Just after dawn on 19 February 1828, the Morning Star arrived within twenty four kilometres of Ascension Island. The remoteness of the little windswept island cannot be overstated. Its nearest neighbour in the South Atlantic Ocean is St Helena, over a thousand kilometres away. The coasts of South America and Africa lie across over 2,000 kilometres of ocean either side. It would be a stretch to say Ascension enjoyed a constant flow of ocean-going traffic. However, given the dearth of alternative fixed points for measuring the time for the chronometer and the island's 859-metre high peak that rose majestically into the clouds, it did attract a surprising number of passing ships.

The Morning Star had missed sighting St Helena, so Captain Thomas Gibbs decided it would be prudent to ascertain the ship's longitude on the chronometer at Ascension. The Morning Star had already made excellent time on its voyage from Ceylon so it was a worthwhile diversion. The ship had departed Colombo on 13 December 1827 with a cargo of ebony, pepper, cinnamon and coffee; and a mixed selection of fifty-two crew, passengers, invalid soldiers, wives and children. Fine weather and favourable winds meant the Morning Star had made Mauritius by 6 January and Table Bay (Cape of Good Hope) by the end of the month. Nothing of any real note had occurred on the voyage so far. This all changed that February day at 7 a.m., when Captain Gibbs sighted a mysterious brig about six leagues west of the island. According to one witness, the moment the crew of the brig spotted the Morning Star they ‘made more sail close to the wind, keeping still on the same tack, until the Morning Star had passed her abaft the beam’. Then, the mysterious brig gave chase.

The Morning Star was a new breed of multi-purpose sailing ship that had begun to appear after the end of the Revolutionary Wars (1801–15). Until the late eighteenth century, ship-builders designed sailing ships to carry only cargo. Even for slave cargoes ships were not built to swiftly and conveniently transport people across the ocean.