One well-known image above all symbolises the evil of the Atlantic
Slave trade. Some two and a half centuries later it still has the power to
outrage and to move. It is a diagram that was published by British abolitionists
in 1788 and which illustrated the “Tight Packing” on a typical slave ship, the Brooks. It shows some 400 human beings
confined directly on the lower deck, or on shelving 31 inches above.
The most
dreadful aspect of the diagram is the reference to Britain’s Regulated Slave Trade Act of 1788, which
was considered to be a responsible measure for reducing deaths through overcrowding. The packing shown was legally approved, as it
was in full conformance with this Act which allowed each man a rectangular space
6 feet long (72 inches) and 16 inches wide. A slightly smaller allowance was
made for women and children.292 slaves were packed on the lower deck, of whom
130 were placed below the shelving above. The latters’ headroom was also restricted,
being noted as 31 inches between the transverse beams overhead, but less
directly beneath them. Men were placed in the forward part of the ship and women
and children aft. The mind recoils from imaging the conditions these people endured
for weeks in terror, without sanitation , adequate food, water or exercise as
these ships crossed sweltering tropical seas and as the dead – and sometimes the
sick – were tossed overboard.
The horror of such transport reached its peak in bad weather.
This was driven home to me by an article in an American book, publication date
unknown, author unspecified, and entitled “Thrilling
Narratives of Mutiny, Murder and Piracy” which I discovered on Project
Gutenberg while searching for something else. The article quotes from “a letter from Philadelphia, dated November
11th, 1762.” Though no further detail
was provided it appears to have been written by somebody – perhaps the captain –
of a slave ship, the Phoenix, which was
en-route to Chesapeake Bay from the African coast with 332 slaves on board.
Towards sundown on Wednesday 20th of October 1762, when still
some 220 miles ESE of its destination, the Phoenix
encountered a severe gale from the south, accompanied by high seas, thunder and
lightning. She sprung a leak which the pumps proved incapable of keeping pace with
and attempts to put the ship before the wind failed. By midnight ballast-sand
had blocked the pumps and “there being seven feet water in the hold,
all the casks afloat, and the ballast shifted to leeward, (we) cut away the
rigging of the main and mizzen masts, both of which went instantly close by the
deck, and immediately after the foremast was carried away about twenty feet
above.” The guns were thrown
overboard to lighten the ship and “we
were then under a necessity of letting all our slaves out of irons, to assist
in pumping and baling.”
The Phoenix
survived the night and the weather moderated somewhat. The pumps appeared to
have been cleared – temporarily at least – and the water level in the hold had
been lowered by three feet. Nevertheless “we
found every cask in the hold stove to pieces, so that we only saved a barrel of
flour, 10 lbs. of bread, twenty-five gallons of wine, beer, and shrub, and
twenty-five gallons of spirits. The seamen and slaves were employed all this
day in pumping and baling; the pumps were frequently choked, and brought up
great quantities of sand. We were obliged to hoist one of the pumps up, and put
it down the quarter deck hatchway. A ship this day bore down upon us, and,
though very near, and we making every signal of distress, she would not speak
to us.”
By the next day, Friday 22nd October, the male
slaves were “very sullen and unruly,
having had no sustenance of any kind for forty-eight hours, except a dram, we
put one half of the strongest of them in irons.” On Saturday and Sunday, “all hands night and day could scarce keep
the ship clear, and were constantly under arms.”
By Monday morning the slaves were in revolt – “many had got out of irons, and were attempting to
break up the gratings; and the seamen not daring to go down in the hold to clear
the pumps, we were obliged, for the preservation of our own lives, to kill
fifty of the ringleaders and stoutest of them.”
There is no elaboration of this bald statement, no indication
of whether these helpless people were shot or killed with edged weapons. The
writer does however go on to say that “It
is impossible to describe the misery the poor slaves underwent, having had no
fresh water for five days. Their dismal cries and shrieks, and most frightful
looks, added a great deal to our misfortunes; four of them were found dead, and
one drowned herself in the hold.” By that evening the water level was still
rising “and three seamen dropped down
with fatigue and thirst, which could not be quenched, though wine, rum, and
shrub were given them alternately.”
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Eyewitness painting by Johann Moritz Rugendas shows conditions on a
slave ship headed to Brazil in 1849
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There is no elaboration of just what conditions were like in
the next three days – they can only have been horrific as the dismasted and
sinking ship drifted helplessly. Bby Thursday morning the battle against the rising
water was clearly lost. “The seamen (were)
quite worn out, and many of them in despair.”
Now comes the letter reaches is appalling conclusion, that
needs to be quoted in full: “About ten in
the forenoon we saw a sail; about two she discovered us, and bore down; at five
spoke to us, being the King George, of
Londonderry, James Mackay, master; he immediately promised to take us on board,
and hoisted out his yawl, it then blowing very fresh. The gale increasing,
prevented him from saving anything but the white people’s lives, not even any
of our clothes, or one slave, the boat being scarcely able to live in the sea
the last trip she made. Capt. Mackay and some gentlemen, passengers he had on
board, treated us with kindness and humanity.”
No further details are given but the words “or one slave” stand as a unanswerable
indictment of this unspeakable trade.
If there is a Hell, then there must be a hot corner reserved
for those who financed such voyages and profited from them.
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