SLAVING VOYAGES BY RHODE ISLAND VESSELS
Newport, Rhode Island, was a well-known slaving port during the
eighteenth century and Bristol was not far behind. The trade in negroes
and rum was then considered entirely respectable and legitimate and
although the voyage to the coast of Africa was one of the most hazardous
that could be made, the profits from a successful venture were very
great and the trade was continued until long after the time of the
American Revolution. The owners of vessels and the distillers of rum,
oftentimes one and the same person, found in this trade an outlet for
their industry and the preacher and the philanthropist fancied that they
saw in it a means of Christianizing a race plunged in heathen darkness.
One highly respected elder, whose “ventures” in slaving had usually
turned out well, always returned thanks, on the Sunday following the
arrival of a slaver in the harbor of Newport, “that an overruling
Providence has been pleased to bring to this land of freedom another
cargo of benighted heathen, to enjoy the blessing of a Gospel
dispensation.”[33]
In the early days, some of the most respectable and wealthy merchants of
Newport, Bristol and Providence were actively engaged in the slave trade
which was usually carried on in small craft of not more than fifty to
seventy tons burden, as it was found that the smaller vessels were the
more profitable. The first leg of the voyage was from the home port with
a cargo of New England rum, not long distilled, and a small stock of
iron, cloth and trinkets to be used in barter on the Guinea coast. When
the cargo of slaves had been secured, the “middle passage” to the West
Indies was made and the live freight was exchanged for hogsheads of
molasses which were
-----
Footnote 33:
George C. Mason, “The African Slave Trade in Colonial Times,” in _The
American Historical Record_, vol. I, Philadelphia, 1872.
-----
brought to Rhode Island to be distilled into rum, and so the round
continued for many years.
Sloops, brigantines and schooners were generally employed in this
trade—rarely a ship—and the fitting out of these vessels required the
services of tradesmen, carpenters, joiners, painters, caulkers,
sailmakers and riggers—the folk who, with the sailors, made up the
populace of the northern seaport towns, ruled socially and commercially
by the wealthier merchant-shipowners.[34] There was also a larger number
of small craft voyaging to and from the West Indies, bringing molasses,
cocoa, indigo and coffee; and from the Carolinas, the necessary naval
stores.
-----
Footnote 34:
Verner W. Crane, _A Rhode Island Slaver_, Providence, 1922.
-----
Molasses was the all-important feature of the slaving trade, which
required rum as a means of barter for slaves, for without molasses there
could be no New England rum and at times molasses was in great demand
with an insufficient supply on hand. In the summer of 1752, a Newport
merchant wrote to a shipowner:
“We are sorry to find you are ordering your sloop here in expectation of
having her loaded with rum in about five weeks. We cannot give you
encouragement of getting that quantity of rum these three months, for
there are so many vessels lading for Guinea, we can’t get one hogshead
of rum for cash.... We have lately been to New London and all along the
sea port towns, in order to purchase the molasses, but can’t get one
hogshead.”[35]
-----
Footnote 35:
Mason, _The African Slave Trade in Colonial Times_, 1872.
-----
The cost of distilling, about that time, was 5½ pence per gallon and
good distillers were expected to turn out gallon for gallon. The number
of still houses in operation was almost beyond belief. In Newport, there
were no less than twenty-two. In 1750, rum was the “chief manufacture”
in New England and about that time fifteen thousand hogsheads of
molasses were annually converted into rum in Massachusetts alone. With
rum, New England carried on a lucrative trade with the Indians and rum
also served to keep the fisheries alive. There was no article that could
take the place of rum in the Guinea trade. Here is what Capt. George
Scott wrote to his Newport owners in 1740 on this point:
“We left Anamaboe ye 8th of May, with most of our people and slaves
sick. We have lost 29 slaves. Our purchase was 129. We have five that
swell’d and how it will be with them I can’t tell. We have one-third of
dry cargo left and two hhds. rum.... I have repented a hundred times ye
buying of them dry goods. Had we laid out two thousand pound in rum,
bread and flour, it would purchased more in value than all our dry
goods.”
