Zapfic 240 Monday - Rule Britannia !

This post is my response to today's ZapFic Monday prompt in the Freewriters' community. The prompt is RULE.

Enjoy !

Image by Matthew Z. from Pixabay

The last slave was loaded, the ship was ready to sail to America.

Then the lookout called “Sail!”

When the slavers heard the other ship’s crew singing “Rule Britannia” they knew the West Africa Squadron had found them and they were scuppered.

Historical Note: the West Africa Squadron was a Royal Navy force operating from 1807 to 1867 with the goal of supressing the Atlantic slave trade from West Africa to the Americas. While recent historians have questioned it's effectiveness and efficiency, there is no doubt that it represented a serious commitment in ships and lives for the Royal Navy. Some 1600 sailors died, mainly of disease, but in the process they intercepted many slave ships, acted as a useful deterrent, and freed around 150,000 slaves.

For any of my friends (or anyone else, for that matter !) who reads this and fancies giving it a try, it's really fun and thought provoking. The rules are really simple;

• The Freewriters Community has a Zapfic post with a writing prompt every Monday
• Your response must be posted within 3 days in the Freewriters Community.
• Please post a link to your entry in the comments section of the prompt post
• Please use #freewritehouse and #zapfic tags.
• The important one - YOU MUST use a word/character counter (if you search for word counter on the internet or in your phone's app store you will get a big choice!) wordcounter.net and include a screenshot. Entries without a screenshot will NOT be valid.
• Please use the prompt provided as you see fit (use your imagination)
• Try to tell a complete story if you can!
• The story should only be up to 240 characters long (including spaces, punctuation etc).