In 1808, Congress banned the importation of Africans to the United States for use as slaves, and in 1820 it strengthened efforts to stop the illegal trade by making the crime punishable by death as the British Navy began patrolling the coast of West Africa to suppress the slave trade. Built in New York in 1857 as a leisure yacht for Colonel John Johnson, the Wanderer was sold in the spring of 1858 to Captain William Corrie, who refitted it as a slave-trading ship after Savannah businessman Charles Lamar hired him to illegally import Africans to the United States for use as slaves. In the fall of 1858, the Wanderer entered the waters of the Congo River on September 16 and left for its return voyage to the United States on October 18 with 487 African captives aboard. After 42 days at sea, it arrived at Jekyll Island on November 28, 1858, and rumors of the illegal slaves spread throughout coastal Georgia. In December 1858, Captain Corrie fled Brunswick after local authorities found evidence of the ship's slave-importing mission, U.S. Assistant Attorney Joseph Ganahl began making his case against the captain and crew, the ship was impounded, and crewmen Nicholas Brown, Juan Rajestam, and Michael Arguirir were arrested; they were found not guilty in November 1859. In March 1859, Charles Lamar bought the Wanderer at a government auction in Savannah, later sold it to Captain Martin, and Captain Martin stole the boat before paying for it in full. In May 1860, Charles Lamar, Henry duBignon, Richard Aiken, Nelson Towbridge, and John Tucker were charged with taking the Africans after the landing on Jekyll, and all were acquitted on May 28.