Let us take one of these Newport slavers, the brigantine _Sanderson_,
Capt. David Lindsay, master, William Johnston, owner, and follow her
voyage out and back. She was a square-sterned vessel of only forty tons
burden, built at Portsmouth, R. I., in 1745, and her portledge bill
listed the captain, two mates and six men. She carried no surgeon. Her
cargo consisted of 8,220 gallons of rum, 79 bars of iron, flour, rice,
snuff, iron pots, tar, loaf and brown sugar, wine, vinegar, butter,
pork, beef, tobacco, a trunk of shirts, 3,000 staves, and the usual
supply of shackles, handcuffs, etc. Insurance to the amount of £100 was
effected in New York at 18 per cent.
On Feb. 28, 1753, Captain Lindsay wrote to his owner from Anamaboe:
“I have Gott 13 or 14 hhds. of Rum yet Left a bord & God noes when I
shall Gett clear of it. Ye Traid is so dull it is actualy a noof to make
a man Creasey. My cheefe mate after making four or five Trips in the
boat was taken sick & Remains very bad yett: then I sent Mr. Taylor & he
Gott not well and three more of my men has sick. I should be glad I cood
come Rite home with my slaves, for my vessiel will not last to proceed
farr. We can see Day Lite al round her bow under Deck. Heare lyes
Captain Hamlet, James Jepson, Carpenter, Butler and Lindsay. Gardner is
dun. All these are rum ships. I’ve sent a Small boye to my wife.”
Captain Lindsay turned up at last at the Barbadoes, notwithstanding his
leaky craft, and on June 17th he wrote to his owner that he had arrived
safely in ten weeks from Anamaboe, with fifty-six slaves aboard, “all in
helth and fatt. I lost one small gall.” His slaves sold at better than
£30 each, and after deducting duties and commissions the net proceeds
amounted to £1324.0.3. The brigantine took aboard at the Barbadoes
fifty-five hogsheads of rum, three hogsheads and twenty-seven barrels of
sugar and Captain Lindsay received bills on Liverpool for the balance
due the owner. Newport was reached safely and June 19, 1754, he sailed
again, bound for the coast of Africa, this time in the newly built
schooner, _Sierre Leone_, forty tons burden, in which he made a round
voyage in ten months, concerning which his owners wrote, “Lindsay’s
arrival is very agreeable to us and we wish we may never make a worse
voyage.”
Guinea coast captains were not all as fortunate as Lindsay. Capt. George
Scott wrote from Anamaboe, in April, 1740, to his Newport owner, as
follows:
“I have been not very well for five weeks past, which is made our voyage
very backward, and am now very well recovered, Blessed be God. We have
now five people sick and bonner[36] so bad he will not recover. I am
heartily tired of ye voyage, everything runs so cross that I undertake
to make a voyage. I being not very well, kept my cheif mate aboard and
sent ye second mate in ye Long Boat to Leward a trading. He had not been
gone above four days before he hired a canoue and sends her up with his
gold taken to me for goods, without any orders from me; i sent ye canoue
immediately back without goods. Going down they overset the canoue, the
blacks came of from ye shore and took them up and put them in irons. The
blacks where ye boat lay detained ye Mate ashore, in which time a man
slave he had bought, got out of ye boat with two ounces of gold and has
gott clean off. I was obliged to go down with ye sloop and pay
thirty-two pounds in ye best of goods before they would let ye Mate come
off. Upon the hole I’ve lost nigh three hundred pounds with that trip,
in money, by the mate’s folly. I am sure he will never be able to make
satisfaction.
-----
Footnote 36:
A common negro name at that time.
-----
“I bought sume slaves and Goods from a Dutchman for gold, which I
thought to sell to ye French. In a few little time after my slaves was
all taken with the flucks, so that I could not sell them; lost three
with it and have three more very bad; ye rest all well and good slaves.
We have now about one hundred and no gold. I think to purchase about
twenty and go off ye coast; ye time of year don’t doe to tarry much
longer. Every-thing of provision is very dear and scarce; it costs for
water Tenn shillings for one day. I shall go to Shama and water our
vessell and sail of ye coast with what I can purchase. Every man slave
that we pay all goods for here, costs twelve pounds ster^g prime. Our
slaves is mostly large. 60 men and men boys, 20 women, the rest boys and
girls, but three under four foot high.”[37]
-----
Footnote 37:
Mason, _The African Slave Trade in Colonial Times_, 1872.
