Slaver Captain

John Newton

• Editorial: Seaforth Publishing
• Año: 2010
• ISBN:
  9781783468713
• Categoría: History
• Categoría: Military & Maritime History

John Newton is now best remembered as an Anglican clergyman and the author of the hymn Amazing Grace. For the first thirty years of his life, however, he was engrossed in the slave trade. His father planned for him to take up a position as slave master on a West Indies plantation but he was instead pressed into the Royal Navy where, after attempting to desert, he was captured and flogged round the fleet. After this humiliation he was placed in service on a slave ship bound for Sierra Leone, but there, having upset his captain and crew, he found himself the servant of the merchants wife, an African Duchess called Princess Peye, who abused him along with her slaves. As he wrote himself, he was an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves of West Africa.In 1748 he was rescued and returned home and it was on this voyage that he experienced his spiritual conversion. Though avoiding profanity, women, gambling and drinking he continued in the slave trade, taking up a position on a ship bound for the West Indies and then making three further voyages as a captain of slave ships. In 1755, after suffering a severe stroke, he turned away from seafaring and pursued a path to the priesthood, becoming the curate at Olney in 1764.His Authentic Narrative, as it was called, is a remarkable, no-holds-barred account of the African slave trade, as well as an account of his struggle between religion and the flesh.

Part I

Thoughts on the African Slave Trade:

A Memoir of my Infidel Days as a Slaving Captain

THE EFFECT UPON THE African peoples of that disgraceful branch of commerce which has long been maintained on the coast of Africa, the sole design of which has been the purchasing of our fellow-creatures in order to supply our West India islands and the American colonies, when they were ours, with slaves is now generally understood. Indeed, so much light has been thrown upon the subject by so many able pens, and so many reputable persons have already used their utmost influence for the suppression of this traffic, that it is hoped this stain on our national character will soon be wiped out.

So if I now throw my mite into the public stock of information, it is less from a conviction that such interference is necessary, than from a belief that silence would, in me, be criminal. Even if my testimony should not be considered necessary, I still feel bound to take shame upon myself by a public confession – although it now comes far too late to repair the misery to which I have been an accessory. I hope it will always be a subject of humiliating reflection to me that I was once an active instrument in a business at which my heart now shudders – that of the slave trade.

In my youth, a series of headstrong passions and follies plunged me into a succession of difficulties and hardships, which, eventually, reduced me to seek refuge among the natives of Africa. There, for about eighteen months, I was, in effect, a captive and a slave myself, depressed to the lowest degree of wretchedness. Possibly I should not have been so completely miserable had I lived solely among the natives, but it was my lot to reside with white men of my own colour and language, persons who were settled upon that part of the Windward Coast which lies between Sierra Leone and Cape Mount for the purpose of purchasing and collecting slaves, to sell to the vessels arriving from Europe. Usually, this part of the coast proves that ‘country from whose bourn / No traveller returns’, to those who venture upon a temporary residence there, but the good Providence of God, without my expecta tion, and almost against my will, delivered me from those scenes of wickedness and woe, and I arrived at Liverpool in May 1748. However, I soon revisited the place of my captivity, as mate of a slaving vessel, and then, in the year 1750, was appointed commander of a slave ship. In this capacity I made a further three voyages to the Windward Coast for slaves, until forced into retirement from the trade by illness. In all, I first saw the coast of Guinea in the year 1745, and took my last leave of it in 1754.

This, obviously, was not an intentional farewell, but through the mercy of God it proved so. For after three voyages I had fitted out for a fourth, and was upon the point of sailing, when I was taken by a sudden illness and had to resign the ship to another captain, thus being unexpectedly freed from this disagreeable service. Disagreeable I had long found it, and I think I should have quitted it sooner had I considered it, as I now do, to be unlawful and wrong. But at that time I had never a scruple about this trade, nor was such a thought once suggested to me by any friend. What I did, I did ignorantly, considering it as the course of life which Divine Providence had allotted me, and having no concern in point of conscience but to treat the slaves I had taken with as much humanity as a regard to my own safety would admit.

