The Black Bar, by George Manville Fenn.
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HMS Nautilus is on patrol off the west coast of Africa, intercepting
the American slave ships that were trying at that time to purchase
cargoes of slaves from the dealers, and then to take them across the
Atlantic in loathsome conditions. Slavery had been abolished in
British territories in 1772, many years before, and the British were
actively policing African waters in the hope of deterring the Americans
and the Portuguese from retaining the slave trade.
Nautilus has two midshipmen aboard, and one of these, Mark Vandean, is
the hero of the story. The book is in the usual Manville Fenn style,
with a succession of dreadful situations in which the hero finds
himself. "How ever does he extricate himself from this?" the reader is
continually asking. Of course he does, but it is often by means of
something quite unexpected.
A Black Bar is a device in heraldry, indicating that there is something
shameful in the wearer's ancestry. NH
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