First American Colonization Society charter ship transporting rescued Africans to Liberia sails from Key West, Florida

The 975 ton S.S. South Shore, one of the three ships chartered to return the African slaves rescued from slave ships and landed at Key West, sailed in the early morning hours for Liberia.  It carried the 385 surviving captives from the William, captured by the U.S.S. Wyandotte on May 7, 1860 and arrived at Monrovia on August 30, 1860. One hundred and fifty-two Africans had died during their second crossing of the Atlantic.  The survivors were delivered to the American Colonization Society agent at Bassa, Liberia. (By John Osborne)