MUTINIES ABOARD SLAVE SHIPS IN THE EARLY
DAYS
Among the shipmasters engaged in the Guinea trade, in the early part of
the eighteenth century, was one Capt. William Snelgrave, who sailed in
ships owned by London merchants. He met with many strange adventures on
the African coast; had the misfortune to be captured, in 1719, by Capt.
Thomas Cocklyn, the pirate, when he narrowly escaped with his life; and
several times was in danger of capture at the instance of negro kings
with whom he was trafficking for slaves.
In March, 1727, he arrived in the road of Whidaw, in the _Katharine
Galley_ of London, a short time after the king of Dahomey had fallen on
the country and destroyed nearly the entire population. The fields were
strewed with human bones and the populous country with which he was
familiar was a dismal sight. Sailing a short distance along the coast,
on the 3d of April he anchored in the road of Jaqueen and went up to the
town, which is about three miles from the sea.
The following day a messenger came from the king of Dahomey with an
invitation for the English captain to visit his camp, which lay about
forty miles inland. The messenger, who spoke excellent English which he
had learned in the factory at Whidaw, assured Captain Snelgrave that he
would be quite safe while in the Dahomey country and kindly used. When
the captain showed some distrust, the black messenger told him that if
he didn’t accept the invitation it would deeply offend the king, which
might prevent him from trading on the recently conquered coast, beside
other bad consequences, so Captain Snelgrave agreed to go and a Dutch
shipmaster volunteered to accompany him and also two or three others.
The company set off at nine o’clock in the morning. The captain had six
hammock-men who relieved each other by turn, two at a time carrying the
hammock pole. When he became tired of lying in the hammock, there was a
small horse, little larger than an ass, on which he rode, and traveling
over good roads, at the rate of about four miles an hour, about nine the
next morning they reached the camp, having spent the night on some mats
spread on the ground in hovels that had not been destroyed by the army.
A captain of the court, with about five hundred soldiers carrying
firearms, drawn swords, shields and banners, came out to meet the
company and escorted them to some chairs (taken from the Whidaws) set
out beneath trees where the natives flocked about in such numbers that
they were in danger of being crushed. Thousands of these people, who had
come from inland kingdoms, had never before seen a white man.
At noon, a dinner of cold ham and fowls was brought, and notwithstanding
the watchfulness of several servants with flappers, it was almost
impossible to keep the meat free from the swarms of flies that had
probably bred in the heaps of dead men’s heads piled on stages not far
away. These evil smelling stages were passed not long after, as they
went towards the king’s court, and the linguist said they comprised the
heads of four thousand of the Whidaws who had been sacrificed about
three weeks before.
They slept that night in hammocks and the next morning about nine
o’clock were escorted to a large palisadoed area where the king of
Dahomey was sitting in a gilt chair that he had recently captured from
the king of Whidaw. He wore a gown flowered with gold, and behind him
were a number of women, naked from the waist up, holding large umbrellas
to shelter him from the hot sun. After paying their respects to his
Majesty and drinking his health in palm wine, the linguist told Captain
Snelgrave that “it was the King’s Desire that they should stay some time
with him, to see the Method of paying the Soldiers for Captives taken in
War, and the Heads of the slain.”
Over eighteen hundred captives had been brought into camp the evening
before. They were Tuffoes, living about six days’ journey distant,
between the Whidaw country and Dahomey. After the wiping out of the
Whidaws, the king of Dahomey had sent home twelve of his wives and a
great number of slaves and quantity of loot, guarded by five hundred
men. While passing through the Tuffoe country this guard was attacked
and routed, the women were killed and the loot was captured. As soon as
the conquest of Whidaw was completed, the king sent part of his army to
the Tuffoe country and the eighteen hundred captives, that Captain
Snelgrave saw brought into camp, were one of the results of that
retaliatory campaign.
The captives were now brought before the king. He selected a
considerable number to be kept as slaves for his own use or to be sold
to Europeans; some two hundred were presented to his courtiers and court
officials; and the rest of the prisoners were ordered to be sacrificed
to the king’s _fetiche_ or guardian angel. This human sacrifice took
place that afternoon, about a quarter of a mile from the camp, where
small stages, about five feet high, had been erected. The first victim
was a fine-looking man, about fifty years old, who showed no fear. He
stood by one of the stages with his hands tied behind him. A feticheer,
or priest, laid hands on the victim’s head and said some words of
consecration lasting about two minutes and then at a sign, a man
standing behind with a broad sword, cut off the head of the victim with
one blow, and threw it on the stage. The body lay on the ground for a
time so that the blood might drain off and slaves then dragged it away
to a place adjoining the camp.[24]
-----
Footnote 24:
Over a century later, Commander Forbes of the British Navy witnessed a
similar sacrifice in the Dahomey country, when twelve victims, lashed
hands and feet and tied in small baskets, were carried around the
court and after a ceremony thrown from a parapet into a pit below.
