Author confers with the inhabitants of Bridgewater relative to a
petition to parliament in behalf of the abolition; returns to Bristol;
discovers a scandalous mode of procuring seamen for the Slave Trade,
and of paying them; makes a comparative view of their loss in this and
in other trades; procures imports and exports.--Examines the
construction and admeasurement of slave ships; of the Fly and
Neptune.--Difficulty of procuring evidence.--Case of Gardiner, of the
Pilgrim; of Arnold, of the Ruby; some particulars of the latter in his
former voyages.
Having heard by accident that the inhabitants of the town of Bridgewater
had sent a petition to the House of Commons, in the year 1785, for the
abolition of the Slave Trade, as has been related in a former part of
the work, I determined, while my feelings were warm, to go there, and to
try to find out those who had been concerned in it, and to confer with
them as the tried friends of the cause. The time seemed to me to be
approaching when the public voice should be raised against this enormous
evil. I was sure that it was only necessary for the inhabitants of this
favoured island to know it to feel a just indignation against it.
Accordingly I set off. My friend George Fisher, who was before mentioned
to have been of the religious Society of the Quakers, gave me an
introduction to the respectable family of Ball, which was of the same
religious persuasion. I called upon Mr. Sealey, Anstice, Crandon, Chubb,
and others. I laid open to those whom I saw, the discoveries I had made
relative to the loss and ill treatment of seamen; at which they seemed
to be much moved; and it was agreed that if it should be thought a
proper measure, (of which I would inform them when I had consulted the
committee,) a second petition should be sent to Parliament from the
inhabitants, praying for the abolition of the Slave Trade. With this
view I left them several of my _Summary View_, before mentioned, to
distribute, that the inhabitants might know more particularly the nature
of the evil, against which they were going to complain. On my return to
Bristol, I determined to inquire into the truth of the reports that
seamen had an aversion to enter, and that they were inveigled, if not
often forced, into this hateful employment. For this purpose I was
introduced to a landlord of the name of Thompson, who kept a
public-house called the Seven Stars. He was a very intelligent man, was
accustomed to receive sailors when discharged at the end of their
voyages, and to board them till their vessels went out again, or to find
them births in others. He avoided, however, all connexion with the Slave
Trade, declaring that the credit of his house would be ruined if he were
known to send those, who put themselves under his care, into it.
From him I collected the truth of all that had been stated to me on this
subject. But I told him I should not be satisfied until I had beheld
those scenes myself which he had described to me; and I entreated him to
take me into them, saying that I would reward him for all his time and
trouble, and that I would never forget him while I lived. To this he
consented; and as three or four slave-vessels at this time were
preparing for their voyages, it was time that we should begin our
rounds. At about twelve at night we generally set out, and were employed
till two and sometimes three in the morning. He led me from one of these
public-houses to another which the mates of the slave-vessels used to
frequent to pick up their hands. These houses were in Marsh-street, and
most of them were then kept by Irishmen. The scenes witnessed in these
houses were truly distressing to me; and yet, if I wished to know
practically what I had purposed, I could not avoid them. Music, dancing,
rioting, drunkenness, and profane swearing, were kept up from night to
night. The young mariner, if a stranger to the port, and unacquainted
with the nature of the Slave Trade, was sure to be picked up. The
novelty of the voyages, the superiority of the wages in this over any
other trades, and the privileges of various kinds, were set before him.
Gulled in this manner, he was frequently enticed to the boat, which was
waiting to carry him away. If these prospects did not attract him, he
was plied with liquor till he became intoxicated, when a bargain was
made over him between the landlord and the mate. After this his senses
were kept in such a constant state of stupefaction by the liquor, that
in time the former might do with him what he pleased. Seamen, also, were
boarded in these houses, who, when the slave-ships were going out, but
at no other time, were encouraged to spend more than they had money to
pay for; and to these, when they had thus exceeded, but one alternative
was given, namely, a slave-vessel or a gaol. These distressing scenes I
found myself obliged frequently to witness, for I was no less than
nineteen times occupied in making these hateful rounds; and I can say
from my own experience, and all the information I could collect from
Thompson and others, that no such practices were in use to obtain seamen
for other trades.
