[Squawk 8888]

Actually, it was the Royal Navy that was fighting the slavers in 1841. I’m not sure what the American policy was at the time, IIRC there was still slavery at the time but I think importing more slaves was illegal. What I do recall is that many Carribean nations owe a lot of their heritage to the British fight against the slavers; The town of Freeport in the Bahamas got its name from the fact that the British turned loose several “cargoes” there.

[Popman]

From 1798 to 1819 the fledgling US Navy was battling slavery and piracy in its own territory, in the Caribbean, and on the high seas. In 1820, when slavery and piracy were equated, it was with the clear understanding that many of the perpetrators of one were also guilty of the other. In the Caribbean, the US Navy was attempting to establish law and order and bring both piracy and slavery to an end. More specifically, with regard to Chippewa, Trouvadore, and Onkahye, these are a manifestation of what was happening on a larger scale.

Link

[Verginius Rufus]

The Constitution forbade Congress from passing any law stopping the slave trade before 1808, but they did so immediately once they were allowed to. Cuba was a Spanish colony where slavery was still practiced so that may have been the destination.