1790-Dec.-31: A formal statement was prepared regarding the “Case of the Captain & Crew of the Schooner Union of Barbados” who were detained in a French port.
1790-Dec.-31: A formal statement was prepared regarding the “Case of the Captain & Crew of the Schooner Union of Barbados” who were detained in a French port. The document described how the crew was held in temporary captivity, during which a black mariner serving the vessel’s owner was permitted to move freely while the white captain was kept in irons. This reversal of the traditional racial hierarchy was cited by British officials as evidence of the “world turned upside down” by revolutionary principles in the French islands. The incident served as a powerful anecdote about the practical impact of egalitarian ideas on maritime social structures. It reinforced fears that French influence would eventually subvert the status of enslaved people in British territories.