The treatment of the seamen employed in the Slave Trade had so deeply
interested me, and now the manner of procuring them, that I was
determined to make myself acquainted with their whole history; for I
found by report that they were not only personally ill-treated, as I
have already painfully described, but that they were robbed by artifice
of those wages, which had been held up to them as so superior in this
service. All persons were obliged to sign articles that, in case they
should die or be discharged during the voyage, the wages then due to
them should be paid in the currency where the vessel carried her slaves,
and that half of the wages due to them on their arrival there should be
paid in the same manner, and that they were never permitted to read over
the articles they had signed. By means of this iniquitous practice the
wages in the Slave Trade, though nominally higher in order to induce
seamen to engage in it, were actually lower than in other trades. All
these usages I ascertained in such a manner, that no person could doubt
the truth of them. I actually obtained possession of articles of
agreement belonging to these vessels, which had been signed and executed
in former voyages. I made the merchants themselves, by sending those
seamen who had claims upon them to ask for their accounts current with
their respective ships, furnish me with such documents as would have
been evidence against them in any court of law. On whatever branch of
the system I turned my eyes, I found it equally barbarous. The trade
was, in short, one mass of iniquity from the beginning to the end.
I employed myself occasionally in the Merchant's-hall, in making copies
of the muster-rolls of ships sailing to different parts of the world,
that I might make a comparative view of the loss of seamen in the Slave
Trade, with that of those in the other trades from the same port. The
result of this employment showed me the importance of it: for, when I
considered how partial the inhabitants of this country were to their
fellow-citizens, the seamen belonging to it, and in what estimation the
members of the legislature held them, by enforcing the Navigation Act,
which they considered to be the bulwark of the nation, and by giving
bounties to certain trades, that these might become so many nurseries
for the marine, I thought it of great importance, to be able to prove,
as I was then capable of doing, that more persons would be found dead in
three slave-vessels from Bristol, in a given time, than in all the other
vessels put together, numerous as they were, belonging to the same port.
I procured also an account of the exports and imports for the year 1786,
by means of which I was enabled to judge of the comparative value of
this and the other trades.
In pursuing another object, which was that of going on board the
slave-ships, and learning their construction and dimensions, I was
greatly struck, and indeed affected, by the appearance of two little
sloops, which were fitting out for Africa, the one of only twenty-five
tons, which was said to be destined to carry seventy and the other of
only eleven, which was said to be destined to carry thirty slaves. I was
told also that which was more affecting, namely, that these were not to
act as tenders on the coast, by going up and down the rivers, and
receiving three or four slaves at a time, and then carrying them to a
large ship, which was to take them to the West Indies; but that it was
actually intended, that they should transport their own slaves
themselves; that one if not both of them were, on their arrival in the
West Indies, to be sold as pleasure-vessels, and that the seamen
belonging to them were to be permitted to come home by what is usually
called the run.
This account of the destination of these little vessels, though it was
distressing at first, appeared to me afterwards, on cool reasoning, to
be incredible. I thought that my informants wished to impose upon me, in
order that I might make statements which would carry their own
refutation with them, and that thus I might injure the great cause which
I had undertaken. And I was much inclined to be of this opinion, when I
looked again at the least of the two; for any person, who was tall,
standing upon dry ground by the side of her, might have overlooked every
thing upon her deck. I knew also that she had been built as a
pleasure-boat for the accommodation of only six persons upon the Severn.
I determined, therefore, to suspend my belief till I could take the
admeasurement of each vessel. This I did; but lest, in the agitation of
my mind on this occasion, I should have made any mistake, I desired my
friend George Fisher to apply to the builder for his admeasurement also.
With this he kindly complied. When he obtained it he brought it me. This
account, which nearly corresponded with my own, was as follows:--In the
vessel of twenty-five tons, the length of the upper part of the hold, or
roof of the room, where the seventy slaves were to be stowed, was but
little better than ten yards, or thirty-one feet. The greatest breadth
of the bottom, or floor, was ten feet four inches; and the least five.
Hence, a grown person must sit down all the voyage, and contract his
limbs within the narrow limits of three square feet. In the vessel of
eleven tons, the length of the room for the thirty slaves was twenty-two
feet. The greatest breadth of the floor was eight, and the least four.
The whole height from the keel to the beam was but five feet eight
inches, three feet of which were occupied by ballast, cargo, and
provisions, so that two feet eight inches remained only as the height
between the decks. Hence, each slave would have only four square feet to
sit in, and, when in this posture, his head, if he were a full-grown
person, would touch the ceiling, or upper deck.
