The truth about Captain Fitzgerald

Mr Spielberg exercised a considerable deal of artistic licence in the film and the 'goof list' is pretty long. He managed to get much of the historical background right, but results were mixed.

His treatment of the minor character 'Captain' Charles Fitzgerald of the Royal Navy is a case in point. Charles Fitzgerald (1796-1887) was never a captain - his highest rank in the navy was commander. Neither did he lead the British squadron which at the end of the film is shown destroying the Spanish-controlled slave trading stonghold of Lomboko.

The truth is staightforward and very interesting in its own right. Fitzgerald was of aristocratic Irish origin.He joined the British Navy at the age of 13 (as a midshipman) and reached the rank of lieutenant in 1826 - quite late because the navy 'downsized'after the defeat of Napoleon and promotion was slow. From 1838 he commanded a small ship called the 'Buzzard' in the African Squadron and took part in complicated and sometimes bloody operations aimed at suppressing the slave trade.

The 'Buzzard' captured two Spanish slavers off the coast of modern Nigeria in March 1839 and took them to Sierra Leone,only to fall foul of diplomatic problems. The slave ships were flying American flags at the time and that made Fitzgerald's actions controversial.The officer was given the option of taking the slaves west and placing them before an American court for a ruling. Fitzgerald escorted the two captured ships to New York and got what he wanted:permission to take the slaves back to Sierra Leone and release them.

That explains the presence of Fitzgerald and his crew in New York during the 'Amistad' case. One member of his crew was the Mande-speaking African James Covey, who as the film reveals was snapped up as an interpreter by those working for the 'Amistad' captives. Covey was not an 'ensign'- there was no such rank in the British navy. He was aged about 20 in 1839 and may have been a junior officer of some kind. Fitzgerald released him from naval service for the duration of proceedings. Covey returned to West Africa afterwards; his fate remains unknown.

Things did not end well for Fitzgerald. He sailed east with the 'Buzzard' and the two slave ships, only to run into a massive hurricane in December 1839. One of the slavers went down with all on board, including the British prize crew, and the other was forced back to the West Indies. However the New York decision held - the Africans on the vessel were now free people.

Charles Fitzgerald was promoted to commander in 1840, but tropical fevers soon wrecked his health and forced him to quit. The British Government appreciated his services and he went on to have a solid career as an imperial administrator. Fitzgerald served as governor of Gambia (1844-1847) and Western Australia (1848-1855) in turn and then retired to Ireland.

Getting back to the finale of the film, Commander Joseph Denman (1810-1874)of the Royal Navy was the gent who played the leading role in smashing the fortress of Lomboko in November 1840. The event led to some legal skirmishing but Denman emerged intact and ended his career as an admiral. Denman was an agressive abolitionist who terminated the careers of quite a few slavers. Hardly surprising, as his father Lord Thomas Denman (Chief Justice of England) had been very active in the anti-slavery movement even before the officer was born.