1818: A man who had escaped slavery and returned to Jamaica testified to seeing “thirty to forty” other fugitives from the British island during his

1818: A man who had escaped slavery and returned to Jamaica testified to seeing “thirty to forty” other fugitives from the British island during his stay in Haiti. He reported that Haitian sailors frequently encouraged and aided people escaping slavery, providing them with safe passage to the black republic. This testimony highlighted the ongoing role of Haiti as a sanctuary for those fleeing bondage in the wider Caribbean. The collaboration between Haitian mariners and Jamaicans who had escaped demonstrated the persistence of the Afro-Atlantic networks of mutual aid. Such accounts reinforced the perception of Haiti as a direct threat to the stability of the neighboring colonial labor systems.