Dark Voyage

Dark Voyage: An American Privateer's War on Britain's African Slave Trade is the never-before-told story of the extraordinary 1778 voyage of the American ship Marlborough that sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to attack the heart of the British slave trading empire in West Africa. Conceived and funded by prominent Rhode Island merchant John Brown, the 20-gun double-decked brig and its mission would have been forgotten were it not for the little-known primary source document, Journal of the Good Ship Marlborough, recognized by the author for its extraordinary importance to the history of slavery and the American Revolution.

Christian McBurney is author of six books on the American Revolutionary war, including Kidnapping the Enemy: The Special Operations to Capture Generals Charles Lee and Richard Prescott and The Rhode Island Campaign: The First French and American Operation in the Revolutionary War. He is also the author of many articles on American Revolution history, including "The American Revolution Sees the First Efforts to Limit the African Slave Trade," in Journal of the American Revolution, Annual Volume 2021. He is president of the George Washington American Revolution Round Table of the District of Columbia and manages the online journal, Small State, Big History, devoted to the history of Rhode Island. He practices law in Washington, DC.