A lithograph possibly depicting a frigate of the West African Squadron chasing an American privateer or slaver. Trimmed close to the image, a print title and publication information are absent. However, manuscript text on the verso indicates that the scene is of a chase between a frigate and an American privateer or slaver. No flags or other identifying insignias are present.
The 25 March 1807 Abolition of the Slave Trade act made it illegal to carry enslaved people in British ships. Although the British eventually persuaded other nations to enter into treaties prohibiting the slave trade and empowering British naval offers to act as international police to arrest slavers, it took nearly 60 years of naval patrolling and diplomacy to abolish the Atlantic slave trade. The fleet that carried out the anti-slavery patrols was called the West Africa Squadron. The pursuit and capture of slave ships became celebrated naval engagements and were widely reported and memorialized in souvenir engravings.
