold an international mandate to abolish slave trafficking altogether. The human cargo on board the Neirsée was worth far too much to the businesspeople involved on both sides of the Atlantic — in colonial territories and in Africa alike.

In Inhuman Traffick, Rafe Blaufarb and Liz Clarke rely on primary sources from both Britain and France to demonstrate what occurred before, during, and after the Neirsée incident. The British sources were more reliable and easier to obtain, which is why the French side of the story is less fully told than the British account. Nevertheless, Blaufarb does obtain French primary sources, chiefly the record books of the governor of Guadeloupe, the Baron des Routours. This source reveals how the French were more ambivalent than the British regarding the continuation of the transatlantic slave trade. The British primary sources used in Inhuman Traffick include Admiral Fleming's extensive writings, the records of Captain Owen, and the logs of British crewmen. Taken together, these documents illuminate what was so upsetting about the Neirsée incident from multiple perspectives.

Primary Sources and the Challenge of Multiple Perspectives

The incident itself was relatively straightforward: the British Navy spotted the ship and intervened on behalf of the enslaved people, on the principle of emancipation. The Royal Navy's West African Squadron, comprising both British and Kru sailors, intended to take the Neirsée to Sierra Leone, where the goal was to free those on board. Only limited primary source documents from the Sierra Leone colonial offices exist to corroborate the material gathered by British sailors, and there are similarly few records detailing the incident from the perspectives of the enslaved people or the Kru. Despite these gaps, Blaufarb is able to piece together what happened, revealing a range of perspectives and points of view.

The primary source documents also expose the differential attitudes of other European powers. Many had some part to play in the transatlantic slave trade, but none had as great a financial stake as Great Britain. Ironically, it would be Britain that resolved to end the slave trade once and for all — a determination that led the Navy to overtake the Neirsée.

The Incident and Its Immediate Aftermath

Unfortunately, the slavers on board the Neirsée managed to seize the ship back from the British officers and sailed it — along with its human cargo and the now-captive British crew — to Guadeloupe. Upon arrival in the French colony, the enslaved people on board were promptly auctioned off. The British crewmen were also held, creating an international incident that could just as easily have escalated into open war between Britain and France.

The primary sources show that French officials in Guadeloupe were furious about what had transpired, given that their positions depended on maintaining the status quo of the islands and sustaining the plantation economy through a continued supply of enslaved labor. At the same time, the colonies were far removed from European political sensibilities, as evidenced by the correspondences exchanged between Europe and Guadeloupe. By this period, European governments had begun seriously considering the ethics of the slave trade and were attempting to implement policies that would bring it to an end. The Neirsée incident thus initiated a new round of discussions about how nations could collaborate to bring about the effective termination of the transatlantic slave trade.

Britain vs. France: Competing National Grievances

The colonial government officials in Guadeloupe were notably less sympathetic toward British abolitionism — let alone toward the enslaved people themselves and their human rights — than their French counterparts in the Old World. The Neirsée incident therefore demonstrates how difficult it was, logistically and diplomatically, to implement a universal policy of human rights at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and why the United States, Brazil, and other nations continued to participate in slaving.

What upset Britain was that the slave trade had been continuing despite its tacit efforts to end it. What upset France was that Britain was interfering in the affairs of other nations and presuming to dictate policy. The perspectives of colonial officials in Guadeloupe were shaped above all by the economic imperatives of the plantation system, placing them at odds with the more reform-minded currents emerging in metropolitan France and Britain alike.

Conclusion: The Neirsée Incident and the Path to Abolition

The Neirsée incident initiated a new round of discussions about how nations could collaborate on the effective termination of the transatlantic slave trade. The incident illustrates just how deeply entrenched the economic interests surrounding slavery were, and how far the realities of colonial governance lagged behind the reforming impulses of European metropolitan politics. The competing grievances of Britain and France — one frustrated by the trade's persistence, the other resentful of foreign interference — encapsulate the central tension facing any international effort at abolition.

Ultimately, Blaufarb's use of primary sources from both nations brings this complexity into sharp relief, demonstrating that the path toward abolition was neither linear nor uncontested. The Neirsée incident stands as a revealing case study in the difficulties of translating moral principle into international policy — a challenge that would persist for decades before the transatlantic slave trade was finally suppressed.