“The fall, upwards of twelve feet, may have stunned the victims and
before sense could return, their heads were cut off and the bodies
thrown to the mob, who, now armed with clubs and branches, brutally
mutilated the bodies and dragged them to a distant pit.” Forbes,
_Dahomey and the Dahomans_, London, 1850.
-----
About four hundred captives were sacrificed in this manner. The men went
to the stages, bold and unconcerned, but the cries of the women and
children were most affecting and soon excited the fears of the Dutch
captain that the priests might take it into their heads that white
victims might be more acceptable to their _fetiche_ than men of their
own color. But no affront was shown the Europeans and after two hours
spent standing near the stages they returned to their tent. The next
morning they discovered that the bodies of the sacrificed had been taken
away in the night by the people, who had boiled and feasted on them, as
holy food.
At an audience with the king, the next day, an agreement was made
whereby slaves, sufficient for a cargo, should be sent down to the shore
at Jaqueen and that Captain Snelgrave should have three males to one
female and be obliged to accept only those that he selected. The return
journey was made without incident and at full speed, for the hammock-men
were so much affected by the great sacrifice of Tuffoe people that they
ran most of the way back to Jaqueen and arrived in an exhausted
condition.
Two days later the slaves sent down by the king began to arrive in the
town and one of the great captains of the king’s court soon followed, to
settle all matters in dispute. The day he appeared, the linguist brought
to Captain Snelgrave two female slaves, saying that the king desired him
to buy them, but as one was about fifty years old he told the linguist
that she was past her labor and therefore declined to buy her. The young
slave he purchased at the agreed price. Not long after the linguist
reported that the older woman, by order of the great captain, had been
sacrificed to the sea, for she had offended the king, and not having
been sold, she must be destroyed. The linguist suspected this must be
done because the woman had assisted some of the king’s women in their
love affairs and so incurred his emnity. On being questioned he related
that “the Woman’s Hands being tied behind her, and her Feet across, she
was put into the _Cannoe_, and carried off about half a Mile from the
Shore; And then he ordered the Rowers to throw her over board; which
they had no sooner done but he saw some Sharks tear her to pieces in an
Instant.”
The next day a letter was brought ashore, from the mate of the
_Katharine Galley_, which gave an account of the remarkable preservation
of this slave woman. It happened that about the time the canoe of the
linguist returned to the shore, one of the boats of the _Katharine
Galley_ left the moorings to go on board the ship and about halfway out
came upon a human body lying on its back, every now and then spurting
water out of its mouth. It was a woman, tied hand and foot, whom they
hauled aboard, untied and rolled about to get the salt water out of her
stomach. They took her on board the ship and sent word of her taking up
to Captain Snelgrave.
While the preservation of the woman from sharks and her timely rescue by
the boat’s crew seemed quite providential, yet the captain was thereby
placed in an awkward position, for should the king discover the fact he
might pretend that his _fetiche_ had been disappointed of this sacrifice
and so desire revenge or a large present. To order the woman killed was
out of the question so the captain sent orders to his mate to keep the
rescue a secret and this was successfully done. The woman was
exceedingly grateful for her rescue and during the voyage returned good
service by helping to keep the slaves easy in their minds, especially
the female negroes who usually were troublesome on account of their
noise and clamor. On reaching the West Indies she was sold to Charles
Dunbar, the surveyor general of Barbadoes, reputed to be a good master.
The _Katharine Galley_ sailed from Jaqueen road, July 1, 1727, having on
board over six hundred negroes and reached Antigua, W. I., after a
tedious passage of seventeen weeks, where the cargo, having stood the
voyage very well, came to a good market, and after lying there nearly
three months for a return cargo of sugar, she sailed the last of
February and got safe into the river Thames, on April 25, 1728, having
made the round voyage in seventeen months.
Captain Snelgrave sailed in the Guinea trade for nearly thirty years and
became familiar with all its details. The narrative that he wrote and
which was published in London, in 1754,[25] may be considered a valuable
contribution to our knowledge of the conduct of the trade at that time.
