The Great Days of Sail lecture series Gresham College, London: 24 October 2011 Slavery, Ships and Sickness Dr Stuart Anderson London School of Hygiene.
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The Great Days of Sail lecture series Gresham College, London: 24 October 2011 Slavery, Ships and Sickness Dr Stuart Anderson London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine 1 Slave trafficing 1711 S. Hutchinson (©National Maritime Museum, London) 2 Slavery in Egypt 3 Roman slave galley Christopher Columbus 1451 – 1506 » Christopher Columbus 5 Slave Market, Pernambuco, Brazil, 1821 Spanish Galleon c.1560 7 Sir John Hawkins 1532-1595 8 Jesus of Lubeck 9 Cog vessel c.1400 10 Columbus’s ship Santa Maria c.1492 11 Drakes’ Golden Hind 1577 12 Sugar plantation in Barbados 13 Cane Cutters in Jamaica (© National Maritime Museum, London) 14 Shipping Sugar 1823 (©National Maritime Museum, London) 15 Early Colonial Tobacco Plantation King Charles II 1660 - 1685 17 Forts and Castles along Gold Coast, West Africa (©National Maritime Museum, London) 18 Shipping Slaves off the Pitons, St Lucia 1771 (© National Maritime Museum, London) 19 20 Number of ships leaving main ports Annual average clearances for slave ships: Year 1725 1730s 1772-75 1783-92 1793-1804 1807 London 87 25 0 0 0 0 Bristol 63 39 0 0 0 0 Liverpool 2 21 95 88 107 101 21 Bristol docks c.1850 St George’s Dock, Liverpool, 1829 23 Increasing size of slave ships Average size of slave ships departing Liverpool in the 18th century: 1709 under 70 tons 1730 70-80 tons 1751 80-90 tons 1765 90-120 tons 1785 120-140 tons 1795 140-200 tons 1800 over 200 tons 24 Liverpool Slave Ship, 1780 (William Jackson, ©Merseyside Maritime Museum) 25 Slave ship Brookes c. 1781 West Indies Fleet 1702 27 28 Meeting with North American Indians 29 Slaves being marched to coast Barracoon in the Gallinas, Sierra Leone Causes of death at sea Fevers General Fever Malignant fever Pleuritic fever Bilious Fever Nervous fever Putrid fever Yellow fever Inflammatory fever Remittent fever 66% 9% 6% 3% 3% 3% 3% 3% 3% Respiratory Inflammation of lungs Consumption Decline Gastrointestinal Flux Dysentery Diarrhoea Accidents (drowned) Suicide (jumped overboard) 50% 25% 25% 51% 37% 9% 100% 80% 33 34 Ship’s travelling medicine chest 36 Contents of medicine chests-internal medicines A B C D E F G H I K L M Powder of Peruvian Bark " " Angustura ditto " " Colombo " " Rhubarb " " Ipecacuanha Tartar Emetic Antimonial wine Opium Laudanum Calomel Sweet spirit of nitre Oil of mint 10 lbs 4 lbs 1lb 10 lbs 1 lb 2 ozs 2 ozs ½ lb 1 lb 12 ozs 1 lb 3ozs 37 Contents of medicine chests-external medicines 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. Cerate (beeswax) Simple ointment Red precipitate Blue vitriol Blister plaster powder of Spanish flies Extract of Lead Sugar of lead Spirit of hartshorn Flowers of sulphur Sticking plaster spread on cloth Tow, lint, rags 3 lbs 3 lbs 6 ozs 2 ozs 3 lbs 4 ozs 2 lbs 1 lbs 2 lbs 10 lbs 38 William Wilberforce 1759-1833 (by James Heath, ©National Maritime Museum, London) Representation of the brig Vigilante 1823 (©National Maritime Museum, London) 40 Slave ship Zong 1781 Sir William Dolben MP (1727-1814) 42 Abolition of Slavery in Jamaica, 1807 (© National Maritime Museum, London) 43 HMS Black Joke chasing slave-ship Almirante 1829 Destruction of Boyne Estates by rebel slaves, 1831 (©National Maritime Museum, London) 45 Attack and Capture of the rebels positions near Montego Bay by boats from HMS Blanche 1831 (©National Maritime Museum, London) 46 HMS Tartar in action 1809 The Capture of the Slaver Formidable by HMS Buzzard, 17 December 1834 (©National Maritime Museum, London) 48 European men examining slaves at the slave market of Rio de Janeiro 1824 (©Wellcome Library) 49 The capture of slaves by an African slaver, 1860 (©Wellcome Library, London) 50 Acknowledgements • Kenneth Morgan, Slavery and the British Empire: From Africa to America, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. • James Walvin, A Short History of Slavery, London: Penguin Books, 2007. • David Richardson, Liverpool and the English Slave Trade, in Tibbles A (ed.) Transatlantic Slavery: Against Human Dignity, Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1994. • Michael Stammers, ‘Guineamen’: Some technical aspects of Slave ships, in Tibbles A (ed.) Against Human Dignity, 1994. • Sian Rees, Sweet Water and Bitter: The ships that stopped the Slave trade, London: Chatto and Windus, 2009. 51 52 Slave market in Cairo 1860 (© Wellcome Library, London) 53 dutch fluyt, 1677 54 The slave ship Wanderer, schooner, 1867 RAC Fort, Bance Island, Sierra Leone, 1805 (©National Maritime Museum) 56 Model ship showing copper bottom 57 • Magellan’s ship Victoria c. 1520 (Carrack) • » » 1520 Victoria 58