The experience and observation of nine years in the trade must qualify me for a competent witness upon the subject, but after an interval of more than thirty-three years, past scenes and transactions grow indistinct, and what I saw, and what I only heard related, may by this time have become so insensibly blended together that, in some cases, it may be difficult for me, if not impossible, to distinguish one from the other with absolute certainty. It is, however, my earnest desire that I put down nothing in writing which I would not, if requisite, confirm upon oath.

That part of the African shore, which lies between the river Sierra Leone (lat. 8° 30′ N) and Cape Palmas (lat. 4° 22′ N) is usually known by the name of the Windward, or Grain, Coast, the extent (if my recollection does not fail me) being about three hundred miles. There was a fort upon Benee Island, in Sierra Leone, which formerly belonged to the old African Company; they also had a fort on an island in the River Sherbro, but the former was in private hands, and of the latter, scarcely the foundations were visible, when I first went to Africa. There is no fort, or factory, upon this coast under the sanction of our government. But there were, and probably still are, private traders resident at Benee Island, at the Bananoes, and at the Plantanes. The former of these is about twelve, and the latter twenty leagues, from Sierra Leone, to the south-east. By these persons the trade is carried on, in boats and shallops, thirty or forty leagues to the northward, in several rivers lying within the shoals of Rio Grande, but the most northerly place of trade for shipping is Sierra Leone, and all business there is chiefly transacted with the white men; from Sherbro to Cape Palmas buying and selling is directly with the natives. Though I have been on the Gold Coast, and beyond it as far as Cape Lopez (lat. 0.7° S) in the latitude of one or two degrees south, I profess no knowledge of the African trade but as it was conducted on the Windward Coast.

I am not qualified, as a minister of the Gospel, to consider the African slave trade merely in a political light; that disquisition more properly belongs to persons in civil life. My character as a minister simply allows me, and perhaps requires me, to observe that the best human policy is that which is connected with a reverential regard to Almighty God. Every plan which aims at the welfare of a nation, in defiance of his authority and laws will prove to be essentially defective and, if persisted in, ruinous. ‘The righteous Lord loveth righteousness’ (Psalm 11:7), and has engaged to plead the cause, and vindicate the wrongs, of the oppressed.

The slave trade was always unjustifiable, but inattention and interest prevented the evil from being perceived. At presently, however, the case is otherwise, as the mischiefs and evils connected with it have been, of late years, represented with such undeniable evidence, and are now so generally known, that there can hardly be one objection made to the wishes of thousands, perhaps millions, for the suppression of this trade – except upon the ground of political and financial expedience. Though were I even sure that a principal branch of public revenue depended upon the African trade (which I think is far from being the case), I would still feel myself bound to say to government, to parliament, and to the nation: ‘It is not lawful to put it into the treasury, because it is the price of blood’ (Matthew 27:6).

If an intelligent farmer has a large heap of good corn, he would not put a small quantity that is damaged into the rest, for the sake of increasing the heap. He knows that such an addition would spoil the whole. Therefore, God forbid that any supposed profit or advantage which we can derive from the groans, agonies, and blood of the poor Africans should draw down upon us his heavy curse upon all that we might otherwise honourably and comfortably possess.

The method I will use to consider the African trade will fall under two headings:

1.	With regard to the effects, and losses, suffered among our own people.
2.	As it concerns the blacks, or, as they are more contemptuously styled, the negro slaves.

Yet these two topics are so interwoven together that it will not be easy to keep them exactly separate.

