1785-Dec.-25: African slave trader Antera Duke celebrated the New Year with several European captains and local elites at a foggy morning gathering at Aqua L…

1785-Dec.-25: African slave trader Antera Duke celebrated the New Year with several European captains and local elites at a foggy morning gathering at Aqua Landing. The group, including Captains Fairweather, Cooper, and Potter, along with Efik leaders like Duke Ephraim and Coffee Duke, dined and drank together until nightfall. This social interaction highlights the close personal and commercial relationships that were often cultivated between European mariners and African merchants to facilitate the slave trade. Such events were a standard part of the diplomatic and economic landscape of coastal West African slaving ports.