Great Britain prohibited the African slave trade under the Slave Trade Act 1807. The United States followed with its own prohibition, to go into effect in 1808. The Royal Navy patrolled the Caribbean to intercept foreign ships illegally carrying slaves to the Americas. Other parts of the fleet operated off Africa. In January 1808, HMS "Cerberus" seized the American schooner, the "Nancy," with a cargo of enslaved Senegalese in the Territory's waters. It liberated the slaves and settled the Africans in the Bahamas.