Ship Model, Brig <I>Diligente</I>
date: label: Date made
content: 1960
label: brig first used in the transatlantic slave trade
content: 16th century
label: slaver was captured
content: 1837-01-12
label: slaver was captured
content: 1838-04-24
label: slaver was captured
content: 1839
notes: label: Description
content: This model represents the brig <I>Diligente</I>, a two-masted sailing vessel used in the last days of the transatlantic slave trade. Begun in the sixteenth century, this trade was fueled by the demand for human labor in the New World. Enslaved people were forced to work in gold and silver mines as well as on plantations producing valuable crops like sugar, coffee, rice, cotton and tobacco. The ships that delivered cargoes of these products to European markets also carried millions of enslaved people from their African homelands to the Americas.
label: Description
content: By the early nineteenth century, several nations had outlawed the slave trade. As a result, slave ship owners regularly changed the names of their ships and sold them frequently in an attempt to remain active in the lucrative trade without getting noticed. Because accurate records of these ships are difficult to find, the date and place where the slaver brig <I>Diligente</I> was built cannot be confirmed. Still, it is thought to be American-built, as the ship’s design is similar to that of ships built along the east coast of the United States, specifically vessels built in Maryland.
label: Description
content: In the early 1800s, Lloyd’s of London auctioned off old slave ships, which allowed condemned ships like the <I>Diligente</I> to return to the slave trade. In 1837 Parliament outlawed this practice, making the <I>Diligente</I> one of the last slave ships to be sold by auction. On January 12, 1837, the HMS <I>Scout</I> captured the slaver along the coast of Africa. At this time, the <I>Diligente</I> was sailing under the Portuguese flag and used the name <I>Paquete de Cabo Verde</I>. It was condemned to Sierra Leone, where it was sold to an American named Lake. Records indicate that Lake resold the ship to Miguel Bentinotte, a known slave trader, for the price of 1,000 British pounds.
label: Description
content: After changing owners and names twice more, the <I>Diligente</I> soon re-entered the slave trade with a license from the Portuguese government, only to be captured by the HMS <I>Pearl</I> on April 24, 1838. The British government sent the nine crewmen to Portugal to be tried, while the <I>Diligente</I> was condemned to Bermuda. Although there is some indication that the <I>Diligente</I> was caught again in 1839 near Cuba, it was probably broken up after its arrival in the Caribbean.
place: label: ship used in the slave trade
content: Atlantic Ocean
label: ship possibly built here as its design was similar to other vessels constructed in Maryland
content: United States: Maryland
topic: label: related event
content: Revolution and the New Nation
label: related event
content: Expansion and Reform
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Maritime
label: See more items in
content: Transportation
label: See more items in
content: On the Water exhibit
label: Exhibition
content: On the Water
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: National Museum of American History. On the Water exhibition website
label: Related Web Publication
content: http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TR.318279
label: catalog number
content: 318297
label: accession number
content: 234478
objectType: label: Object Name
content: brig
label: Object Name
content: model, rigged brig
label: Other Terms
content: brig; Maritime
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (fitting material)
label: Physical Description
content: rubber (fitting material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 30 in x 44 in x 16 in; 76.2 cm x 111.76 cm x 40.64 cm