Slave Ships: An Inside Look

"Sometimes of the three attached to the same chain, one was dying and another dead. The tumult they had heard was the frenzy of those suffocating wretches in the last stage of fury and desperation, struggling to extricate themselves."1

During the 1700’s there was about 50,000 slaves that were shipped to the North America. “Of the estimated 7.7 million Africans transported to the New World between 1492 and 1820, over half arrived between 1700 and 1800.”2 The slave trade was a business, and human lives were a “product” that was bargained for other products such as grain, fruit, coffee, sugar, and rum. During the slave trade, the condition inside the slave ship were just a cruel as the enslavement of the millions of Africans that were brought to America. Africans fought for their lives before being taken from their homes. Others jumped overboard leaving their fate up to the unforgiving seas. Men were separated from the women and children, but they were all shackled by iron. “The height, sometimes, between decks, wrote one slave trader, was only eighteen inches, so that the unfortunate human beings could not turn around, or even on their sides…and they were usually chained to the decks by their necks.”2 The Africans were forced to lay on their backs or stomachs in a spoon-like fashion, leaving no room for any movement. The captains did not concern themselves with keeping the bows sanitary, for they believed in the survival of the fittest.
In order for an African to survive they would have to beat their surrounding conditions of, sanitation, disease, abuse, and suffocation. Those who were unable to stand the harsh conditions, died and were simply tossed overboard like waste. There was no proper burial, or ceremony for the dead. Babies and small children were tossed over like a defective device; unusable and unimportant. The slaves endured diseases such as small pox, the fever, and dysentery, which was a major factor in the deaths that occurred on the ships. The unsanitary conditions mixed with the hot heat lead to air bone pathogens that spread throughout the cabins. Many slaves attempted suicide, by refusing to eat. Horrifying devices were made to forcefully get them to consume food. One of the devices that was used was the speculum oris. It cranked open the slave's mouth and held it into position, while the sailors shoved food down their throats. This act invoked discharge from the stomach resulting in choking. Olaudah Equiano, who was captured and taken by slave ship, depicts the gruesome conditions in his remarkable autobiography “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African“. In his book it describes “The "shrieks of the women, the groans of the dying, the floggings, the wish to commit suicide, how those who somehow managed to drown themselves were envied.”5 Starvation occurred whether the slaves wanted it or not. The captains failed to supply the ships with food in order to make more room for bodies. Sanitation of the ships were horrible. Blood, feces, and decomposing bodies layered the floors beneath the slaves. The smell mixed with the humid weather was so putrefying that crew members neglected cleaning it all together, avoiding their duty for up to 12 weeks. Slaves were forced to dance for the sailors, which not only provided entertainment for the repulsive crew, but they wanted to build the strength of the weaken slaves, so they could stay profitable. While still chained, they slaves would dance until their flesh became raw from the friction of the iron shackled at their necks and ankles. The slaves that did not participate were beaten with whips made of tar.

Slaves did in fact revolt against the crew members, even though it was considered a form a suicide because the slaves were outnumbered, not by people but in weapons. Sailors used guns, knifes and whips to maintain control of the cabins. The Amistad, a slave ship, is know for its take-over by free Africans that were kidnapped to be enslaved. The leader of the 50 Africans was named led by the Mende warrior Singbe-Piéh. They were not familiar with the navigation of the seas and arrived in New York, instead of going back to Africa. Slave revolts were raley succeful, but in the case of the Amistad rebellion, the slaves found justice, due to John Quincy Adams, whom declared, “ The charge I make against the present Executive Administration is that in all their proceedings relating to these unfortunate men, instead of that Justice to which they were bound not less than this honorable court itself to observe, they have substituted Sympathy: -- Sympathy with one of the parties in this conflict of justice and Antipathy to the other. Sympathy with the white. Antipathy to the black."4 Singbe-Piéh was returned back to Africa, which was something extraordinary. Africans fought insanely for their lives. They had nothing to lose after their humanity was taken from them. Branded with the scars of enslavement, Black Americans were able to rise above the humiliation, torture and sufferance. They were able to become a society many thought would never flourish into anything. The political and economic odds that once heavily weighed African-Americans down, has manifest into the democracy that is here today.

Works Cited

1."Aboard a Slave Ship, 1829." EyeWitness to History - history through the eyes of those who lived it. Web. 22 Nov. 2009. http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/slaveship.htm.
5."Africans in America/Part 1/Olaudah Equiano." PBS. Web. 21 Nov. 2009. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1p276.html>.
4."Amistad Slave Revolt Case Documents." Paperless Archives. Web. 20 Nov. 2009. http://www.paperlessarchives.com/amistad.html.
2.Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty! An American History, Seagull Edition, Volume 1. New York: W. W. Norton, 2005. Print.
3."Juneteenth.com - The Middle Passage - Tom Feelings." Juneteenth World Wide Celebration. Web. 21 Nov. 2009. .