Who'd Have Figured a Rebel Captured Last Slave Ship-- Part 6: John J. Guidry Gave His Life Trying to Save Crew of USS Huron.

 Returning to Gosport, John J. Guidry accepted a commission as a captain in the Confederate Navy and served until the end of the war.

But, his career was still not at end when the war ended and the Confederacy surrendered.  He was appointed  by President Grant to be general superintendent of the life-saving stations along the North Carolina and Virginia coasts in 1875.

For the next two years, he became a pioneer in  in building the life-saving  stations into one of the finest in the world.

Almost as if by destiny had a hand in it,  the USS Huron became stranded  off Kitty Hawk on November  25, 1877.  Fighting to save the lives of his former enemies, and before that, his former shipmates,  Captain John Julius Guidry drowned in the effort to save them.

No doubt history has a place for this swashbuckling young naval officer who was Matthew Fontaine Maury's assistant, historian of Brazil, a "rebel" naval officer who captured the last slave ship for the Union, and was a hero  in the fight to save the USS Huron.

--Old B-Runner

A Rebel Captured Last Slave Ship for Union, John J. Guthrie-- Part 1: Quite a Story

From the June 7, 1996, Virginian-Pilot (Va.) by Alan Flanders.

The exceptional  events surround John Julius Guthrie's life should place him high on the list of national heroes.

One of the strangest ironies of his life  started out on routine patrol duty on the USS Saratoga off the west coast of Africa on April 21, 1861.  (Remember, Confederates fired on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, effectively starting the shooting part of the Civil War.  Of course, there was no way the Saratoga's crew could have known about it back then.)

The U.S. Navy had been active in the suppression of slavery for the past twenty years.  While political debate over the legality of slavery heated up back home, Commander Alfred Taylor, commanding officer of the Saratoga, and his executive officer, John Julius Guthrie, of Portsmouth, Virginia,  were on the lookout for merchantmen engaged in the slave trade.

Guthrie was no doubt justifiably proud of his ship as she had refitted at Gosport (Navy Yard, Norfolk by Portsmouth, Va.) before departing for Africa from Philadelphia and carried  a number of local men as part of her crew.

Just at the mouth of the Congo River, a report reached the Saratoga that a large ship loaded with slaves was hidden up the river.  It was soon learned that the ship was none other than the Nightingale.  Despite her name, she was the most notorious slaver of them all.

As second in command, Guthrie was chosen to handpick a boarding party and  sail inland and capture the slaver.

--Old B-Runner

So, What About That Jenny Lind Figurehead?-- Part 1

 During this Jennymania/rage  people named towns, babies and furniture after her.  There is a Jenny Lind, North Carolina, according to stories, she sang a song under a nearby tree.  At least four ships were named after her, including the Nightingale that I have been writing about.  Many consider this Nightingale to be one of the fastest clipper ships ever built.

In 1851, the same year Jenny arrived in Boston, the Nightingale (originally to be named  Sarah Cowles) was built in Eliot, Maine.  The owners planned to use the ship to take wealthy passengers to London for the World's Fair in 1851 ($125 round trip).  The idea fell through, but a figurehead of a woman bearing the likeness of Jenny Lind was made and attached to the front of the ship.

Having difficulties paying the cost of the ship, this was when it turned to bringing slaves to the Americas.  Of interest, the Nightingale was captured by the USS Saratoga, which had been built in 1842 at the nearby Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, Maine.

After its capture, the Nightingale became a U.S. warship during the Civil War and afterwards went through owner after owner before being abandoned off Norway in 1894.

By this time, both Jenny Lind and P.T. Barnum were dead.  Jenny died in 1887 after a long self-imposed retirement.  

What Next?  --Old B-Runner

Capture of Slaver Nightingale-- Part 4

The health of the squadron was generally good, that of the Saratoga being unusually so.  Most of the squadron are anxiously looking for orders home.  The third night  after sailing from Kabenda was boarded by H.B.M. steamer  Wrangler, the steamer Clive being under our lee, who were quite chagrined at finding the bird was caged.

Lieuts. J.J. GUTHRIE and CHAS. W. HAYS were sent home on the Nightingale.  Lieut. TYLER, whose health had been bad during the entire cruise of the Saratoga, also returned in the same vessel.

The three mates of the Nightingale, Messrs. HINDS, WINSLOW and WESTERVILT, were sent home on the ship, to be delivered up to the authorities.

--Old B-Runner

Lieutenant John Julius Guthrie and the Navy's African Slave Trade Patrol on the USS Saratoga

From the March 1, 2021,  Washington (NC) Daily News  "A local war hero you might not recognize" by Leesa Jones.

John Guthrie was born in Washington, N.C. on April 15, 1815, and found himself stationed aboard the USS Saratoga off the West Coast of Africa on April 21, 1861, while the  rest of the country was getting into war.

