A rare photograph from 1907 captures the moment a British sailor removed the leg chains from an enslaved African man who had been shackled for three years.
The image is part of a small collection donated by Samuel Chidwick to the Royal Naval Museum in Portsmouth. His father, Able Seaman Joseph Chidwick (born in 1881), was serving aboard HMS Sphinx at the time.
The enslaved individuals featured in the collection had escaped from a slave-trading village along the coast.
After learning of the Royal Navy’s presence in the area, they fled in a canoe, seeking refuge aboard the British vessel.
According to a report dated October 15, 1907, Commander Litchfield documented the ship’s rescue of six fugitives during a patrol off the Batineh Coast, Oman, between October 10 and 14.
Among them was a man who had remained in chains for three years, escaping with his leg irons still attached.
During this period, the British Royal Navy actively patrolled the waters of the Indian Ocean, enforcing anti-slavery treaties and intercepting human trafficking routes.
The liberation of these six men was part of Britain’s wider efforts to combat the transatlantic and Arab slave trades.
This powerful image stands as a stark reminder of the brutal realities of slavery and the resilience of those who fought for freedom.
