Sources for Lesson 2: How was the Slave Trade Carried Out?

1. Sources for Lesson 2: How was the Slave Trade Carried Out? All of these are from the same document – The Journal of a British Slaving ship commanded by Peter Blake, working between the Coast of Africa from May to August 1675 I made my way ? log with leeway allowed W 43 ? Distance 59 Myles ye Sun neare ye Zenith so that I could have no observation wind this 24 hours from ye S. to ye ESE & from ye NNW to ye ENE with much thunder & lightning & raine this day I put all my slaves out of Irons from noon ye 16th to noon ye (today) this day have had severall cannoes aboard to whom I sold severall goods for gold & slaves this 24 hours & I have had ye winde from the WNW to ye WSW littell winde This morning I heiled my ship to porte & made my starboard bulge as loe as I could work & then righted her againe this day I had severall Cannoes aboard of which I tooke but littell gold & bought 3 slaves this 24 houres I have had ye wind (Various directions) a moderate brease

4. Day book of trade in the sloop “Africa” showing goods bartered for slaves as well as payments to local people including the linguist, and payment made for ‘refreshments’ for the slaves. Date: January-February 1753. Not transcribed – have a go at reading it for yourself

6. Advice on Using the Source Extracts • As you will see, the source extracts contain a lot of information about the mechanics of the slave trade. We can see slave ship captains recording their daily routines. Notice the following interesting details: • How they purchased very few slaves at a time. They, therefore, had to stay off the coast of West Africa for many weeks before their ships were full. • How canoes were important for transporting the slaves out to the slave ships • The use of local agents • The mention of irons • The lists of goods which were exchanged for slaves • Other services which were paid for with goods eg. A local linguist and a “butler” • The mention of “Commission Slaves” (the captain’s reward for the doing the job) • The mention of “Refuse Slaves” – what do students think they were? • Also notice some of the issues which are not described in depth, but are implied eg: • The unique combination of nautical and business skills exercised by the captains • The implied hard-heartedness and cruelty of the captains and crew? • The possible sufferings of the crew in view of the mention of a sailor who had deserted the ship • The above sources are extracts from complete documents which are also available. The above have been put together for purposes of differentiation: if teachers feel that classes will not be able to cope with large untranscribed documents, they can use these shorter extracts instead.