He writes that it had been the custom, time out of mind, for negroes to
make slaves of their captives taken in war, and when they had taken more
than they could well employ on their plantations they were often obliged
to kill many. It followed that they welcomed an opportunity to sell
their surplus slaves to traders. Most crimes among the negro tribes were
punished by mulcts and fines and if the offender could not pay he was
sold for a slave. This was the practice of the inland people as well as
those living on or near the sea shore. By this means so large a number
of negroes became slaves that the trade on the Guinea coast, in the
opinion of Captain Snelgrave, before the year 1730, had resulted in the
exportation of at least seventy thousand natives. During the voyage to
the West Indies and the American coast, the condition of the slaves in
their narrow quarters on board ship was not only most uncomfortable, at
the best, but usually a sickening and horrible experience that sometimes
led to mutiny and wholesale death.
-----
Footnote 25:
_A New Account of Guinea, and the Slave Trade_, by Capt. William
Snelgrave, London, 1754.
-----
[Illustration:
GROUP OF NEGROES JUST LANDED TO BE SOLD FOR SLAVES
From an engraving in Stedman’s _Narrative of an Expedition to
Surinam_, London, 1796
]
“These Munities,” writes Captain Snelgrave, “are generally occasioned by
the Sailors ill usage of these poor People, when on board the Ships
wherein they are transported to our Plantations. Wherever, therefore, I
have commanded, it has been my principal Care, to have the Negroes on
board my Ship kindly used; and I have always strictly charged my white
People to treat them with Humanity and Tenderness; In which I have
usually found my Account, both in keeping them from mutinying and
preserving them in health.
“And whereas it may seem strange to those that are unacquainted with the
method of managing them, how we can carry so many hundreds together in a
small Ship, and keep them in order; I shall just mention what is
generally practised. When we purchase grown People, I acquaint them by
the Interpreter, ‘That, now they are become my Property, I think fit to
let them know what they are bought for, that they may be easy in their
Minds:’ (For these poor People are generally under terrible
Apprehensions upon their being bought by white Men, many being afraid
that we design to eat them; which, I have been told, is a story much
credited by the inland Negroes;) ‘So after informing them, That they are
bought to till the Ground in our Country, with several other Matters; I
then acquaint them, how they are to behave themselves on board, towards
the white Men; that if any one abuses them, they are to complain to the
Linguist, who is to inform me of it, and I will do them Justice: But if
they make a Disturbance, or offer to strike a White Man, they must
expect to be severely punished.’
“When we purchase the Negroes, we couple the sturdy Men together with
Irons; but we suffer the Women and Children to go freely about: And soon
after we have sail’d from the Coast, we undo all the Mens Irons.
“They are fed twice a day, and are allowed in fair Weather to come on
Deck at seven a clock in the Morning, and to remain there, if they think
proper, till Sun setting. Every Monday Morning they are served with
Pipes and Tobacco, which they are very fond of. The Men Negroes lodge
separate from the Women and Children; and the places where they all lye
are cleaned every day, some white Men being appointed to see them do
it....
“The first Mutiny I saw among the Negroes, happened during my first
Voyage in the Year 1704. It was on board the _Eagle Galley_ of London,
commanded by my Father, with whom I was Purser. We had bought our
Negroes in the River of _Old Callabar_ in the Bay of _Guinea_. At the
time of their mutinying, we were in that River, having four hundred of
them on board, and not above ten white Men who were able to do Service:
For several of our Ship’s Company were dead and many more sick; besides,
two of our Boats were just then gone with twelve People on Shore to
fetch Wood, which lay in sight of the Ship. All these Circumstances put
the Negroes on consulting how to mutiny, which they did at four a clock
in the Afternoon, just as they went to Supper. But as we had always
carefully examined the Mens Irons, both Morning and Evening, none had
got them off, which in a great measure contributed to our Preservation.