Having now received this admeasurement from the builder, which was
rather more favourable than my own, I looked upon the destination of
these little vessels as yet more incredible than before. Still the
different persons, whom I occasionally saw on board them, persisted in
it that they were going to Africa for slaves, and also for the numbers
mentioned, which they were afterwards to carry to the West Indies
themselves. I desired, however, my friends, George Fisher, Truman
Harford, Harry Gandy, Walter Chandler, and others, each to make a
separate inquiry for me on this subject; and they all agreed that,
improbable as the account both of their destination, and of the number
they were to take, might appear, they had found it to be too true. I had
soon afterwards the sorrow to learn from official documents from the
Custom-house, that these little vessels actually cleared out for Africa,
and that now nothing could be related so barbarous of this traffic,
which might not instantly be believed.
In pursuing my different objects there was one, which, to my great
vexation, I found it extremely difficult to attain. This was the
procuring of any assurance from those who had been personally acquainted
with the horrors of this trade, that they would appear, if called upon,
as evidence against it. My friend Harry Gandy, to whom I had been first
introduced, had been two voyages, as I before mentioned; and he was
willing, though at an advanced age, to go to London, to state publicly
all he knew concerning them. But with respect to the many others in
Bristol, who had been to the coast of Africa, I had not yet found one
who would come forward for this purpose. There were several old Slave
Captains living there, who had a great knowledge of the subject. I
thought it not unreasonable that I might gain one or two good evidences
out of these, as they had probably long ago left the concern, and were
not now interested in the continuance of it; but all my endeavours were
fruitless. I sent messages to them by different persons. I met them in
all ways. I stated to them, that if there was nothing objectionable in
the trade, seeing it laboured under such a stigma, they had an
opportunity of coming forward and of wiping away the stain. If, on the
other hand, it was as bad as represented, then they had it in their
power, by detailing the crimes which attached to it, of making some
reparation or atonement, for the part they had taken in it. But no
representations would do. All intercourse was positively forbidden
between us; and whenever they met me in the street, they shunned me as
if I had been a mad dog. I could not for some time account, for the
strange disposition which they thus manifested towards me; but my
friends helped me to unravel it, for I was assured that one or two of
them, though they went no longer to Africa as captains, were in part
owners of vessels trading there; and, with respect to all of them, it
might be generally said, that they had been guilty of such enormities,
that they would be afraid of coming forward in the way I proposed, lest
any thing should come out by which they might criminate themselves. I
was obliged then to give up all hope of getting any evidence from this
quarter, and I saw but little prospect of getting it from those, who
were then actually deriving their livelihood from the trade: and yet I
was determined to persevere; for I thought that some might be found in
it who were not yet so hardened as to be incapable of being awakened on
this subject. I thought that others might be found in it who wished to
leave it upon principle, and that these would unbosom themselves to me:
and I thought it not improbable that I might fall in with others, who
had come unexpectedly into a state of independence, and that these might
be induced, as their livelihood would be no longer affected by giving me
information, to speak the truth.
I persevered for weeks together under this hope, but could find no one
of all those, who had been applied to, who would have any thing to say
to me. At length, Walter Chandler had prevailed upon a young gentleman,
of the name of Gardiner, who was going out as surgeon of the Pilgrim, to
meet me. The condition was, that we were to meet at the house of the
former, but that we were to enter in and go out at different times, that
is, we were not to be seen together.
Gardiner, on being introduced to me, said at once, that he had often
wished to see me on the subject of my errand, but that the owner of the
Pilgrim had pointed me out to him as a person whom he would wish him to
avoid. He then laid open to me the different methods of obtaining slaves
in Africa, as he had learned from those on board his own vessel in his
first, or former, voyage. He unfolded also the manner of their treatment
in the Middle passage, with the various distressing scenes which had
occurred in it. He stated the barbarous usuage of the seamen as he had
witnessed it, and concluded by saying, that there never was a subject
which demanded so loudly the interference of the legislature as that of
the Slave Trade.
When he had finished his narrative, and answered the different questions
which I had proposed to him concerning it, I asked him, in as delicate a
manner as I could, how it happened, that, seeing the trade in this
horrible light, he had consented to follow it again? He told me frankly,
that he had received a regular medical education, but that his
relations, being poor, had not been able to set him up in his
profession. He had saved a little money in his last voyage. In that,
which he was now to perform, he hoped to save a little more. With the
profits of both voyages together, he expected he should be able to
furnish a shop in the line of his profession, when he would wipe his
hands of this detestable trade.
