Chapter VI

MUTINIES ABOARD SLAVE SHIPS IN THE EARLY
DAYS

Among the shipmasters engaged in the Guinea trade, in the early part of the eighteenth century, was one Capt. William Snelgrave, who sailed in ships owned by London merchants. He met with many strange adventures on the African coast; had the misfortune to be captured, in 1719, by Capt. Thomas Cocklyn, the pirate, when he narrowly escaped with his life; and several times was in danger of capture at the instance of negro kings with whom he was trafficking for slaves.

In March, 1727, he arrived in the road of Whidaw, in the _Katharine Galley_ of London, a short time after the king of Dahomey had fallen on the country and destroyed nearly the entire population. The fields were strewed with human bones and the populous country with which he was familiar was a dismal sight. Sailing a short distance along the coast, on the 3d of April he anchored in the road of Jaqueen and went up to the town, which is about three miles from the sea.

The following day a messenger came from the king of Dahomey with an invitation for the English captain to visit his camp, which lay about forty miles inland. The messenger, who spoke excellent English which he had learned in the factory at Whidaw, assured Captain Snelgrave that he would be quite safe while in the Dahomey country and kindly used. When the captain showed some distrust, the black messenger told him that if he didn’t accept the invitation it would deeply offend the king, which might prevent him from trading on the recently conquered coast, beside other bad consequences, so Captain Snelgrave agreed to go and a Dutch shipmaster volunteered to accompany him and also two or three others.

The company set off at nine o’clock in the morning. The captain had six hammock-men who relieved each other by turn, two at a time carrying the hammock pole. When he became tired of lying in the hammock, there was a small horse, little larger than an ass, on which he rode, and traveling over good roads, at the rate of about four miles an hour, about nine the next morning they reached the camp, having spent the night on some mats spread on the ground in hovels that had not been destroyed by the army. A captain of the court, with about five hundred soldiers carrying firearms, drawn swords, shields and banners, came out to meet the company and escorted them to some chairs (taken from the Whidaws) set out beneath trees where the natives flocked about in such numbers that they were in danger of being crushed. Thousands of these people, who had come from inland kingdoms, had never before seen a white man.

At noon, a dinner of cold ham and fowls was brought, and notwithstanding the watchfulness of several servants with flappers, it was almost impossible to keep the meat free from the swarms of flies that had probably bred in the heaps of dead men’s heads piled on stages not far away. These evil smelling stages were passed not long after, as they went towards the king’s court, and the linguist said they comprised the heads of four thousand of the Whidaws who had been sacrificed about three weeks before.

They slept that night in hammocks and the next morning about nine o’clock were escorted to a large palisadoed area where the king of Dahomey was sitting in a gilt chair that he had recently captured from the king of Whidaw. He wore a gown flowered with gold, and behind him were a number of women, naked from the waist up, holding large umbrellas to shelter him from the hot sun. After paying their respects to his Majesty and drinking his health in palm wine, the linguist told Captain Snelgrave that “it was the King’s Desire that they should stay some time with him, to see the Method of paying the Soldiers for Captives taken in War, and the Heads of the slain.”

Over eighteen hundred captives had been brought into camp the evening before. They were Tuffoes, living about six days’ journey distant, between the Whidaw country and Dahomey. After the wiping out of the Whidaws, the king of Dahomey had sent home twelve of his wives and a great number of slaves and quantity of loot, guarded by five hundred men. While passing through the Tuffoe country this guard was attacked and routed, the women were killed and the loot was captured. As soon as the conquest of Whidaw was completed, the king sent part of his army to the Tuffoe country and the eighteen hundred captives, that Captain Snelgrave saw brought into camp, were one of the results of that retaliatory campaign.

The captives were now brought before the king. He selected a considerable number to be kept as slaves for his own use or to be sold to Europeans; some two hundred were presented to his courtiers and court officials; and the rest of the prisoners were ordered to be sacrificed to the king’s _fetiche_ or guardian angel. This human sacrifice took place that afternoon, about a quarter of a mile from the camp, where small stages, about five feet high, had been erected. The first victim was a fine-looking man, about fifty years old, who showed no fear. He stood by one of the stages with his hands tied behind him. A feticheer, or priest, laid hands on the victim’s head and said some words of consecration lasting about two minutes and then at a sign, a man standing behind with a broad sword, cut off the head of the victim with one blow, and threw it on the stage. The body lay on the ground for a time so that the blood might drain off and slaves then dragged it away to a place adjoining the camp.[24]

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Footnote 24:

Over a century later, Commander Forbes of the British Navy witnessed a
similar sacrifice in the Dahomey country, when twelve victims, lashed
hands and feet and tied in small baskets, were carried around the
court and after a ceremony thrown from a parapet into a pit below.
“The fall, upwards of twelve feet, may have stunned the victims and
before sense could return, their heads were cut off and the bodies
thrown to the mob, who, now armed with clubs and branches, brutally
mutilated the bodies and dragged them to a distant pit.” Forbes,
_Dahomey and the Dahomans_, London, 1850.