Three white Men stood on the Watch with Cutlaces in their Hands. One of
them who was on the Forecastle, a stout fellow, seeing some of the Men
Negroes take hold of the chief Mate, in order to throw him over board,
he laid on them so heartily with the flat side of his Cutlace, that they
soon quitted the Mate, who escaped from them, and run on the Quarter
Deck to get Arms. I was then sick with an Ague—and lying on a Couch in
the great Cabbin, the Fit being just come on. However, I no sooner heard
the Outcry, _That the Slaves were mutinying_, but I took two Pistols,
and run on the Deck with them; where meeting with my Father and the
chief Mate, I delivered a Pistol to each of them. Whereupon they went
forward on the Booms, calling to the Negroe Men that were on the
Forecastle; but they did not regard their Threats, being busy with the
Centry (who had disengaged the chief Mate), and they would have
certainly killed him with his own Cutlace, could they have got it from
him; but they could not break the Line wherewith the Handle was fastened
to his Wrist. And so, tho’ they had seized him, yet they could not make
use of his Cutlace. Being thus disappointed, they endeavoured to throw
him overboard, but he held so fast by one of them that they could not do
it. My Father seeing this stout Man in so much Danger, ventured amongst
the Negroes, to save him; and fired his Pistol over their Heads,
thinking to frighten them. But a lusty Slave struck him with a Billet so
hard, that he was almost stunned. The Slave was going to repeat the
Blow, when a young Lad about seventeen years old, whom we had been kind
to, interposed his Arm, and received the Blow, by which his Arm-bone was
fractured. At the same instant the Mate fired his Pistol, and shot the
Negroe that had struck my Father. At the sight of this the Mutiny
ceased, and all the Men-negroes on the Forecastle threw themselves flat
on their Faces, crying out for Mercy.
“Upon examining into the matter, we found, there were not above twenty
Men Slaves concerned in this Mutiny; and the two Ring-leaders were
missing, having, it seems, jumped overboard as soon as they found their
Project defeated, and were drowned. This was all the Loss we suffered on
this occasion. For the Negroe that was shot by the Mate, the Surgeon,
beyond all Expectation, cured. And I had the good Fortune to lose my
Ague, by the fright and hurry I was put into. Moreover, the young Man,
who had received the Blow on his Arm to save my Father, was cured by the
Surgeon in our Passage to Virginia. At our Arrival in that place we gave
him his Freedom; and a worthy Gentleman, one Colonel Carter, took him
into his Service, till he became well enough acquainted in the Country
to provide for himself.
“I have been several Voyages, when there has been no Attempt made by our
Negroes to mutiny; which, I believe, was owing chiefly, to their being
kindly used, and to my Officers Care in keeping a good Watch. But
sometimes we meet with stout stubborn People amongst them, who are never
to be made easy; and these are generally some of the Cormantines, a
Nation of the Gold Coast. I went in the year 1721, in the _Henry_ of
London, a Voyage to that part of the Coast, and bought a good many of
these People. We were obliged to secure them very well in Irons, and
watch them narrowly: Yet they nevertheless mutined, tho’ they had little
prospect of succeeding. I lay at that time near a place called Mumfort,
on the Gold Coast, having near five hundred Negroes on board, three
hundred of which were Men. Our Ship’s Company consisted of fifty white
People, all in health: And I had very good Officers; so that I was very
easy in all respects.
“This Mutiny began at Midnight (the Moon then shining very bright) in
this manner. Two Men that stood Centry at the Fore-hatch way, where the
Men Slaves came up to go to the house of Office, permitted four to go to
that place; but neglected to lay the Gratings again, as they should have
done: Whereupon four more Negroes came on Deck, who had got their Irons
off, and the four in the house of Office having done the same, all the
eight fell on the two Centries, who immediately called out for help. The
Negroes endeavoured to get their Cutlaces from them, but the Lineyards
(that is the Lines by which the handles of the Cutlaces were fastened to
the Mens Wrists) were so twisted in the Scuffle, that they could not get
them off before we came to their Assistance. The Negroes perceiving
several white Men coming towards them, with Arms in their hands, quitted
the Centries, and jumped over the Ship’s side into the Sea.
“I being by this time come forward on the Deck, my first care was to
secure the Gratings, to prevent any more Negroes from coming up; and
then I ordered People to get into the Boat, and save those that had
jumped over-board, which they luckily did: For they found them all
clinging to the Cables the Ship was moored by.
“After we had secured these People, I called the Linguists, and ordered
them to bid the Men-Negroes between Decks be quiet (for there was a
great noise amongst them). On their being silent, I asked, ‘What had
induced them to mutiny?’ They answered, ‘I was a great Rogue to buy
them, in order to carry them away from their own Country; and that they
were resolved to regain their Liberty if possible.’ I replied, ‘That
they had forfeited their Freedom before I bought them, either by Crimes,
or by being taken in War, according to the Custom of their Country; and
they being now my Property, I was resolved to let them feel my
Resentment, if they abused my Kindness: Asking at the same time, Whether
they had been ill used by the white Men, or had wanted for any thing the
Ship afforded?’ To this they replied, ‘They had nothing to complain of.’
