absent from popular accounts and paintings of the squadron is the role that Africans played in the crews of the slavery suppression vessels. A number of ships, including the Black Joke, had sailors from the Kru people of Liberia, the state which neighbours Sierra Leone. The Kru, who traditionally worked as fishermen, possessed detailed knowledge of the West African coastline, and as pilots and regular seamen, they assisted the British commanders, who often struggled to compete with the more experienced slave-traders.