I then asked him, whether, upon the whole, he thought he had judged
prudently, or whether the prospect of thus enabling himself to become
independent, would counterbalance the uneasiness which might arise in
future? He replied, that he had not so much to fear upon this account.
The trade, while it continued, must have surgeons. But it made a great
difference both to the crew and to the slaves, whether these discharged
their duty towards them in a feeling manner, or not. With respect to
himself, he was sure that he should pay every attention to the wants of
each. This thought made his continuance in the trade for one voyage
longer more reconcilable. But he added, as if not quite satisfied,
"Cruel necessity!" and he fetched a deep sigh.
We took our leave, and departed, the one a few minutes after the other.
The conversation of this young man was very interesting. I was much
impressed both by the nature and the manner of it. I wished to secure
him, if possible, as an evidence for parliament, and thus save him from
his approaching voyage: but I knew not what to do. At first, I thought
it would be easy to raise a subscription to set him up. But then, I was
aware that this might be considered as bribery, and make his testimony
worth nothing. I then thought that the committee might detain him as an
evidence, and pay him, in a reasonable manner, for his sustenance, till
his testimony should be called for. But I did not know how long it would
be before his examination might take place. It might be a year or two. I
foresaw other difficulties also and I was obliged to relinquish what
otherwise I should have deemed a prize.
On reviewing the conversation which had passed between us after my
return home, I thought, considering the friendly disposition of Gardiner
towards us, I had not done all I could for the cause; and, communicating
my feelings to Walter Chandler, he procured me another interview. At
this, I asked him, if he would become an evidence if he lived to return.
He replied, very heartily, that he would. I then asked him, if he would
keep a journal of facts during his voyage, as it would enable him to
speak more correctly, in case he should be called upon for his
testimony. He assured me he would, and that he would make up a little
book for that purpose. I asked him, lastly, when he meant to sail. He
said, as soon as the ship could get all her hands. It was their
intention to sail to-morrow, but that seven men, whom the mates had
brought drunk out of Marsh-street the evening before, were so terrified
when they found they were going to Africa, that they had seized the boat
that morning, and had put themselves on shore. I took my leave of him,
entreating him to follow his resolutions of kindness both to the sailors
and the slaves, and wished him a speedy and a safe return.
On going one day by the Exchange, after this interview with Gardiner, I
overheard a young gentleman say to another, "that it happened on the
coast, last year, and that he saw it." I wished to know who he was, and
to get at him if I could. I watched him at a distance for more than half
an hour, when I saw him leave his companion. I followed him till he
entered a house. I then considered whether it would be proper, and in
what manner, to address him when he should come out of it. But I waited
three hours, and I never saw him. I then concluded that he either lodged
where I saw him enter, or that he had gone to dine with some friend. I
therefore took notice of the house, and, showing it afterwards to
several of my friends, desired them to make him out for me. In a day or
two I had an interview with him. His name was James Arnold. He had been
two voyages to the coast of Africa for slaves; one as a surgeon's mate
in the Alexander, in the year 1785, and the other as surgeon in the
Little Pearl, in the year 1786, from which he had not then very long
returned.
I asked him if he was willing to give me any account of these voyages,
for that I was making an inquiry into the nature of the Slave Trade. He
replied, he knew that I was. He had been cautioned about falling in with
me; he had, however, taken no pains to avoid me. It was a bad trade, and
ought to be exposed.
I went over the same ground as I had gone with Gardiner relative to the
first of these voyages; or that in the Alexander. It is not necessary to
detail the particulars. It is impossible, however, not to mention, that
the treatment of the seamen on board this vessel was worse than I had
ever before heard of. No less than eleven of them; unable to bear their
lives; had deserted at Bonny, on the coast of Africa,--which is a most
unusual thing,--choosing all that could be endured, though in a most
inhospitable climate, and in the power of the natives, rather than to
continue in their own ship. Nine others also, in addition to the loss of
these, had died in the same voyage. As to the rest; he believed, without
any exception, that they had been badly used.
In examining him with respect to his second voyage, or that in the
Little Pearl, two circumstances came out with respect to the slaves,
which I shall relate in few words.
The chief mate used to beat the men-slaves on very trifling occasions.