-----
The sloop _Adventure_, Capt. Robert Champlin, owned by Christopher
Champlin of Newport, cleared from Newport, Oct. 25, 1773, bound for
Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast on a slaving voyage. She carried ten men
besides the master, including two mates, a cooper, a cook, a boy and
five sailors. Among the items of her outfitting were a pair of swivel
guns and 100 grape shot; double-warded secret padlocks; “12 pr. Hand
Cufs and Shackles”; a twenty-one-foot boat; twenty-six gallons of
vinegar to wash down the slave quarters between decks; and a medicine
chest well stocked with Peruvian bark. Rum made in Newport comprised the
larger part of the cargo.
The owner’s instructions directed the master to trade so far as possible
at the “castles” instead of with the natives. “To lay a long time on the
Coast to piddle with the blacks must be against the voyage.” It turned
out that the tribes were at war and no black trade was running. At the
“castles,” the price for slaves was 140 to 160 gallons of rum per head.
Rice was bought on the Windward Coast, but no slaves. It was only after
four months’ cruising and trading that a full cargo was obtained, which
found a market at Grenada, at £35 to £39 per head. The return voyage was
molasses and the owners reckoned a net profit of about 23 per cent on
the voyage, or £400, sterling.[38]
-----
Footnote 38:
Crane, _A Rhode Island Slaver_, Providence, 1922.
-----
A typical voyage of a Rhode Island slaver, at a later date, is that of
the ship _Ann_, Jonathan Dennison, master, which sailed from Bristol, on
July 24, 1806, bound for Cape Coast Castle, on the Gold Coast, with a
cargo of rum, brandy, gin, wine and English goods. This cargo was to be
traded for slaves to be taken to Montevideo and there sold and with the
proceeds a return cargo of ox hides, dried beef, tallow and other
produce was to be purchased. The owner of the _Ann_ was James De Wolf of
Bristol and his instructions to the captain were carried out to the
letter until the ship reached the river La Plata, where she was
captured, on Nov. 15, 1806, by the British ship-of-war _Leda_, the port
of Montevideo then being under blockade. She was taken to the Cape of
Good Hope where a Vice Admiralty Court, on Sept. 7, 1807, decreed that
she be restored upon payment of costs; but the King’s proctor entered an
appeal and the following January, the Lords Commissioners, sitting in
the Council Chamber, at Whitehall, in London, reversed the sentence and
condemned the ship and cargo as a lawful prize.[39]
-----
Footnote 39:
The briefs in this case were printed in London, for the benefit of the
Lords Commissioners, sitting as a Court of Appeal, and from one of
these rare originals owned by the Marine Research Society, the
accompanying account of the voyage has been abstracted.
-----
[Illustration:
CAPTURE OF THE AMERICAN SLAVER “MARY ADELINE,” OFF THE CONGO, IN 1852,
BY H.M. BRIGANTINE “DOLPHIN”
From a colored lithograph by H. John Vernon, in the Macpherson
Collection
]
The ship _Ann_ was built at Dighton, Mass., in 1804; she had two decks;
her width was 27 feet, depth 13 feet 6 inches and she measured 309 tons.
She was square-sterned, had neither galleries or figurehead, mounted
four guns, and carried a crew of twenty-two men. The owner’s
instructions were as follows:
Bristol, R. I. 18th July 1806.
Capt. Jonathan Dennison
Sir,
Your having engaged to go a Voyage to Africa in my ship _Ann_,
my Instructions are that you proceed with all possible Dispatch
direct to Cape Coast, and make Trade at that Place and its Vicinity,
and purchase as many good, healthy young Slaves as may be in your
power to purchase, by bartering away your present Cargo with the
Natives; and after compleating your Business in Africa, you will
proceed to Monte Video in South America, and there dispose of your
Slaves, and purchase a Return Cargo of Ox Hides and dried Beef, and
some Tallow and other Produce of that Country, such as you may judge
will pay a handsome Profit, and after compleating your Business
there, you will return home to this Port with all possible Dispatch.
I am, Sir,
Your Friend and Owner,
JAS. DE WOLF.[40]
-----
Footnote 40:
James De Wolf, a considerable shipowner, had served his time in
the slave trade. He afterwards engaged in other trade and in
privateering and accumulated a considerable fortune. He
represented his town in the Rhode Island Legislature for nearly
thirty years, and was a member of the United States Senate.