Then I observed to them, ‘That if they should gain their Point and
escape to the Shore, it would be no Advantage to them, because their
Countrymen would catch them, and sell them to other Ships.’ This served
my purpose, and they seemed to be convinced of their Fault, begging, ‘I
would forgive them, and promising for the future to be obedient, and
never mutiny again, if I would not punish them this time.’ This I
readily granted, and so they went to sleep. When Day-light came we
called the Men-Negroes up on Deck, and examining their Irons, found them
all secure. So this Affair happily ended, which I was very glad of; for
these People are the stoutest and most sensible Negroes on the Coast:
Neither are they so weak as to imagine as others do, that we buy them to
eat them; being satisfied we carry them to work in our Plantations, as
they do in their own Country.
“However, a few days after this, we discovered they were plotting again,
and preparing to mutiny. For some of the Ringleaders proposed to one of
our Linguists, If he could procure them an Ax, they would cut the Cables
the Ship rid by in the night; and so on her driving (as they imagined)
ashore, they should get out of our hands, and then would become his
Servants as long as they lived.
“For the better understanding of this I must observe here, that these
Linguists are Natives and Freeman of the Country, whom we hire on
account of their speaking good English, during the time we remain
trading on the Coast; and they are likewise Brokers between us and the
black Merchants.
“This Linguist was so honest as to acquaint me with what had been
proposed to him; and advised me to keep a strict Watch over the Slaves:
For tho’ he had represented to them the same as I had done on their
mutinying, before, That they would be all catch’d again, and sold to
other Ships, in case they could carry their Point, and get on Shore; yet
it had no effect upon them.
“This gave me a good deal of uneasiness. For I knew several Voyages had
proved unsuccessful by Mutinies; as they occasioned either the total
loss of the Ship and the white Men’s Lives; or at least by rendering it
absolutely necessary to kill or wound a great number of the Slaves, in
order to prevent a total Destruction. Moreover, I knew many of these
Cormantine Negroes despised Punishment, and even Death itself: It having
often happened at Barbadoes and other Islands, that on their being any
ways hardly dealt with, to break them of their Stubbornness in refusing
to work, twenty or more have hang’d themselves at a time in a
Plantation. However, about a Month after this, a sad Accident happened,
that brought our Slaves to be more orderly, and put them in a better
Temper: And it was this. On our going from Mumfort to Annamaboe, which
is the principal part on the Gold Coast, I met there with another of my
Owner’s Ships, called the _Elizabeth_. One Captain Thompson, that
commanded her, was dead; as also his chief Mate: Moreover, the Ship had
afterwards been taken at Cape Laboe on the windward Coast, by Roberts
the Pirate, with whom several of the Sailors belonging to her had
entered. However, some of the Pirates had hindered the Cargoe’s being
plundered, and obtained that the Ship should be restored to the second
Mate: Telling him, ‘They did it out of respect to the generous Character
his Owner bore, in doing good to poor Sailors.’
“When I met with this Vessel I had almost disposed of my Ship’s Cargoe:
and the _Elizabeth_ being under my Direction, I acquainted the second
Mate, who then commanded her, That I thought it for our Owner’s
Interest, to take the Slaves from on board him, being about 120, into my
Ship; and then go off the Coast; and that I would deliver him at the
same time the Remains of my Cargoe, for him to dispose of with his own
after I was sailed. This he readily complied with, but told me, ‘He
feared his Ship’s Company would mutiny, and oppose my taking the Slaves
from him.’ And indeed, they came at that instant in a Body on the
Quarter-deck; where one spoke for the rest, telling me plainly, ‘that
they would not allow the Slaves to be taken out by me.’ I found by this
they had lost all respect for their present Commander, who indeed was a
weak Man. However, I calmly asked the reason, ‘Why they offered to
oppose my taking the Slaves?’ To which they answered, ‘I had no business
with them.’ On this I desired the Captain to send to his Scrutore, for
the Book of Instructions Captain Thompson had received from our Owner;
and he read to them, at my request, that Part, in which their former
Captain, or his Successor (in case of Death) was to follow my Orders.