1. As it concerns our own seamen and subjects.

The first point I shall mention is purely of political importance. How important should the lives of our fellow-subjects, our sailors be considered? And should the rapid loss of seamen deserve the attention of a maritime people? For the losses in the African trade are truly alarming. I admit that many die making their first voyage and, consequently, before they can perhaps be properly ranked as seamen. But then the neighbourhoods of our seaports are continually drained of men and boys to replace those who die thus and, even if not accredited seamen, those that have died are still our brethren and countrymen, and subjects of the British government. Those on shipboard who survive, not accustomed to the climate, are liable to attacks of inflammatory fever, which, however, is not fatal unless other unfavourable circumstances are present. If these dangers particular to the coast are escaped, I think the sailors concerned might be as healthy as those on most other voyages, provided they keep from sleeping in the dews, from being much exposed to the rain, from drink, and especially from women.

But, considering the general disposition of our sailors, and the nature of the slave trade, these provisos are of little significance. For to be engaged the trade on the Windward Coast, sailors must be much exposed to the weather, especially where a great part of the cargo, the slaves, are procured by boats often sent to the distance of ninety to one hundred and twenty miles – often being away a month before they return. Also, many vessels arrive upon the coast before the rainy season (May to October), and if trade be scarce, the ships which arrive in this, the dry season, often remain till the rains return before they can complete their purchases. The rains, when they begin, are incessant night and day for weeks and months, while a proper shelter from them in an open boat is impracticable. I have myself in such a boat been five or six days together without a dry thread about me, sleeping or waking. Even during the fair season, tornadoes, violent storms of wind, thunder, and heavy rain are frequent, though seldom persisting. In fact, the boats seldom return without some of the crew ill of dangerous fevers or fluxes, occasioned either by the weather, or by unwholesome diet, such as the fruits and palm wine with which they are plentifully supplied by the natives.

English spirits, such as brandy and rum, the sailors cannot often procure in quantities as to hurt them, but given the chance they will procure these strong liquors and, as a single slave can hardly be purchased without such liquor, it is always at hand in the boats. And if what is taken from the casks or bottles that are for sale is replaced by water, they seem as full as they were before. While the blacks who buy these liquors are the losers by this adulteration, it is often the people who cheat them that are the greatest sufferers.

Women, likewise, contribute largely to the loss of our seamen. When the sailors are on shore, they often, from their known, thoughtless imprudence, involve themselves in quarrels with the natives over women, and are often killed upon the spot; otherwise they are frequently poisoned. On shipboard, they may be restrained from approaching the women slaves, and in some ships they are, but such restraint is far from being general, and depends much upon the disposition of the captain. When I was in the trade, I knew several commanders of African ships who were prudent, respectable men, and who maintained a proper discipline and regularity in their vessels as regards women slaves, but there were too many of a different character. In some ships, perhaps in the most, the licence allowed in this particular way was almost unlimited. Moral turpitude was seldom considered, and they who worked hard to do the ship’s business might in other respects do what they pleased. These excesses, if they do not induce fevers, at least render the constitution unable to support them, and so lewdness, too, frequently terminates in death.

A further loss of our seamen is occasioned by slave insurrections. These, I believe, are always premeditated, for the men slaves are not reconciled to their confinement and treatment. These risings, if attempted, are seldom suppressed without considerable loss, and when they succeed, as they sometimes do, they can lead to the destruction of a whole ship’s company. Seldom a year passes but we hear of one or more such catastrophes, and we likewise hear, sometimes, of whites and blacks together, in one common ruin, by the gunpowder taking fire and blowing up the ship and all aboard.

Taking all the above causes together, one fact is sure: that a great number of our seamen perish in the slave trade. I agree few ships, comparatively, are blown up, or totally seized by slaves, but some are. Of the rest, I have known some that have lost half their people, and some a larger proportion, from fevers and fluxes. I am far from saying that it is always, or even often, thus, but I believe that the lowest estimate of loss to be one fifth of any crew that goes from England to the coast of Africa, in ships which trade for slaves. I dare not depend too much upon my memory, as to the number of ships and men employed in the slave trade more than thirty years ago when I held my command, nor do I know what has been the state of the trade since. Therefore I shall not attempt to make calculations. But, as I cannot but help form some opinion upon the subject, I judge it probable that the collective sum of our seamen who go from all our ports to Africa yearly – taking Guinea in the extensive sense, from Gambia (13° 28′ N) and stretching down to the coast of Angola (8° 50′ S) – cannot be less than eight thousand. If upon an average a fifth part of these die, the annual loss to the country is fifteen hundred sailors, though I believe those who have made exact enquiries will deem my supposition to be very moderate. Thus much concerning the first evil, the loss of seamen and British subjects which the nation sustains through the African slave trade.

