Wanderer (slave ship)
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Wanderer in U.S. Navy service during the American Civil War (1861–1865), after her days in the slave trade were over.
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| History | |
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 United States
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| Name: | Wanderer |
| Launched: | 1858 |
| Fate: | Lost 12 January 1871 |
| Notes: |
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| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 300 tons |
| Length: | 106 ft 0 in (32.31 m) |
| Beam: | 25 ft 6 in (7.77 m) |
| Draught: | 9 ft 6 in (2.90 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Sail plan: | Schooner-rigged |
| Speed: | 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) |
Wanderer was the penultimate documented ship to bring an illegal cargo of slaves from Africa to the United States, landing at Jekyll Island, Georgia on November 28, 1858. (Clotilde, which transported slaves in 1860, is the last known ship to bring slaves from Africa to the US.) Originally built in New York as a pleasure schooner, The Wanderer was purchased by a Southern planter and used in a conspiracy to import slaves. An estimated 303 to 409 slaves survived the voyage from Angola to Georgia. The federal government prosecuted the owner and crew, but failed to win a conviction.
During the American Civil War, Union forces took over the ship and used it for various military roles. It was decommissioned in 1865, converted to merchant use, and lost off Cuba in 1871.
In November 2008 the Jekyll Island Museum unveiled an exhibit dedicated to the enslaved Africans on Wanderer. That was also the month of unveiling of a memorial sculpture on Jekyll Island dedicated to the surviving slaves.
Upon ending the slave trade in all British colonies in 1808, the British began pressuring other nations to end their slave trades. At the same time, the British began pressuring the African rulers to stop exporting people as slaves. The United States officially outlawed the importation of slaves in 1808. It did not use its own ships to enforce the law until 1819, when U.S. naval ships joined British patrol ships in the Caribbean and African waters to intercept slavers (See African Slave Trade Patrol).
Even after the US outlawed the slave trade, people tried to evade the law. The Wanderer was built in 1857 and in 1858 it was partially outfitted for a long voyage. The ship flew the pennant of the New York Yacht Club. Although there was speculation about the ship's projected use, it was inspected. As there was no conclusive evidence that it was to be used as a slave ship, it was allowed to pass.
The captain sailed to Angola, Africa. For a period of 10 days, he had shelves and pens built into the hold in order to accept a shipment of 490-600 slaves, who were loaded on the ship. Many of the slaves died on the six-week journey across the Atlantic Ocean. Wanderer reached Jekyll Island, Georgia on November 28, 1858, delivering 409 slaves alive.
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