Slave Ship Peter Mowell

On July 25, 1860, after thirty-six days of sailing from the Congo River in Africa, the Peter Mowell, an illegally operating slave ship, ran aground on Lynyard Cay in the Abaco chain of islands. This 129 ton schooner was en route to Havana, Cuba with a human cargo of 400 captive Africans. Having already lost many of its sails, the slaver wrecked as it attempted to evade what it believed to be a British Navy man-of-war. The ship crew and at least 390 of the 400 Africans made it safely ashore the uninhabited and inhospitable Lynyard Cay. The ship itself was left to disintegrate on the rocks.

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