2. The dreadful effects of the trade upon all, black and white, who are involved.

The second point of importance to be considered in a political light is the effects of the trade on the minds of those that engage in it. There are doubtless exceptions, and I would willingly except myself. But in general I know of no method of getting money, not even that of highway robbery, which has a greater tendency to efface all moral sense, to rob the heart of every gentle and humane disposition, and to harden it, like steel, against all finer sensibilities.

Usually, about two-thirds of a cargo of slaves are males. Here you have one hundred and fifty or two hundred stout men, torn from their native land, many of whom never saw the sea before, much less a ship, and who often believe they are bought to be eaten. As well, they have probably the same natural prejudice against a white man, as we have against a black. Accordingly, we receive them on board from the first as our enemies, and as it is always taken for granted that they will attempt to gain their liberty, before their number exceeds, perhaps, ten or fifteen, they are all put in irons; in most ships, two and two together, and frequently ironed in such a way as prevents them standing or moving with ease. That is, instead of the right hand and a foot of one, to the left of the other, rather the hand and foot of each on the same side are fettered together, so that they neither move hand or foot, except but with great caution, and with perfect consent from both. Thus they must sit, walk and lie, for many months (sometimes for nine or ten) without any mitigation or relief, unless they are sick. As for exercise, in the daytime (if the weather be fine) they are upon deck, and as they are brought up by pairs, a chain is put through a ring upon their irons, and this is likewise locked down to the ringbolts, which are fastened at certain intervals upon the deck. At night they are always confined below.

These, and other precautions, are no more than necessary, especially as while the number of slaves increases, that of the people who are to guard them is simultaneously diminished by sickness, or death, or by being absent in the boats buying more slaves. So that sometimes not ten men can be mustered to watch, night and day, over two hundred, besides having all the other business of the ship to attend. Therefore, one unguarded hour, or minute, is sufficient to give the slaves the opportunity they are always waiting for. An attempt to rise upon the ship’s company brings on instantaneous and horrid wars for, when they are once in motion, they are desperate, and where they do not conquer, they are seldom quelled without much bloodshed on both sides.

Sometimes, however, when the slaves are ripe for an insurrection, one of them will reveal the affair, and then it can be seen how necessity, in these small, but most absolute governments on board ship, enforces maxims directly contrary to the usual nature of things. For in this case, he who is a traitor is caressed, rewarded, and deemed an honest fellow, while the patriots who devised the plan, must be treated as villains, and then punished to intimidate the rest: punishments, which in their nature and degree, depend upon the sovereign will of the captain, some being content with inflicting such moderate punishment as may suffice for an example. But other captains relishing their unlimited power, instigated by revenge, and whose hearts by a long familiarity with the sufferings of slaves have become callous and insensible inflict terrible reprisals. I have seen slaves sentenced to unmerciful whippings, continued till the poor creatures have not had power left to groan and when hardly a sign of life has remained. I have seen them agonising for hours, I believe for days together, under the torture of the thumbscrews: a dreadful engine which, if the screw be turned by an unrelenting hand, can give intolerable anguish. There have also been instances in which cruelty has proceeded further, but these, I hope, are few, while I can only mention but one from my own knowledge. I have often heard about a captain, long since dead, who would boast of his conduct in a voyage when his slaves attempted to rise upon him. After he had suppressed the insurrection, he sat in judgement upon the insurgents and not only, in cold blood, adjudged several of them, I know not how many, to die, but studied, with no small attention, how to make death as excruciating t...