Treatment of Africans on slave ships
In order to reduce the risk of rebellions breaking out on slave ships discipline on board was very strict. Slave ships had large crews because their human cargo needed close supervision. Weather conditions permitting, slaves were generally allowed out of the slave decks once a day to exercise and get some fresh air. This was necessary because the holds on board slave ships were not very well ventilated as they were not designed for human cargoes. It was common for slave ship crews to humiliate Africans by forcing them to dance for their entertainment. Poor ventilation caused an unbearable smell on the slave decks and put Africans at risk of suffocation from the lack of air. In bad weather this situation was even worse because the port holes on the slave decks were covered to prevent water getting in. Bad weather also meant that Africans could not have their daily exercise.
Eating was another activity which was very closely supervised. This was to stop Africans refusing to eat and so dying from hunger. In the early days of the transatlantic slave trade Africans were fed on European foods. However, by the early 18th century slave ship captains bought local African foods. This was not out of respect for the way of life of the enslaved Africans but because they seemed healthier when fed on familiar foods. Such changes were only introduced when they were likely to increase profits. However, the fact that Africans usually had to eat from a shared feeding bowl, using their bare hands, did little to prevent the spread of disease.
One of the most well-known events of the transatlantic slave trade took place on board a Liverpool slave ship, the Zong, owned by the Gregson family. During a voyage in November 1781 its captain, Luke Collingwood, threw 133 Africans overboard to their death. He did this to claim insurance money which he thought would be more than he could sell the Africans for. This event shows that enslaved Africans were not seen as human beings but as a thing to be bought and sold for profit. Another terrible act on board a Liverpool slave ship took place on the Black Joke. Its captain flogged a baby to death and then forced its mother to throw the infant’s body overboard.
African rebellions and resistance on slave ships
Very few enslaved Africans wrote about their experiences of the transatlantic crossing so it is hard to say exactly how often they rebelled against their captors. Fortunately details of some events do appear in records kept by people who worked in the slave trade. These show that any African rebels were severely punished by the ship’s crew. One such record is the logbook of the Liverpool slave ship the Unity which is on display at the Merseyside Maritime Museum in Liverpool. The Unity was owned by the Earle family and captained by Richard Norris. During a voyage in 1769-1770 the Africans she was carrying rebelled at least five times. Captain Norris dealt with these attempted rebellions very harshly. On 4 June 1770 he put forty men into leg irons for attempting to rebel. Then on 27 June 1770 he shot the leader of an attempted rebellion.
It was not just African men who attempted to rebel, nor was it just the men who were punished for doing so. On 6 June 1770 Norris recorded that two women had died as a result of an attempted rebellion. Later the same month Norris ordered that the women who took part in an attempted rebellion be given twenty-four lashes each. Other Liverpool slave ships on which rebellions took place were the Rainbow, the Perfect, the Bolton and the Thomas. The Unity’s logbook also records that two Africans (a man and a woman) attempted to drown themselves several times. Some Africans became so desperate to escape the life they experienced on board slave ships that they were prepared to jump to their deaths overboard.
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