1800-Feb.: Over 500 seafaring men from Saint-Domingue languished in overcrowded Jamaican jails after being captured as “prisoners of war” by the British Navy.

1800-Feb.: Over 500 seafaring men from Saint-Domingue languished in overcrowded Jamaican jails after being captured as “prisoners of war” by the British Navy. Admiral Hyde Parker refused all requests for their release, fearing they would immediately join privateers and attack British shipping. These men represented a significant portion of Toussaint’s naval expertise and their detention crippled the colony’s maritime infrastructure. Their incarceration without trial exemplified the legal precarity of black travelers during the revolutionary era. The loss of these sailors severely hindered the ability of the black republicans to maintain communication with the wider world.