It was April 1822, and Captain Henry John Leeke was sailing off the coast of Africa on the HMS Myrmidon . As always, Leeke scanned the horizon, looking for the contrast of white sails against the brilliant blue waters. Th e sails might belong to one of his fellow captains in the British Royal Navy. Th ey might belong to an English merchant ship, headed to the British colony at Freetown, Sierra Leone. Or they might belong to an illegal slave ship. In the holds of that ship might be 300, 400, even 600 miserable men, women, and children. Leeke carried orders directing him to search for and capture ships carrying slaves. British law had banned slave trading since 1807, but more recently Britain had signed treaties with Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands outlawing the traffi c. Leeke, like other British offi cers stationed in waters where slave traders were known to sail, had copies of the treaties authorizing him to search ships from these nations. Ships that were slave trading in violation of the treaties were subject to seizure and forfeiture. Leeke and his crew stood to profi t from the successful capture of an illegal slave ship, for the law allowed them a share of the proceeds from the sale of the forfeited ship and sometimes a bounty for each slave liberated.