An account of the slave trade on the coast of Africa — John Shaqi
An account of the slave trade on the coast of AfricaFalconbridge, Alexander
History
An account of the slave trade on the coast of Africa
Falconbridge, Alexander
Slave trade -- Africa -- Early works to 1800; Slave trade -- West Indies, British -- Early works to 1800
During the voyages I made, I was frequently a witness to the fatal
effects of this exclusion of the fresh air. I will give one instance,
as it serves to convey some idea, though a very faint one, of the
sufferings of those unhappy beings whom we wantonly drag from their
native country, and doom to perpetual labour and captivity. Some wet
and blowing weather having occasioned the port-holes to be shut,
and the grating to be covered, fluxes and fevers among the negroes
ensued. While they were in this situation, my profession requiring it,
I frequently went down among them, till at length their apartments
became so extremely hot, as to be only sufferable for a very short
time. But the excessive heat was not the only thing that rendered their
situation intolerable. The deck, that is, the floor of their rooms, was
so covered with the blood and mucus which had proceeded from them in
consequence of the flux, that it resembled a slaughter-house. It is not
in the power of the human imagination, to picture to itself a situation
more dreadful or disgusting. Numbers of the slaves having fainted, they
were carried upon deck, where several of them died, and the rest were,
with great difficulty, restored. It had nearly proved fatal to me also.
The climate was too warm to admit the wearing of any clothing but a
shirt, and that I had pulled off before I went down; notwithstanding
which, by only continuing among them for about a quarter of an hour, I
was so overcome with the heat, stench, and foul air, that I had nearly
fainted; and it was not without assistance, that I could get upon deck.
The consequence was, that I soon after fell sick of the same disorder,
from which I did not recover for several months.
A circumstance of this kind, sometimes repeatedly happens in the course
of a voyage; and often to a greater degree than what has just been
described; particularly when the slaves are much crowded, which was not
the case at that time, the ship having more than a hundred short of the
number she was to have taken in.
This devastation, great as it was, some few years ago was greatly
exceeded on board a Leverpool ship. I shall particularize the
circumstances of it, as a more glaring instance of an insatiable
thirst for gain, or of less attention to the lives and happiness even
of that despised and oppressed race of mortals, the sable inhabitants
of Africa, perhaps was never exceeded; though indeed several similar
instances have been known.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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