Built as a Baltimore clipper (possibly as the vessel Griffen[1]), Henriquetta (also Henri Quatre) was a brig designed to be fast.

[5] Commodore Francis Collier of Sybille wrote to the Admiralty noting that at the time of her capture, Henriquetta was 257 tons, mounted three guns, and had a crew of 38 men.

Presidente was lost at sea on her way to Sierra Leone, but Black Joke earned salvage money for Hosse.

In November of the same year, Black Joke was forced to leave the coast of Bioko (Fernando Po), due to fever on board.

In January 1829, Black Joke saw a Spanish brig as the Spaniard loaded slaves and set sail for Havana.

Black Joke chased the Spaniard for 31 hours, and on 1 February, when the wind dropped, resorted to sweeps to bring herself within gunshot of her prey.

Good ship-handling, the discipline of the Royal Navy gun crew, and light winds gave Lieutenant Downes the advantage.

[8][j] Lieutenant William Coyde replaced Parrey, and on 1 April 1830, captured the Spanish brigantine Manzanares of three guns and 34 crew.

[8] The admiralty put Dos Amigos up for auction, where the commodore of the British Anti-Slavery Squadron, Jonathan Hayes, bought her and named her Fair Rosamond.

At one point, 15-year-old Midshipman Hinde had to bring Black Joke back alongside Marinerito to rescue the boarding party, including Ramsey, which had become stranded on the Spanish slaver's deck.

[m] In September, in company with Fair Rosamond, Black Joke chased two Spanish slavers into the Bonny River.

Lieutenant Ramsey reported that "during the chase, they were seen to throw their slaves overboard, by twos shackled together by the ankles, and left in this manner to sink or swim."

Fair Rosamond captured two Spanish vessels, Regulo and Rapido, on 10 September and took them to Sierra Leone, where the Admiralty Court condemned them.

[8] On 15 February 1832, Black Joke captured Spanish schooner Frasquita, alias Centilla, which was armed with two guns and had a crew of 31 men.

A survey held on the Black Joke in 1832 stated that her timbers were rotten, and that "she is not, in our opinion, a vessel calculated fit for H.M.

She was due to be transferred to the governor when the rear admiral changed his mind and ordered that Black Joke be destroyed.

The surveyors attached examples of her timber; all that now remains of the famous slave-chaser is an envelope filled with brown dust in The National Archives.