Till the vessel gets clear of the channel—till there is no probability
that contrary winds or inclemency of weather will drive her back into an
English port, the usage of the seamen is moderate, and their allowance
of provisions sufficient: in short, the conduct of the Captain and
officers appears like that which is the _continual_ practice in every
other employ. But as soon as they are fairly out at sea, and there is no
moral possibility of desertion, or application for justice, then the
scene is shifted. Their ratio of provisions is shortened to the very
verge of famine; their allowance of water lessened to the extreme of
existence; nothing but incessant labour, a burning climate, unremitting
cruelty, and every species of oppression is before them.
This no exaggerated language, nor is it the picture but of one
particular case: every one I have ever spoken with, that was qualified
to answer on the subject (and there should be little account made of any
other) has declared that the usage was alike, with but a few exceptions.
What I saw and felt myself, I have a right to declare; and I think it
may be assumed as the average medium of the general conduct of the
African employ; for I have heard of very many instances of greater
cruelty and destruction; and a few where the usage has been better.
We were fortunate in a leaky vessel, and bad weather: the apprehension
that we should be obliged to bear away for Lisbon, kept back our misery
for awhile. Flogging did not commence with us till about the latitude
28°. It was talked of long before, but was with-held by the
above-mentioned consideration. It no sooner made its appearance but it
spread like a contagion. Wantonness, misconception, and ignorance,
inflicted it without an appearance of remorse, and without fear of being
answerable for the abuse of authority. This barbarous charge to the
officers I myself heard given “You are now in a Guinea ship—no seaman,
though you speak harshly, must dare to give you a saucy answer—_that_ is
out of the question; but if they LOOK to displease you, knock them
down.”
The cruel direction was soon put in practice, by one of the mates, on
the cooper, a most harmless, hard-working, worthy creature. The mate
knocked him down for some light answer he gave him, for the poor fellow
had an innocent aim at being humourous. On his making his way to appeal
to the Captain, he was knocked down again: crawling on the deck, his
face covered with blood, he still persisted to make his way to the
cabin, but was struck to the deck a third and a fourth time, when some
of the sailors rushed between, and hurried him away.
Scarce an hour passed in any day without flogging; sometimes three were
tied up together. The slightest imputation of error brought on the
bitter punishment; and sometimes the smarting application of pickle was
superadded.
I do not now exactly remember the allowance of bread: at first I know it
was five lbs. per week, served out every Sunday (_the only circumstance
that distinguished the Sabbath through the whole voyage_) but it was
soon lessened. This I very well remember, that many of the people had
their whole week's proportion eaten up by Tuesday morning; and the daily
weight of beef was so small, that though there was not water to allay
the thirst it occasioned, we never dared to steep it for fear of wasting
the quantity.
During the first part of the passage, our allowance of water was three
pints per day: for the last month it was reduced to one quart, wine
measure. A quart of water in the torrid zone!—In the calms, which are
prevalent in this latitude, we were in the boat, towing, from morning
till night: happy used I to think myself, though almost fainting with
fatigue, if a little sweat dropped from my forehead, that I might catch
it in my mouth to moisten my parched tongue. The licking the dew off the
hencoops, in a morning, had been long a delicious secret; but my
monopoly was at last found out, and my little refreshment laid open to
numbers. Many of the men could not refrain, but in a kind of temporary
distraction, drank up their whole allowance the moment they received it;
and remained for the next four and twenty hours in a state of raging
thirst not to be described. The doctor declared that this want of water,
in such a climate, and living entirely on salt provisions, must lead to
the most fatal consequences.
During this scarcity with the men, the captain, besides plenty of beer
and wine, had a large tea-kettle full of water every morning, and
another every evening, added to his allowance. I know there was no want
in the cabin, for the third mate, who was my friend, frequently gave me
a little out of his own portion.
The scarcity of water is a common case: it is owing to the vessel's
being stowed so full of goods for the trade, that room for necessaries
is made but a secondary consideration. The occasion of this conduct
appears to me to be principally this: A certain number of slaves are to
be carried to the West-Indies; but before that number can be landed
there, the owners are well aware how many are likely to be marked on the
dead list, for the purchase of which, there must be goods sent out, as
well as for the probable number that speculation has fixed to come to
market. For this reason every corner and cranny is crammed with articles
of traffic; to this consideration is bent every exertion of labour and
ingenuity; and the health and lives of the seamen, as of no value, have
but little weight in the estimation.
Besides the inexpressible misery of wanting water in such a climate,
there is another very material hardship attending this avaricious
accumulation of cargo. The vessel is so crowded with goods, that the
sailors have no room to sling their hammocks and bedding. Before they
leave the cold latitudes they lie up and down, on chests and cables, but
when they come nearer the influence of the potent sun, they sleep upon
deck, exposed to all the malignity of the heavy and unwholesome dews.
The advocates for the Slave-Trade endeavour to advance, that the
mortality of the seamen is entirely to be attributed to the nature of
the climate—but this assertion, is founded neither in veracity nor
experience. The climate comes in for its share in _heightening_ the
horrid scene, but it is the previously wretched situation of the poor
victims that gives it that effect. I heard our doctor, an able
intelligent man, declare, that if the trade, with the same concomitant
circumstances, was carried on at the Canary Islands, the same mortality
would be the consequence. And I am fully convinced, that if a commerce
was carried on to the coast of Africa of any other kind than that of
slaving, and the captains treated their people with as much humanity as
they are treated in other employs, not one of the causes of the great
mortality, I have been witness to, could exist.
Among the many causes of destruction, which originate from the trade,
and not from the climate, the bulk-heads between the decks, excluding a
salutary circulation of air, have been insisted upon as producing these
effects. But there is another which has not claimed such notice, and
which yet is a terrible assistant to African mortality. This is the
fabricating of an house over the vessel for the security of slaves,
while on the coast.
This enclosure helps the stagnation of air, and is, in that point of
view, dreadful: but it is more fatal in the act of its preparation. I
know nothing more destructive than the business of cutting wood and
bamboe, for the purpose of erecting and thatching this structure. The
process is generally by the riverside. The faces and bodies of the poor
seamen are exposed to the fervour of a burning sun, for a covering would
be insupportable. They are immersed up to the waist in mud and slime;
pestered by snakes, worms, and venomous reptiles; tormented by
muskitoes, and a thousand assailing insects; their feet slip from under
them at every stroke, and their relentless officers do not allow a
moment's intermission from the painful task. This employment, the
cruelty of the officers, and the inconceivably shocking task of scraping
the contagious blood and filth, at every opportunity, from the places
where the slaves lie, are, in my opinion, the three greatest (though by
no means the sole) causes of the destruction of seamen, which this
country experiences by the prosecution of the trade in slaves.