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About four hundred captives were sacrificed in this manner. The men went to the stages, bold and unconcerned, but the cries of the women and children were most affecting and soon excited the fears of the Dutch captain that the priests might take it into their heads that white victims might be more acceptable to their _fetiche_ than men of their own color. But no affront was shown the Europeans and after two hours spent standing near the stages they returned to their tent. The next morning they discovered that the bodies of the sacrificed had been taken away in the night by the people, who had boiled and feasted on them, as holy food.

At an audience with the king, the next day, an agreement was made whereby slaves, sufficient for a cargo, should be sent down to the shore at Jaqueen and that Captain Snelgrave should have three males to one female and be obliged to accept only those that he selected. The return journey was made without incident and at full speed, for the hammock-men were so much affected by the great sacrifice of Tuffoe people that they ran most of the way back to Jaqueen and arrived in an exhausted condition.

Two days later the slaves sent down by the king began to arrive in the town and one of the great captains of the king’s court soon followed, to settle all matters in dispute. The day he appeared, the linguist brought to Captain Snelgrave two female slaves, saying that the king desired him to buy them, but as one was about fifty years old he told the linguist that she was past her labor and therefore declined to buy her. The young slave he purchased at the agreed price. Not long after the linguist reported that the older woman, by order of the great captain, had been sacrificed to the sea, for she had offended the king, and not having been sold, she must be destroyed. The linguist suspected this must be done because the woman had assisted some of the king’s women in their love affairs and so incurred his emnity. On being questioned he related that “the Woman’s Hands being tied behind her, and her Feet across, she was put into the _Cannoe_, and carried off about half a Mile from the Shore; And then he ordered the Rowers to throw her over board; which they had no sooner done but he saw some Sharks tear her to pieces in an Instant.”

The next day a letter was brought ashore, from the mate of the _Katharine Galley_, which gave an account of the remarkable preservation of this slave woman. It happened that about the time the canoe of the linguist returned to the shore, one of the boats of the _Katharine Galley_ left the moorings to go on board the ship and about halfway out came upon a human body lying on its back, every now and then spurting water out of its mouth. It was a woman, tied hand and foot, whom they hauled aboard, untied and rolled about to get the salt water out of her stomach. They took her on board the ship and sent word of her taking up to Captain Snelgrave.

While the preservation of the woman from sharks and her timely rescue by the boat’s crew seemed quite providential, yet the captain was thereby placed in an awkward position, for should the king discover the fact he might pretend that his _fetiche_ had been disappointed of this sacrifice and so desire revenge or a large present. To order the woman killed was out of the question so the captain sent orders to his mate to keep the rescue a secret and this was successfully done. The woman was exceedingly grateful for her rescue and during the voyage returned good service by helping to keep the slaves easy in their minds, especially the female negroes who usually were troublesome on account of their noise and clamor. On reaching the West Indies she was sold to Charles Dunbar, the surveyor general of Barbadoes, reputed to be a good master.

The _Katharine Galley_ sailed from Jaqueen road, July 1, 1727, having on board over six hundred negroes and reached Antigua, W. I., after a tedious passage of seventeen weeks, where the cargo, having stood the voyage very well, came to a good market, and after lying there nearly three months for a return cargo of sugar, she sailed the last of February and got safe into the river Thames, on April 25, 1728, having made the round voyage in seventeen months.

Captain Snelgrave sailed in the Guinea trade for nearly thirty years and became familiar with all its details. The narrative that he wrote and which was published in London, in 1754,[25] may be considered a valuable contribution to our knowledge of the conduct of the trade at that time. He writes that it had been the custom, time out of mind, for negroes to make slaves of their captives taken in war, and when they had taken more than they could well employ on their plantations they were often obliged to kill many. It followed that they welcomed an opportunity to sell their surplus slaves to traders. Most crimes among the negro tribes were punished by mulcts and fines and if the offender could not pay he was sold for a slave. This was the practice of the inland people as well as those living on or near the sea shore. By this means so large a number of negroes became slaves that the trade on the Guinea coast, in the opinion of Captain Snelgrave, before the year 1730, had resulted in the exportation of at least seventy thousand natives. During the voyage to the West Indies and the American coast, the condition of the slaves in their narrow quarters on board ship was not only most uncomfortable, at the best, but usually a sickening and horrible experience that sometimes led to mutiny and wholesale death.

