United States v. Schooner Emperor

Trial and arbitral proceedings--Florida

Maritime law -- Florida.

Slave trade -- United States -- Florida.

Antislavery movements -- United States.

African Americans -- United States -- History.

United States -- Slavery and bondage.

Slavery--1830-1840.

African Americans -- Legal status, laws, etc.

With its long coastline, numerous bays, inlets, and treacherous reefs, Florida presented unique problems for the creation and enforcement of maritime law.

One consequence of Florida's coastal geography and proximity to the Caribbean was that the territory served as a frequent terminus for the illicit slave trade. Although the slave trade was formally abolished in 1808, slave catchers continued to kidnap African people and transport them across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas. Such illegal trafficking in human cargo provoked the case United States v. Schooner Emperor.

In early 1837, the schooner Emperor left Cuba for the United States. Its destination was the port of St. Joseph along Florida's northern Gulf coast. Charles G. Cox, captain of the Emperor, intended to discreetly unload his illegal cargo and reap a handsome profit. According to a Florida law passed in 1822, the fine for smuggling slaves into Florida was $300 per individual. Men like Cox considered this fine worth the risk.

Harbor officials apparently made no effort to thoroughly inspect the Emperor upon its arrival in St. Joseph Bay. Local citizens alerted the authorities, however, when they perceived blacks moving about on the deck of the ship. At some point the kidnapped Africans were brought ashore, marched overland, and then ferried across St. Andrew's Bay (near modern-day Panama City). Their final destination was a life of servitude on a plantation in Washington County.

United States Marshall Samuel Duval followed the rumors and recovered the smuggled Africans. Under the law of 1822, these people should have received their freedom, but their fate is unclear from the documents remaining in the case file. Perhaps they were returned to Africa? Documents from the case suggest that the group indeed came directly from Africa, as opposed to having been kidnapped from elsewhere in the Caribbean.

Attention now turned to the fate of the Emperor. Upon depositing its cargo at St. Joseph Bay, the ship traveled to Pensacola, Mobile, and then planned to return to Havana. Cox apparently determined to take a detour and landed again at Pensacola. Authorities seized the ship when it docked at Pensacola and took Cox into custody. Cox quickly posted bail and thereafter disappears from the remainder of records related to the case.

The Circuit Court of West Florida in Pensacola debated what would become of the ship. The evidence implicating the vessel in the illegal slave trade proved scant. No one came forward to testify on behalf of the territory of Florida, so the court determined to return the vessel to its owners. Apparently, too many people still benefited from the illegal slave trade. No one who originally alerted authorities to the illegal cargo came forward and no one pressured the original whistleblowers into testifying.

Lawyers challenged the decision to return the Emperor to its owners and the case went to the Territorial Court of Appeals. The high court determined to put the Emperor up for public auction, with the proceeds reverting to the territory. Marshall Duval collected the funds, but refused to deposit them into the territory's coffers. Eventually, Duval conceded, but, because of a lack of evidence, the funds ultimately returned to the claimants of the Emperor.

This case is an important example of the illegal slave trade activity that took place in Florida's waters before the Civil War. It also demonstrates the difficulty in bringing to justice those that continued to kidnap African people and import them illegally into the United States.

To learn more about this case, see Dorothy Dodd, "The Schooner Emperor: An Incident of the Illegal Slave Trade in Florida," The Florida Historical Quarterly 13:3 (January 1935): 117-128.

Florida Supreme Court

State Archives of Florida, Series 49, Box 476, Folder 864

1839

judicial records

eng-US

Text

usvemperor

864

476

United States Supreme Court

150

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