In 1839, a crew from an American naval vessel boarded a suspicious-looking craft off the New England coast and uncovered a strange story. It was a Spanish slave-ship from Havana, which had been taken over by African slaves after. killing the captain and some of' the crew, though the mutineers had spared the two owners on condition that these navigated them back to Africa. They were tricked, however, and taken into American custody, while the Spanish government; demanded their trial and punishment. A long-drawn legal battle followed, fought mainly, by a core of fiery abolitionists who seized the occasion as a way to drive home to the general public the iniquities of the slave trade. In the end the slaves were freed, and the case; marked a milestone towards, abolition a little over twenty years later. This account, unfortunately, is pedestrian and the endless legal wrangles, while important historically,; make for dense reading.