About eleven one evening, the ship then lying off the coast, he heard a
noise in their room. He jumped down among them with the lanthorn in his
hand. Two of those who had been ill-used by him, forced themselves out
of their irons, and, seizing him, struck him with the bolt of them, and
it was with some difficulty that he was extricated from them by the
crew.
The men-slaves, unable now to punish him, and finding they had created
an alarm, began to proceed to extremities. They endeavoured to force
themselves up the gratings, and to pull down a partition which had been
made for a sick-birth; when they were fired upon and repressed. The next
morning they were brought up one by one; when it appeared that a boy had
been killed, who was afterwards thrown into the sea.
The two men, however, who had forced themselves out of irons, did not
come up with the rest, but found their way into the hold, and armed
themselves with knives from a cask, which had been opened for trade. One
of them being called to in the African tongue by a black trader, who was
then on board, came up, but with a knife in each hand; when one of the
crew, supposing him yet hostile, shot him in the right side and killed
him on the spot.
The other remained in the hold for twelve hours. Scalding water mixed
with fat was poured down upon him, to make him come up. Though his flesh
was painfully blistered by these means, he kept below. A promise was
then made to him in the African tongue by the same trader, that no
injury should be done him if he would come among them. To this at length
he consented; but on observing, when he was about half way up, that a
sailor was armed between decks, he flew to him, and clasped him, and
threw him down. The sailor fired his pistol in the scuffle, but without
effect; he contrived, however, to fracture his skull with the butt end
of it, so that the slave died on the third day.
The second circumstance took place after the arrival of the same vessel
at St. Vincent's. There was a boy-slave on board, who was very ill and
emaciated. The mate, who, by his cruelty, had been the author of the
former mischief, did not choose to expose him to sale with the rest,
lest the small sum he would fetch in that situation should lower the
average price, and thus bring down[A] the value of the privileges of the
officers of the ship. This boy was kept on board, and no provisions
allowed him.
[Footnote A: Officers are said to be allowed the privilege of one or
more slaves, according to their rank. When the cargo is sold, the sum
total fetched is put down, and this being divided by the number of
slaves sold, gives the average price of each. Such officers, then,
receive this average price for one or more slaves, according to their
privileges, but never the slaves themselves.]
The mate had suggested the propriety of throwing him overboard, but no
one would do it. On the ninth day he expired, having never been allowed
any sustenance during that time.
I asked Mr. Arnold if he was willing to give evidence of these facts in
both cases. He said he had only one objection, which was, that in two or
three days he was to go in the Ruby on his third voyage: but on leaving
me, he said, that he would take an affidavit before the mayor of the
truth of any of those things which he had related to me, if that would
do; but, from motives of safety, he should not choose to do this till
within a few hours before he sailed.
In two or three days after this he sent for me; he said the Ruby would
leave King-road the next day, and that he was ready to do as he had
promised. Depositions were accordingly made out from his own words. I
went with him to the residence of George Daubeny, Esq., who was then
chief magistrate of the city, and they were sworn to in his presence,
and witnessed as the law requires.
On taking my leave of him, I asked him how he could go a third time in
such a barbarous employ; he said he had been distressed. In his voyage
in the Alexander he had made nothing; for he had been so ill-used, that
he had solicited his discharge in Grenada, where, being paid in
currency, he had but little to receive. When he arrived in Bristol from
that island, he was quite penniless; and finding the Little Pearl going
out, he was glad to get on board her as her surgeon, which he then did
entirely for the sake of bread. He said, moreover, that she was but a
small vessel, and that his savings had been but small in her. This
occasioned him to apply for the Ruby, his present ship; but if he
survived this voyage he would never go another. I then put the same
question to him as to Gardiner, and he promised to keep a journal of
facts, and to give his evidence, if called upon, on his return.
The reader will see, from this account, the difficulty I had in
procuring evidence from this port. The owners of vessels employed in the
trade there forbade all intercourse with me; the old captains, who had
made their fortunes in it, would not see me; the young, who were making
them, could not be supposed to espouse my cause, to the detriment of
their own interest. Of those whose necessities made them go into it for
a livelihood, I could not get one to come forward, without doing so much
for him as would have amounted to bribery. Thus, when I got one of these
into my possession, I was obliged to let him go again. I was, however,
greatly consoled by the consideration, that I had procured two sentinels
to be stationed in the enemy's camp, who keeping a journal of different
facts, would bring me some important intelligence at a future period.