Hereupon they all cried out, ‘they should remain a great while longer on
the Coast to purchase more Slaves, if I took these from them, which they
were resolved to oppose.’ I answered, ‘That such of the Ship’s Company
as desired it, I would receive on board my own; where they should have
the same Wages they had at present on board the _Elizabeth_, and I would
send some of my own People to supply their Places.’ This, so reasonable
an Offer, was refused, one of the Men who was the Ship’s Cooper telling
me, that the Slaves had been on board a long time, and they had great
Friendship with them: therefore they would keep them. I asked him,
‘Whether he had ever been on the Coast of Guinea before?’ He replied no.
Then I told him, ‘I supposed he had not by his way of talking, and
advised him not to rely on the Friendship of the Slaves, which he might
have reason to repent of when too late.’ And ’Tis remarkable this very
person was killed by them the next Night, as shall be presently related.
“So finding that reasoning with these Men was to no Purpose, I told
them, ‘When I came with my Boats to fetch the Slaves, they should find
me as resolute to chastise such of them as should dare to oppose me, as
I had been condescending to convince them by arguing calmly.’ So I took
my leave of their Captain, telling him, ‘I would come next Morning to
finish the Affair.’
“But that very Night, which was near a month after the Mutiny on board
of us at Mumfort, the Moon shining now very bright, as it did then, we
heard, about ten a Clock, two or three Musquets fired on board the
_Elizabeth_. Upon that I ordered all our Boats to be manned, and having
secured every thing in our Ship, to prevent our Slaves from mutinying, I
went myself in our Pinnace (the other Boats following me), on board the
_Elizabeth_, in our way we saw two Negroes swimming from her, but before
we could reach them with our Boats, some Sharks rose from the bottom,
and tore them in Pieces. We came presently along the side of the Ship,
where we found two Men-Negroes holding by a Rope, with their Heads just
above water; they were afraid, it seems, to swim from the Ship’s side,
having seen their Companions devoured just before by the Sharks. These
two Slaves we took into our Boat, and then went into the Ship, where we
found the Negroes very quiet, and all under Deck: but the Ship’s Company
was on the Quarter-Deck, in a great Confusion, saying, ‘The Cooper, who
had been placed centry at the Fore-hatch way, over the Men-Negroes, was,
they believed, kill’d by them.’ I was surprised to hear this, wondering
that these cowardly fellows, who had so vigorously opposed my taking the
Slaves out, a few hours before, had not Courage enough to venture
forward, to save their Ship-mate; but had secured themselves by shutting
the Quarter-deck-door, where they all stood with Arms in their Hands. So
I went to the fore-part of the Ship with some of my People, and there we
found the Cooper lying on his back quite dead, his Scull being cleft
asunder with a Hatchet that lay by him. At the sight of this I called
for the Linguist, and bid him ask the Negroes between Decks, ‘Who had
killed the white Man?’ They answered, ‘They knew nothing of the matter;
for there had been no design of mutinying amongst them:’ Which upon
Examination we found true; for above one hundred of the Negroes then on
board, being bought to Windward, did not understand a word of the Gold
Coast Language, and so had not been in the Plot. But this Mutiny was
contrived by a few Cormantee-Negroes, who had been purchased about two
or three days before. At last, one of the two Men-Negroes we had taken
up along the Ship side, impeached his Companion, and he readily
confessed he had kill’d the Cooper, with no other View, but that he and
his Countrymen might escape undiscovered by swimming on Shore. For on
their coming upon Deck, they observed, that all the white Men set to
watch were asleep; and having found the Cook’s Hatchet by the
Fire-place, he took it up, not designing then to do any Mischief with
it; but passing by the Cooper, who was centry, and he beginning to
awake, the Negroe rashly struck him on the head with it, and then jump’d
overboard. Upon this frank Confession, the white Men would have cut him
to Pieces; but I prevented it, and carried him to my own Ship. Early the
next morning, I went on board the _Elizabeth_ with my Boats, and sent
away all the Negroes then in her, into my own Ship: not one of the other
Ship’s Company offering to oppose it. Two of them, the Carpenter and
Steward, desired to go with me, which I readily granted; and by way of
Security for the future Success of the Voyage, I put my chief Mate, and
four of my under Officers (with their own Consent), on board the
_Elizabeth_; and they arrived about five Months after this, at Jamaica,
having disposed of most part of the Cargoe.
