These children are some of the ninety-five who were rescued from slavery by a British ship (the Daphne) patrolling the waters off Zanzibar in 1869.

After Parliament abolished the slave trade, ships of the Royal Navy were assigned to intercept slavers and free the human cargo on board.

While this engraving, based on a photograph by George Sullivan, depicts conditions along Africa's eastern shore, the same situation existed on the Atlantic side.