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  Click here to return to the story of the slave trade. Left: A letter from a Quaker in York opposing the slave trade. The Quakers were one of the first faith communities to oppose slavery. |
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WITNESSES: IN THEIR OWN WORDS The closeness of the place and the heat of the climate, added to the number in the ship which was so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself, almost suffocated us. This produced copious perspirations, so that the air soon became unfit for respiration from a variety of loathsome smells, and brought on a sickness among the slaves, of which many died, thus falling victims to the improvident avarice, as I may call it, of their purchasers. This wretched situation was again aggravated by the galling of the chains, now become insupportable and the filth of the necessary tubs, into which the children often fell and were almost suffocated. The shrieks of the women and the groans of the dying rendered the whole a scene of horror almost inconceivable. Olaudah Equiano, kidnapped from modern-day Nigeria I also have been whipped many a time on my naked skin, and sometimes till the blood has run down over my waistband, but the greatest grief I then had was to see them whip my mother, and to hear her on her knees, begging for mercy. She was master's cook, and if they only thought she might do anything better than she did, instead of speaking to her as to a servant, they would strip her directly and cut away. David George describes life in British North America A woman was one day brought to us to be sold; she came with a child in her arms. The captain refused to purchase her on that account, not wishing to be plagued with a child on board; in consequence of this she was taken back to the shore. On the following morning, however, she was again brought to us, but without the child, and she was apparently in great sorrow. The black trader who brought her on board said that the child had been killed to accommodate us in the sale. James Arnold, slave ship doctor They had about 12 negroes who willingly drowned themselves; others starved themselves to death. Philips was advised to cut off the legs and arms of some to terrify the rest (as other captains had done) but this he refused to do. From the time of his taking the negroes on board, to his arrival at Barbados, no less than 320 died of various diseases. Anthony Benezet records slaves' attempts to kill themselves en route The slaves that are out of irons are locked "spoonways" and locked to one another. It is the duty of the first mate to see them stowed in this manner every morning; those which do not get quickly into their places are compelled by the cat and, such was the situation when stowed in this manner, and when the ship had much motion at sea, they were often miserably bruised against the deck or against each other. Thomas Trotter, slave ship doctor |
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