1793-Dec.-04: Newport Bowers and six other French-speaking black residents of Saint-Domingue boarded the Baltimore vessel Juno to travel to the United States.

1793-Dec.-04: Newport Bowers and six other French-speaking black residents of Saint-Domingue boarded the Baltimore vessel Juno to travel to the United States. Bowers believed the passengers were “free Negroes” who had been emancipated by the Commissioner and had agreed to accompany him to America. However, white crew members secretly planned to stop in Havana to sell the black passengers into slavery for a profit. Shortly after departing the Cap, the Juno was intercepted by a British cruiser and brought to Jamaica as a prize of war. This incident underscored the extreme perils and lack of legal protection faced by black travelers in the revolutionary Atlantic.