-----
The cargo of the _Ann_ consisted of the following: “184 Hogsheads,
26 Tierces, 29 Barrels and 4 Half Barrels new Rum, 16 Boxes Claret
Wine, 6 Pipes Molasses, 3 Boxes Hats, 1 Case Cambricks, 6 Hogsheads
Cod-Fish, 10 Bbls. Oil, 2 Pipes Gin, 4 Regr. Casks, 3 Hogsheads
Tobacco, 20 Firkins Butter, 28 Dozen Silk Hats, 6½ Dozen Cotton
ditto, 2 Children’s Samplers, 20 Pots and Kettles, 110, 2, 20, Bar
Iron, 10 0, 23, American Steel, 2043 lbs. Hams, 8 Pipes Brandy, 80
Hogsheads Salt, 5 Chaldrons Coal, 3 Casks Porter, 6 Chases Bales
India Goods, 2 Boxes Callicoes, 1 Trunk, 30 M. Boards, 1118 feet
Oars, 17000 Staves 1200 P^s Nankeens, 1 cask Claret Wine, 1 Bale
Muslins, and Ship Stores for the Voyage.”
The _Ann_ sailed from Bristol on July 24, 1806, and reached the
coast early in September. From the ship’s log we learn that she was
off Frisco, a small trading town, on Sept. 8th, forty-six days out.
The weather was thick for the first part, but came off calm and
flattering the latter part of the day. Cast the lead every hour and
found from twenty-six to thirty-two fathoms of water. At 11 A.M.
King Peter came off in a canoe.
At four o’clock the next morning, a small breeze sprung up and
studding sails were set. The ship was then about four leagues from
the land. King Peter again came off and told the captain that he was
off Spisko. He was given a bottle of rum and sent over the side. In
the morning saw two ships at anchor at Lahoe, probably buying ivory.
Saw many canoes off fishing.
The next morning, Sept. 10th, there were light winds and a current
set against them, so all sails were set. In the afternoon saw a
schooner-rigged boat standing up along shore, under English colors;
supposed that she belonged to one of the ships that lay at Jack
Lahoe. At three o’clock a canoe came aboard from Jacques, a small
town, and the captain “gave him a Bottle of Rum, and sent him
ashore.” There was a fine breeze all the afternoon but it died away
at sunset. Soundings from thirty to forty fathoms.
The following morning, Sept. 11th, the ship was abreast of Little
Batsam and saw a ship and brig at anchor. The ship got under way and
stretched off and in the afternoon tacked in shore to speak the
_Ann_. She was under Spanish colors, but soon fired a shot across
the bow of the _Ann_ and hoisted English colors. When within hailing
distance she ordered Captain Dennison to send his papers for
examination and later an officer came aboard to search the ship, but
found nothing. When the _Ann’s_ boat was discharged she brought back
an English cheese, a present from the captain of the English ship,
and Captain Dennison returned the compliment by sending back some
onions and three tumblers. The English officer said that an officer
of his ship and six men had deserted in their whale boat, having
stolen a quantity of guns and trading goods. At 4 P.M. they parted,
good friends, and an hour later passed Great Batsam River. Saw a
lugger boat standing down. Smoky weather all day.
“Friday, Sept. 12th. At 3 P.M. saw Appallona Fort by the English
Colours; we past Axim Fort in the Night; about 12 o’clock we passed
Cape 3 Points, as we supposed; in the morning hauled in for the
Land: saw Dicks Cove Castle; at 9 passed by Secondu; at 12 passed by
Commenda; at 2 o’clock came to in Elmina Road; as no Vessel lying
there, I was in great hopes of making good Trade, as no Vessel was
there; the next Morning I went on shore, but found they was full of
all Sorts of Goods and Rum in abundance, they wanted nothing; to
anchor in Elmina Roads is to bring the Two Flag Staffes in one in 7
Fathoms water. Kept 4 hands in a Watch.”
Notwithstanding the state of trade at Elmina, Captain Dennison was
able to dispose of a part of his cargo there and the long boat was
hoisted out and a derrick was rigged. On the 14th, some slaves were
brought out to the ship. The top-gallant yards were sent down and
the best bower bent to a cable. The next morning two boatloads of
water were brought off and trade continued mainly in rum and dry
goods. On the seventeenth, Mr. Willard went down to Cape Coast
Castle to see what trade could be made there, but found no chance.
The next day the mate enters in his log: “Pike has been deficient of
his Duty 5 days, the Cook 3 days drunk, and deficient of his Duty.
