Mutiny on the Rising Sun

A little-known story of mutiny and murder illustrating the centrality of smuggling and slavery in early American societyOn the night of June 1, 1743, terror struck the schooner Rising Sun. After completing a routine smuggling voyage where the crew sold enslaved Africans in exchange for chocolate, sugar, and coffee in the Dutch colony of Suriname, the ship traveled eastward along the South American coast. Believing there was an opportunity to steal the lucrative cargo and make a new life for themselves, three sailors snuck below deck, murdered four people, and seized control of the vessel.Mutiny on the Rising Sun recounts the origins, events, and eventual fate of the Rising Sun’s final smuggling voyage in vivid detail. Starting from that horrible night in June 1743, it narrates a deeply human history of smuggling, providing an incredible story of those caught in the webs spun by illicit commerce. The case generated a rich documentary record that illuminates an international chocolate smuggling ring, the lives of the crew and mutineers, and the harrowing experience of the enslaved people trafficked by the Rising Sun. Smuggling stood at the center of the lives of everyone involved with the business of the schooner. Larger forces, such as imperial trade restrictions, created the conditions for smuggling, but individual actors, often driven by raw ambition and with little regard for the consequences of their actions, designed, refined, and perpetuated this illicit commerce. At once startling and captivating, Mutiny on the Rising Sun shows how illegal trade created demand for exotic products like chocolate, and how slavery and smuggling were integral to the development of American capitalism.

"This page-turner introduces the reader to an Atlantic world in which smuggling across international borders allowed white New Englanders to climb the social ladder, but which was also steeped in violence and was ultimately based on the enslavement of Africans. A must-read for everyone interested in the lives of ordinary people in early America.", "A fascinating account of the nefarious world of Atlantic trade in the colonial era. Interspersed with the chilling narrative are compelling analyses of the personal networks by which transatlantic trade was organized, the brutal structure of the slave trade, and the imperial rivalries that generated the incentive for smuggling. Hardesty’s intrepid research and deft storytelling bring the reader close to the lived experience of a world that wanted to stay hidden.", "Deploys the dramatic events of a deadly mutiny off the South American coast in 1743 to tell an otherwise obscured history of smuggling in the Atlantic world. Hardesty has constructed a riveting analysis of this unsavory tale that takes us from Boston to Suriname and beyond; his argument that smuggling underscored empires and bolstered slavery is sure to make a lasting contribution to Atlantic history.", "Hardesty presents a ‘life and times’ of mid-eighteenth-century trade relations linking West Africa, Barbados, Suriname, and Boston, uncovering a world of imperial rivalries, frequently violated trading rules, and the ever-present threat of violence.", "A story of cold-blooded murder, of slavery and human trafficking, and of smuggling. It is also a cautionary tale about how chocolate, a luxury enjoyed by a privileged few, became one of the world’s most sought-after commodities. In Jared Hardesty’s capable hands, the book reminds readers of all that has changed since the eighteenth century—and of several things that have not."

Jared Ross Hardesty is Professor of History at Western Washington University and author of Unfreedom: Slavery and Dependence in Eighteenth-Century Boston, Black Lives, Native Lands, White Worlds: A History of Slavery in New England, and Mutiny on the Rising Sun: A Tragic Tale of Slavery, Smuggling, and Chocolate.