Long cours et négriers nantais du trafic illégal, 1814-1833

Illegal slave-trading was being practised on a wide scale again after a slow-down during the Revolution and Empire. Under the liberal — for this once — eye of the Restoration, outport interests paved the way for a huge illégal set-up, at the mercy of the more or less open complicity of the maritime authorities. One sixth of the Nantes long distance shipping between 1814 and 1833 was taken up with slave trading, at least 268 ships to which 85 highly suspicious ones may be added. They averaged 145 tons and employed nearly 5000 well paid sailors. Almost half the illegal trading was commanded by recidivist captains of which only about 40 were either condemned or even bothered. 93 ship-owners invested at least once in the trade. Of the 48 recidivists, 6 were responsible for 1/3 of the trade. Though their numbers remain incertain, Cuba must have been the main receiving centre for deported Africans. Each slave-trading venture needed approximately 100 000 F. The investor did not risk being penalized which was not the case for the captain and his equipment. Repression did not actually begin until 1826. This is because by 1817, the trade was protected, so it seems, by two capitalist organizations made up of recidivist ship-owners. By 1827 Nantes slave-trading was in regression. One of the most notorious backsliders went bankrupt just when illegal trading no longer attracted economi interests either in Nantes or in France.Illegal slave-trading was being practised on a wide scale again after a slow-down during the Revolution and Empire. Under the liberal — for this once — eye of the Restoration, outport interests paved the way for a huge illégal set-up, at the mercy of the more or less open complicity of the maritime authorities. One sixth of the Nantes long distance shipping between 1814 and 1833 was taken up with slave trading, at least 268 ships to which 85 highly suspicious ones may be added. They averaged 145 tons and employed nearly 5000 well paid sailors. Almost half the illegal trading was commanded by recidivist captains of which only about 40 were either condemned or even bothered. 93 ship-owners invested at least once in the trade. Of the 48 recidivists, 6 were responsible for 1/3 of the trade. Though their numbers remain incertain, Cuba must have been the main receiving centre for deported Africans. Each slave-trading venture needed approximately 100 000 F. The investor did not risk being penalized which was not the case for the captain and his equipment. Repression did not actually begin until 1826. This is because by 1817, the trade was protected, so it seems, by two capitalist organizations made up of recidivist ship-owners. By 1827 Nantes slave-trading was in regression. One of the most notorious backsliders went bankrupt just when illegal trading no longer attracted economi interests either in Nantes or in France.Daget Serge. Long cours et négriers nantais du trafic illégal, 1814-1833. In: Revue française d'histoire d'outre-mer, tome 62, n°226-227, 1er et 2e trimestres 1975. La traite des Noirs par l'Atlantique : nouvelles approches. pp. 90-134