The Vice admiralty court at Freetown, Sierra Leone, condemned Donna Mariana and her owners appealed the decision.

A number of Liverpool merchants initially engaged in subterfuge, selling their vessels to nominal owners in other European and American countries where the slave trade remained legal.

[2] From Pernambuco Donna Marianna sailed to Bahia under the Portuguese flag, carrying a cargo of wine of unspecified origin.

The Vice admiralty court at Sierra Leone condemned vessel and cargo on 6 July 1810, though there is no evidence that there were any slaves aboard her.

[3] Key evidence was the documents found in a passenger's trunk that showed that her fitting out for the slave trade had taken place at Liverpool.