Source: Parliamentary Papers (Great Britain Parliament House of Commons) 1862 AD – pg. 68
“The Alecto hove up for Lagos to meet the mail. I learn from Commander Raby, who is a very active office, and of considerable knowledge in Coast matters, that the Slave Trade is now at its full height at Whydah: legal trade is completely stopped, and they allow no intercourse with men-of-war.”
“The slavers come down the coast under the American flag, and lay off the place, making their arrangements under their noses, and as soon as the cruizers leave for Lagos, they ship their slaves in four or five hours, and get off; if it had not been for the protection afforded them by the American flag, and false or real papers, which these vessels can easily procure, I am confident that several prizes must have been taken by our cruizers in the Bights, for I find, on reference to the reports of Commander Raby, that no less than 2,500 slaves have alone been shipped from Whydah in so short a period as six weeks; although it will be seen, by examining logs of cruizers employed in the vicinity, that Whydah and its vicinity have been carefully watched.”
and then