[Illustration:
SECTION SHOWING METHOD OF STOWING SLAVES, IN 1786, ON THE SHIP
“BROOKES” OF LIVERPOOL
From Clarkson’s _Abolition of the Slave Trade_, London, 1808
]
“After having sent the Slaves out of the _Elizabeth_, as I have just now
mentioned, I went on board my own Ship, and there being then in the Road
of Anamaboe, eight sail of Ships besides us, I sent an Officer in my
Boat to the Commanders of them, ‘To desire their Company on board my
Ship, because I had an Affair of great Consequence to communicate to
them.’ Soon after, most of them were pleased to come; and I having
acquainted them with the whole Matter, and they having also heard the
Negroe’s Confession, ‘That he had killed the white Man’; They
unanimously advised me to put him to death; arguing, ‘That Blood
required Blood by all Laws both divine and human; especially as there
was in this Case the clearest Proof, namely the Murderer’s Confession:
Moreover this would in all probability prevent future Mischiefs; for by
publickly executing this Person at the Ship’s Fore-yard Arm, the Negroes
on board their Ships would see it; and as they were very much disposed
to mutiny, it might prevent them from ‘attempting it.’ These Reasons,
with my being in the same Circumstances, made me comply.
“Accordingly we acquainted the Negroe, that he was to die in an hour’s
time for murdering the white Man. He answered, ‘He must confess it was a
rash Action in him to kill him; but he desired me to consider, that if I
put him to death, I should lose all the Money I had paid for him.’ To
this I bid the Interpreter reply, ‘That tho’ I knew it was customary in
his Country to commute for Murder by a Sum of Money, yet it was not so
with us; and he should find that I had no regard to my Profit in this
respect: For as soon as an Hour-Glass, just then turned, was run out, he
should be put to death’; At which I observed he shewed no Concern.
“Hereupon the other Commanders went on board their respective Ships, in
order to have all their Negroes upon Deck at the time of Execution, and
to inform them of the occasion of it. The Hour-Glass being run out, the
Murderer was carried on the Ship’s Forecastle, where he had a Rope
fastened under his Arms, in order to be hoisted up to the Fore-yard Arm,
to be shot to death. This some of his Countrymen observing, told him (as
the Linguist informed me afterwards), ‘That they would not have him be
frightened; for it was plain I did not design to put him to death,
otherwise the Rope would have been put about his neck, to hang him.’ For
it seems they had no thought of his being shot; judging he was only to
be hoisted up to the Yard-arm, in order to scare him: But they
immediately saw the contrary; for as soon as he was hoisted up, ten
white Men who were placed behind the Barricado on the Quarter-deck,
fired their Musquets, and instantly killed him. This struck a sudden
Damp on our Negroe-Men, who thought, that, on account of my Profit, I
would not have executed him.
“The Body being let down upon the Deck, the Head was cut off, and thrown
overboard. This last part was done, to let our Negroes see, that all who
offended thus, should be served in the same manner. For many of the
Blacks believe, that if they are put to death and not dismembered, they
shall return again to their own Country, after they are thrown
overboard. But neither the Person that was executed, nor his Countrymen
of Cormantee (as I understood afterwards), were so weak as to believe
any such thing; tho’ many I had on board from other Countries had that
Opinion.
“When the Execution was over, I ordered the Linguist to acquaint the
Men-Negroes, ‘That now they might judge, no one that killed a white Man
should be spared:’ And I thought proper now to acquaint them once for
all, ‘That if they attempted to mutiny again, I should be obliged to
punish the Ringleaders with death, in order to prevent further
Mischief.’ Upon this they all promised to be obedient, and I assured
them they should be kindly used, if they kept their Promise: which they
faithfully did. For we sailed, two days after, from Annamaboe for
Jamaica; and tho’ they were on board near four Months, from our going
off the Coast, till they were sold at that Island, they never gave us
the least reason to be jealous of them: which doubtless was owing to the
Execution of the white Man’s Murderer.
“These three Mutinies, I have here related, are all that ever happened
where I was present, tho’ I have gone many Voyages to the Coast of
Guinea. But I have heard of several, that have ended in a very tragical
manner. However, to avoid being tedious, I shall relate only one, which
is very remarkable, and happen’d on board the _Ferres Galley_ of London,
Capt. Messervy; who, by his overcare, and too great Kindness to the
Negroes on board his Ship, was destroyed by them, and the Voyage at last
came to nothing. I met this Gentleman at Anamaboe on the Coast of
Guinea, in January 1722. At his coming on board my Ship, he informed me
of his good fortune, in that he had purchased near 300 Negroes in a few
Days, at a place called Cetre-Crue, on the windward part of the Coast of
Guinea, which happened in this manner.