At the time, the U.S. Navy was very active in the suppression of the slave trade.  The Saratoga's commander, Alfred Taylor, and his executive officer, Lt. Guthrie, received a report that a large ship loaded with slaves was located up the Congo River, where they were stationed at the time.  The ship's name was the Nightingale, one of the most notorious of the slavers.

As second in command, Lt. Guthrie was selected to lead a boarding party upriver and capture the slave ship.  The mission was a success and 961 slaves were captured and later released in Liberia.   The Saratoga then headed back to the United States with her prize (the Nightingale) in tow.

The Nightingale was the last slave ship captured by the U.S. Navy.  The African Slave Trade Patrol was part of the suppression of the Atlantic Slave Trade between 1819 and the start of the Civil War.  A squadron of Navy ships was kept busy at this and Guthrie's USS Saratoga was one of the most famous of these ships.

--Old B-Runner

The Huntress, Last Slave Ship to Leave the Congo in 1865

From Wikipedia.

The Huntress was out of New York and was a hermaphrodite schooner that transported slaves.  It is the last slave ship to leave the Congo of Africa after buying slaves from the Africans.

In March 1865, the Huntress left with a capacity of 200  slaves headed for Louisiana.  When the slave trade ended in 1808, slave readers turned to fast ships, largely topsail schooners and brigs, to outrun the vessels of Britain's West Africa Squadron and the American Navy's African Slave Trade Patrol.

"Negro Island" in the Mermentau River is thought to be the location where the Huntress' cargo died under horrible conditions.  However, records show a Huntress-type vessel landed a cargo of slaves in Cuba in 1864.

--Old B-Runner

'Skull Island' on the Mermentau River: Remains of the Last Slaves From Africa?

In the last post, I mentioned the USS Eugenie/USS Glasgow going on an expedition to Mermentau Lake in Louisiana.  Wikipedia made no mention of the lake, but did of the river.

It is located in the western part of the state.

The Mermentau River has the infamous "Negro Island"  (also known as "Skull Island") near the tiny village of Grand Chenier. In March 1867, countless skeletons, skulls and leg bones were found still shackled by rusting leg irons.

It is thought that with the Civil War over, a slaver ship, fearful of being caught violating the 1820 U.S. law on Slave Trade would be charged with piracy and hanged.

It is believed that this gruesome discovery might be the human cargo carried by the slaver  schooner Huntress which is known to be the last slave ship to leave the Congo with a cargo of 200 slaves.

A Horrible Story.  --Old B-Runner

Remains of Last-Known Slave Ship Clotilda May Have Been Discovered-- Part 3

It is known that the captain of the Clotilda burned it and sank it in 1860.

He had carried 110 slaves from the "Kingdom of Dahomey" modern-day Benin, Africa.  Slavery in the United States was still legal in 1860, but it was illegal to bring in new slaves and had been since 1808.

Wealthy plantation owner Timothy Meaher had made a bet that he could sneak slaves into the United States past the two federal forts protecting Mobile Bay (Forts Morgan and Gaines).

He won his bet and the human cargo was delivered.

The 110 slaves were freed five years later and they asked Meaher to pay their way back to Africa, but he refused.  They then appealed to the U.S. government to no avail either.

They Were Stuck.  --Old B-Runner

Remains of Slave Ship Clotilda May Have Been Found-- Part 2

No definite item has been found to prove without a doubt that the wreck is indeed that of the Clotilda, but the wreck itself dates to the mid-1800s judging from the architecture of it.and has the features of a typical Gulf Coast schooners that were used to haul lumber and heavy cargoes.  The Clotilda was built in 1852 and was a Gulf Coast schooner.

The slave owners are known to have burned the ship at the conclusion of the voyage from Africa to hide the evidence of what they had done.  There is evidence that the wreck had been burned.

A team of archaeologists from West Florida University are investigating the shipwreck.

At this point, they are just looking at what they see above the water and mud.  Many permits are needed to actually begin a dig at the site.

Accounts published in the past have misnamed the ship as the Clotilde, but it is the Clotilda.

Most Likely, It Is the Clotilda.  --Old B-Runner

Wreck of Alabama Ship Might be Last American Slave Ship-- Part 1

From AL.com  "Wreck found by reporter may be last American slave ship, archaeologists say" by Ben Raines.

Using historical records and accounts from old-timers, the long lost wreck of the Clotilda may have been found.  It is thought to be the very last slave ship to bring its human cargo to the  United States in 1860.

The remains were found partially buried in mud alongside an island in the lower Mobile-Tensaw Delta, a few miles north of the city of Mobile.  They were exposed by the recent low tides brought on by the same weather system that brought the "Bomb Cyclone" to the U.S. east coast.

The site is accessible only by boat.