Caleb Gardner

Caleb B. Gardner (April 27, 1741 – December 24, 1806) of Newport, Rhode Island was an American slave trader and slavery oligarch. He was the owner or part share owner of more than a dozen slave trade vessels. On many voyages, he was also the Captain of the vessel. When he was a boy, he lived near the harbor and owned a boat. This enabled him to become familiar with the waters and islands of Narragansett Bay. As a young man, he became proficient in the triangular trade, sailing his own ship to China and the East Indies. He became a prolific slave trader, bringing thousands of humans in bondage to the shores of Rhode Island.

Gardner temporarily ceased his prolific triangle trade activities just before the Revolutionary War. In late 1775, he raised a company of militiamen. He was assigned with this company to Colonel William Richmond's Regiment. He became major and was promoted to lieutenant colonel on Aug. 19, 1776. He became member of the council of war and of the Rhode Island state government. He resided in Newport in 1778, when the French squadron under Count d'Estaing was blockaded there by the greatly superior British fleet under Admiral Howe. A sudden and dense fog prevented an immediate attack by the English, but they occupied both entrances to the harbor and waited for daylight. Looking through a spyglass from his housetop, Captain Gardner noted the disposition of the hostile fleets. As soon as it was dark, he rowed himself to the ship of the French admiral and offered to pilot him to a safe position. He steered the admiral's ship through a channel that he had known from boyhood. The other vessels, with all lights extinguished, followed singly in his wake. After piloting the French beyond the enemy and to clear water, he returned to the island. He reached his own house before daylight. When the fog lifted, he was among the groups along the waterfront who marveled at the disappearance of the French fleet. Count d'Estaing's report of the affair to Louis XVI was confidential, since its disclosure would have exposed Gardner to the dangerous displeasure of the English government and of the Tory element in Rhode Island. However, through his ambassador in the United States, the Chevalier de la Luzerne, the King sent a substantial sum of money to Gardner. With it, he bought an estate near Newport and built a house upon it, which later became known as "Bateman's." Throughout the war, Colonel Gardner was said to be a trusted adviser of the French officers in Rhode Island and of enslaver General George Washington, who was his friend and correspondent. After peace was declared, Gardner was made French consul at Newport. He became president of a bank, warden of Trinity Church, and head of the volunteer fire department of the town. Caleb Gardner and Peleg Clarke, who also was a well known slaving captain before the war, served as members of the Rhode Island assembly, one in the upper, the other in the lower house. Newport slavers were men in an elite class of oligarchs who became very wealthy, very fast by trafficking in humans. Slavery oligarchs were a minority who controlled the economy in such a way that it best served the wealthy (themselves). They also controlled the majority of schools and universities, churches, mainstream newspapers, and public affairs in a way that guaranteed their personal power and wealth. Before the Revolutionwary War, Rhode Island was a dominant player in the global slave trade. "An Ethiopian could as soon change his skin as a Newport merchant could be induced to change so lucrative a trade as that in slaves for the slow profits of any manufactory." (William Ellery, 1791.) By 1785, Caleb Gardner, Captain and owner of more than a dozen slave trade vessels, was again trafficking in enslaved human beings at ports around the world as if the war had never happened.

By 1785, Gardner had resumed his profiteering in the triangle trade. He owned multiple vessels that were built to sell rum and other goods to buy enslaved captives, transport the captives under brutal and inhumane conditions, then deliver those who survived the journey to their enslavers at the port of destination. In 1785 and 1786, Gardner was the owner of the Newport, Rhode Island vessel Washington which made two voyages to Africa and the Americas, with a total of 110 captives who embarked and a total of 90 who disembarked. William Gardner was the Captain on both voyages. In 1789, The Pennsylvania Herald and New York General Advertiser published a notice for debt collection by William Gordon, Esq. of Bedford, against Caleb Gardner and Nathaniel Briggs, co owners of the brigantine Hope, and its Captain John Stanton. The Hope had recently returned to Rhode Island after taking a cargo of African captives to the West Indies. In 1790, Gardner and Nathaniel Briggs were co owners of the Dove. The Captain of was Joseph Gardner. The Dove departed from a port in Rhode Island loaded with goods and arrived at an unspecified port in Africa. Departing from Africa were 97 captives. Six captives died on the journey; 91 embarked at Havana in March, 1791.

Gardner died in Newport, Rhode Island on December 24, 1806.