“It seems the Inhabitants of this place, which lies near the Sea-side,
had been often misused by some inland People, who for a long time had
treated them in a villainous manner, whenever they went to their Towns
with Salt, or any other Commodities to sell. For knowing the People of
Cetre-Crue, did in a great measure depend on them for their Food, which
is Rice, they took their Commodities, and gave them just what quantity
of Rice they pleased, in exchange. The Cetre-Crues having long
complained of this injury, without redress, resolved to bear it no
longer, but to revenge themselves by Arms. And they were crowned with
Success, destroying and taking all the Inhabitants of the principal Town
where they used to go and buy Rice.
“Captain Messervy happened to anchor near Cetre-Crue just at that time,
and had the opportunity of purchasing a great many of the Captives at an
easy rate. For the Conquerors were glad to get something for them, at
that instant, since, if a Ship had not been in the Road, they would have
been obliged to have killed most of the Men-Captives, for their own
Security.
“After the Captain had told me this story, he desired me to spare him
some Rice, having heard, I had purchased a great many Tuns to the
Windward; where he had bought little, not expecting to meet with so many
Slaves. This request I could not comply with, having provided no more
than was necessary for my self, and for another of my Owner’s Ships,
which I quickly expected. And understanding from him, that he had never
been on the Coast of Guinea before, I took the liberty to observe to
him, ‘That as he had on board so many Negroes of one Town and Language,
it required the utmost Care and Management to keep them from mutinying;
and that I was sorry he had so little Rice for them: For I had
experienced that the Windward Slaves are always very fond of it, it
being their usual Food in their own Country; and he might certainly
expect dissatisfactions and Uneasiness amongst them for want of a
sufficient quantity.’
“This he took kindly, and having asked my Advice about other Matters,
took his leave, inviting me to come next day to see him. I went
accordingly on board his Ship, about three a clock in the afternoon. At
four a clock the Negroes went to Supper, and Captain Messervy desired me
to excuse him for a quarter of an hour, whilst he went forward to see
the Men-Negroes served with Victuals. I observed from the Quarter-Deck,
that he himself put Pepper and Palm Oyl amongst the Rice they were going
to eat. When he came back to me, I could not forbear observing to him,
‘How imprudent it was in him to do so: For tho’ it was proper for a
Commander sometimes to go forward and observe how things were managed,
yet he ought to take a proper time, and have a good many of his white
People in Arms when he went; or else they having him so much in their
Power, might encourage the Slaves to mutiny: For he might depend upon
it, they always aim at the chief Person in the Ship, whom they soon
distinguish by the respect shown him by the rest of the People.’
“He thanked me for this Advice, but did not seem to relish it; saying,
‘He thought the old Proverb good, that _The Master’s Eye makes the Horse
fat_.’ We then fell into other Discourse, and among other things he told
me, ‘He designed to go away in a few days.’ Accordingly he sailed three
days after for Jamaica. Some Months after I went for that place, where,
at my arrival, I found his Ship, and had the following melancholy
account of his Death, which happened about ten days after he left the
Coast of Guinea in this manner.
“Being on the forecastle of the Ship, amongst the Men-Negroes, when they
were eating their Victuals, they laid hold on him, and beat out his
Brains with the little Tubs, out of which they eat their boiled Rice.
This Mutiny having been plotted amongst all the grown Negroes on board,
they run to the fore-part of the Ship in a body, and endeavoured to
force the Barricado on the Quarter-Deck, not regarding the Musquets or
Half Pikes, that were presented to their Breasts by the white Men,
through the Loop-holes. So that at last the chief Mate was obliged to
order one of the Quarter-deck Guns laden with Partridge-Shot, to be
fired amongst them; which occasioned a terrible Destruction: For there
were near eighty Negroes kill’d and drowned, many jumping overboard when
the Gun was fired. This indeed put an end to the Mutiny, but most of the
Slaves that remained alive grew so sullen, that several of them were
starved to death, obstinately refusing to take any Sustenance; And after
the Ship was arrived at Jamaica, they attempted twice to mutiny, before
the Sale of them began. This, with their former Misbehaviour, coming to
be publickly known, none of the Planters cared to buy them, tho’ offered
at a low Price. So that this proved a very unsuccessful Voyage, for the
Ship was detained many Months at Jamaica on that account, and at last
was lost there in a Hurricane.”