After the crew was massacred, the natives plundered the ship, provoking a response by warships of the United States Navy's African Slave Trade Patrol.

The Mary Carver was then plundered, some pieces of the vessel were taken along with her American flag which ended up in the home of Chief Ben Crack-O in Little Bereby.

The Episcopal missionary E. L. Minor was working in the town of Taboo, thirty miles from Little Bereby, and he informed the United States Secretary of the Navy Abel P. Upshur of the affair in a letter.

Minor's letter also suggested that military action take place in order to prevent the Africans from attacking American and European shipping.

After the Edward Barley Incident, later that year, the United States Congress approved a punitive expedition to the area under Commodore Matthew C. Perry, which destroyed Little Bereby.