1. The Slave Trade
The Middle passage

2. The workings of the triangular trade
The transatlantic slave trade is often described as the triangular trade, which summarizes the movement of goods first from Britain to West Africa, then across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas, and finally back to Britain.
Copper, cloth, glassware, ammunition, guns and manila ( fibre used for rope and matting) went from Britain to West Africa;
People were then transported as slaves from Africa to the Americas. This was called the ‘Middle Passage’.
Finally raw sugar, rum, rice, coffee, tobacco and cotton from the plantations were then shipped from the Americas back to Britain.

3. The trade triangle
The Middle Passage. Why?

4. The reason the trade was so phenomenally profitable was that the ships were able to sail full on each leg of the journey, maximizing the returns at every stage.
However, the triangular trade concept oversimplifies the commercial exchanges involved.
The web of economic ties across the world made this a global enterprise. “Three continents came to be inextricably linked in the years after the European settlement of the Americas; the money, commercial expertise and migrating instincts of maritime Europe, the land and economic potential of the Americas – and the peoples of Africa.”
Walvin, 2001

5. Did the 'Middle Passage' deserve its awful reputation?
Of all the horrors associated with the African slave trade it was probably the 'Middle Passage' that caused most consternation amongst eighteenth and nineteenth century reformers. During a parliamentary debate on slavery in 1791, William Pitt, who was then the Prime Minister, said that 'the circumstances of the Middle Passage alone, would in his mind, be reason enough for the Abolition.'
The 'Middle Passage' referred to the long transatlantic crossing taking the enslaved Africans away from their homeland to work on the plantations of the West Indies and Americas. Since it was the second of the three legs of the triangular trade it became known as the 'Middle Passage'.

6. Diagram showing how slaves could be accommodated aboard a slave ship

7. Detail.

8. Taken from Thomas Clarkson, The history of the rise, progress and accomplishment of the abolition of the African slave-trade, 1808.
The committee thought that they should now allow a certain amount of space for every man, woman and child and then see how many people could be stowed aboard the ship. The space they allowed was as follows: for every male slave - six feet x one foot four inches; for every female slave - five feet x one foot four inches; for every boy slave - five feet x one foot two inches; and for every girl slave four feet six inches x one foot. They then tried to put them on board the ship (as in the diagram) and found that they could only fit four hundred and fifty aboard.

9. The committee thought that they should ask how many slaves the act of Sir William Dolben allowed this ship to carry. They discovered that this Act allowed her to carry four hundred and fifty four. This is four more than could be put in without taking some room meant for someone else. You can see from the diagram that the bodies of the slaves already touch each other and that no allowance has been made for any of the posts that support the platforms and decks.
This was the picture, which the committee were obliged to draw, of the room allotted to the slaves in this ship. The picture demonstrated the happy place which Mr Norris and others had invented for slaves during their transportation from their own country. The picture also showed the advantages of Sir William Dolben's bill. Many people thought that the regulation itself was barbaric. The advantages it gave, however, were considerable. The Brookes was now restricted to four hundred and fifty slaves, whereas it had carried six hundred and nine in a former voyage

10. The source refers to Sir William Dolben's Act.
This was a law passed in 1788 which restricted the number of slaves that could be carried aboard a ship according to its weight. Dolben (who was the MP for Oxford University and an abolitionist) hoped that the law would improve conditions for slaves on the Middle Passage. As the source explains, Dolben's Act meant that the Brookes could now only carry 450 slaves - a reduction of over 150 from the number that had been carried in the past.

11. Things to consider 1 ...
Do you think that the space allowance made for each man, woman and child is sufficient?
What does the report say hasn't been taken into consideration when showing the layout of slaves? What impact would this have on living conditions?
Does William Dolben's Act seem like a good thing or a bad thing? Why?
The illustration of the slave ship was used as propaganda by the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. Do you think it would have worked? What impact do you think it would have made?

13. A slave's description of life aboard a slave ship.
Soon after this, the blacks who brought me on board went back ashore and left me in despair.
I now saw that I had no chance of returning to my native country or any hope of reaching the shore.
I even wished for my former slavery rather than being in this situation, which seemed even worse because I did not know what was going to happen to me.
I was not allowed to indulge my grief for very long. I was soon put down under the decks. The smell was so bad that, together with the crying, I felt so ill that I could not eat.

14. A slave's description of life aboard a slave ship by Equiano
But soon, to my grief, two of the white men offered me something to eat.
When I refused, one of them held me by the hands, laid me across the windlass and tied my feet together, while the other flogged me severely.
I had never experienced anything like this before and, although I was scared of the water, if I could have got over the nettings I would have jumped overboard.
But I could not, and, besides, the crew used to watch those of us who were not chained to the decks very closely in case we leapt into the water.
I have seen some of the poor African prisoners very badly whipped for trying to jump and hourly whipped for not eating.

15. A slave's description of life aboard a slave ship by Equiano
I soon found, amongst the poor chained men, some of my own nation, which helped a little bit.
I asked them what would happen to us and they told men that we were to be carried to the white people's country to work for them. I felt a little better and thought that if was to be no worse than working then my situation was not as bad as it could be.
But I was still afraid that I would be killed. The white people looked and acted in such a savage manner - I had never seen such cruel and brutal behaviour. This was not only towards us blacks but also to some of the whites themselves. When we were on deck once, I saw a white man flogged so badly that he died and they tossed his body over the side as they would have done a brute.

16. Things to consider 2 ….
Make a list of the things that Equiano says frightened him.
Equiano was approximately 10 or 11 years of age when he was enslaved. Did his age have any impact on the way he was treated?
How would you have felt if you were in his situation?
What impression does Equiano give of life on board?
Olaudah Equiano was one of the most prominent people of African heritage in the British debate for the abolition of slavery. A former slave himself, he managed to buy his freedom and work as a seaman, merchant and explorer before writing an autobiography depicting the horrors of slavery.

17. Evidence of Mr Knox, a captain, describing conditions on board a slave ship.
Slaves on board are, most assuredly, treated humanely. Rice is a principal article of their food on the Windward Coast, also cassava, palm-oil, many glutinous herbs, pepper; on the coast often fish. When rice enough cannot be got, ships carry out beans and stock-fish; and from Africa, palm-oil, pepper, sheep, goats, fowl. The beans are generally split, but has seen them otherwise. Never knew slaves on board without plenty of food. It is also the sole employment of the officers to serve them.

18. Evidence of Mr Knox, a captain, describing conditions on board a slave ship.
In most ships you may stand upright under the gratings, in others all over the ship. In very small ships often not above four feet. His ship 5 feet 10 inches, under the gratings 6 feet 10 inches, with platforms all round nearly in the middle between the decks, about 2 feet 11 inches each, quite full of slaves.
Slaves who speak the same language are chained together. Recollects not an instance to the contrary
Never saw it necessary to force the slaves to dance. 

19. Things to consider 3... Knox describes conditions aboard a slave ship.
How does his account compare to the accounts given in the other sources?
the headers of food and diet,
space and living conditions,
and treatment of the slaves to help structure your answer.
Do you think Knox's description of life aboard a slave ship is accurate?
Would there be any reason for Knox to exaggerate or not tell the truth?

21. Homework

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