Shipwreck, Slavery and Survival

Shipwreck, Slavery and Survival. The Saga of the Slave Ship Guerrero. , A nearly two year ordeal for 100 enslaved Africans in Florida ended when they departed from Fernandina in 1829 and relocated to a settlement for freed slaves called New Georgia, in Liberia, Africa., The Spanish slave ship Guerrero, carrying 561 enslaved Africans to plantations in Cuba, hit a reef off Key Largo on December 19, 1827. The 520 survivors were rescued. While 398 were sold as slaves in Cuba by smugglers, approximately 120 made it safely to Key West on another ship., The slaves were taken to St. Augustine from Key West in February, 1828, where they were held at Fort Marion (Castillo de San Marcos National Park). Eighty-nine of the Africans who could work were hired out to plantation owners; 36 to Zephaniah Kingsley (Kingsley Plantation National Park), among others., Finally, in 1829, the U.S. Government decided to bring together the remaining 100 slaves and take them to Fernandina. Here, they were housed at the site of Fort San Carlos (Fernandina Plaza Historic State Park) until their departure for Liberia on the ship, Washington’s Barge, September 30, 1829., Although slavery was legal in the United States, the importation of slaves had been prohibited by the U.S. Constitution since 1808. But, because slaves from the Guerrero were shipwrecked, they were considered cargo, not people. The U.S. Government, including President John Quincy Adams and Congress, were involved in the political dilemma. The United States formed New Georgia to serve as a free settlement for slaves shipwrecked or captured from slave smuggling ships.