So ends this Day with pleasant Weather.” On the 20th, Pike had been
drunk for seven days and the cook, five.
On Sunday, Sept. 21st, “all Hands were employed in clearing up the
tween Decks, and backing out the fore Peake, and sundry other Jobs.”
On Monday, “broke out Part of the Lower Hold; the Second Mate went
on shore and got upset and very near drowned.” During the rest of
the week more rum and other goods were landed and sickness began to
make its appearance. The captain also had a bad fall but was able to
be about.
On Sunday, Sept. 28th, a caboose and a little house were built on
deck and the heavy swell parted the small bower cable. Early the
next morning they hove up the best bower “and got a Warp to the Buoy
of the small Bower, and hove till we parted the Buoy Rope. After
that got the Hawser and swept the Anchor, the Swell being so bad we
dar’nt heave a Point.” Pike got drunk and was very “wranglesome.”
Two days afterwards, while sweeping for their lost anchor, they
found and brought up an old one. Three more slaves were brought on
board.
Day after day they continued to sweep for their small bower but
without success and on Oct. 6th, sail was made for Anamaboe, where
Captains Drown and Brooks lay at anchor. Ill luck followed, for when
the anchor was hove short the next morning, they capsized the
windlass and broke the pawls, but got on a stopper and repaired the
windlass. That night a tornado came up and it blew “more fresh.” On
the 8th the ship ran down to Leggo and came to anchor in eight
fathoms. Spoke the ship _Union_ of Newport, without any anchor. The
next day ran down to Acra, where the windlass was again capsized and
the pawls broken. The captain still remained very lame.
At Acra there was considerable trade in rum and all hands were kept
busy discharging cargo and building a bulkhead to keep the slaves
apart. This continued until the 18th, when sail was made to beat up
the coast to Leggo, which was reached three days later and after a
stay there of two days the ship was got under way bound to Elmina,
beating up against the wind all the while.
[Illustration:
CAPTURE OF THE AMERICAN SLAVER “ORION,” NOV. 30, 1859, WITH 888
SLAVES, BY H.M. SLOOP-OF-WAR “PLUTO”
From a water color by J. Taylor (1876) in the Macpherson
Collection
]
The _Ann_ remained at anchor at Elmina until November 6th, all hands
being employed in getting water, building the barricade, hogging the
inside of the ship and other sundry jobs. Three hands were on the
sick list and also the mate, Daniel Shaw. On Nov. 7th, thirty-five
slaves were brought aboard, and two days later, at 5 A.M., they got
under way and ran down to Anamaboe and, after taking in some corn
and wood, “sail was made for Leggo, where we spoke Captain Drown and
left letters with him. On the 12th we got all our corn aboard and at
5 P.M. made the slaves dance. Charles Ryal came aft and knocked down
one of the slaves and when the mate told him to go forward and
struck him in the face he told the mate he would have three hundred
dollars to spend in Gorges Street or have his life.” “So ends the
day,” reads the log.
Acra was reached, a second time, on the thirteenth, where the
captain settled his accounts with Whitehead, the merchant, while all
hands were employed in getting ready for sea. Two days later, at
sunset, everything was got aboard and at midnight they weighed
anchor bound for Rio del Plata, “with the Help of God,” having 163
prime slaves aboard; all hands employed unbending the cables,
getting the anchor secure, and clearing the decks. Most of the
slaves aboard were of the Fanteen tribe.
No record has been preserved of what may have happened during the
voyage to Montevideo. We only know that the island of Lobus was
sighted on Jan. 5, 1807, and the next day the ship spoke the British
sloop of war _Medusa_, whose commander ordered the _Ann_ to proceed
to Maldeno, where the British fleet was. This Captain Dennison
endeavored to do but the wind blew so fresh and the current ran so
strong that after eight hours’ struggle the crew became exhausted
and the ship was put about and stood before the wind for Montevideo.
At 9 A.M. she was fired on and captured by the British ship-of-war
_Leda_ and afterwards a prize-master and crew were placed aboard and
the _Ann_ was ordered to the Cape of Good Hope, where she was
released by the Admiralty Court, but upon an appeal was eventually
condemned in London, as a lawful prize. What became of the slaves
does not appear, but as Parliament did not outlaw the slave trade
until May 1, 1807, undoubtedly the cargo went the same way as the
ship—“to the sole use of His Majesty, his Heirs and Successors.”