1793-Sep.: Robert Bartlett, captain of Kingston’s town guard, apprehended eight “dangerous” black individuals who had landed at the west end of the city in a…

1793-Sep.: Robert Bartlett, captain of Kingston’s town guard, apprehended eight “dangerous” black individuals who had landed at the west end of the city in an open boat. This group, consisting of six men and two women, had eluded naval patrols to bring firsthand news of the ongoing struggle in Saint-Domingue. Such arrivals were increasingly common as the revolution entered its third year and the boundaries of colonial control became more fluid. The prompt arrest and later deportation of these travelers highlighted the British administration’s resolve to purge the island of revolutionary “contagion.” These anonymous voyagers represented the persistent and courageous effort of the unfree to maintain a transnational geography of struggle.