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Footnote 25:

_A New Account of Guinea, and the Slave Trade_, by Capt. William
Snelgrave, London, 1754.

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GROUP OF NEGROES JUST LANDED TO BE SOLD FOR SLAVES
From an engraving in Stedman’s _Narrative of an Expedition to
Surinam_, London, 1796
]

“These Munities,” writes Captain Snelgrave, “are generally occasioned by the Sailors ill usage of these poor People, when on board the Ships wherein they are transported to our Plantations. Wherever, therefore, I have commanded, it has been my principal Care, to have the Negroes on board my Ship kindly used; and I have always strictly charged my white People to treat them with Humanity and Tenderness; In which I have usually found my Account, both in keeping them from mutinying and preserving them in health.

“And whereas it may seem strange to those that are unacquainted with the method of managing them, how we can carry so many hundreds together in a small Ship, and keep them in order; I shall just mention what is generally practised. When we purchase grown People, I acquaint them by the Interpreter, ‘That, now they are become my Property, I think fit to let them know what they are bought for, that they may be easy in their Minds:’ (For these poor People are generally under terrible Apprehensions upon their being bought by white Men, many being afraid that we design to eat them; which, I have been told, is a story much credited by the inland Negroes;) ‘So after informing them, That they are bought to till the Ground in our Country, with several other Matters; I then acquaint them, how they are to behave themselves on board, towards the white Men; that if any one abuses them, they are to complain to the Linguist, who is to inform me of it, and I will do them Justice: But if they make a Disturbance, or offer to strike a White Man, they must expect to be severely punished.’

“When we purchase the Negroes, we couple the sturdy Men together with Irons; but we suffer the Women and Children to go freely about: And soon after we have sail’d from the Coast, we undo all the Mens Irons.

“They are fed twice a day, and are allowed in fair Weather to come on Deck at seven a clock in the Morning, and to remain there, if they think proper, till Sun setting. Every Monday Morning they are served with Pipes and Tobacco, which they are very fond of. The Men Negroes lodge separate from the Women and Children; and the places where they all lye are cleaned every day, some white Men being appointed to see them do it....

“The first Mutiny I saw among the Negroes, happened during my first Voyage in the Year 1704. It was on board the _Eagle Galley_ of London, commanded by my Father, with whom I was Purser. We had bought our Negroes in the River of _Old Callabar_ in the Bay of _Guinea_. At the time of their mutinying, we were in that River, having four hundred of them on board, and not above ten white Men who were able to do Service: For several of our Ship’s Company were dead and many more sick; besides, two of our Boats were just then gone with twelve People on Shore to fetch Wood, which lay in sight of the Ship. All these Circumstances put the Negroes on consulting how to mutiny, which they did at four a clock in the Afternoon, just as they went to Supper. But as we had always carefully examined the Mens Irons, both Morning and Evening, none had got them off, which in a great measure contributed to our Preservation. Three white Men stood on the Watch with Cutlaces in their Hands. One of them who was on the Forecastle, a stout fellow, seeing some of the Men Negroes take hold of the chief Mate, in order to throw him over board, he laid on them so heartily with the flat side of his Cutlace, that they soon quitted the Mate, who escaped from them, and run on the Quarter Deck to get Arms. I was then sick with an Ague—and lying on a Couch in the great Cabbin, the Fit being just come on. However, I no sooner heard the Outcry, _That the Slaves were mutinying_, but I took two Pistols, and run on the Deck with them; where meeting with my Father and the chief Mate, I delivered a Pistol to each of them. Whereupon they went forward on the Booms, calling to the Negroe Men that were on the Forecastle; but they did not regard their Threats, being busy with the Centry (who had disengaged the chief Mate), and they would have certainly killed him with his own Cutlace, could they have got it from him; but they could not break the Line wherewith the Handle was fastened to his Wrist. And so, tho’ they had seized him, yet they could not make use of his Cutlace. Being thus disappointed, they endeavoured to throw him overboard, but he held so fast by one of them that they could not do it. My Father seeing this stout Man in so much Danger, ventured amongst the Negroes, to save him; and fired his Pistol over their Heads, thinking to frighten them. But a lusty Slave struck him with a Billet so hard, that he was almost stunned. The Slave was going to repeat the Blow, when a young Lad about seventeen years old, whom we had been kind to, interposed his Arm, and received the Blow, by which his Arm-bone was fractured. At the same instant the Mate fired his Pistol, and shot the Negroe that had struck my Father. At the sight of this the Mutiny ceased, and all the Men-negroes on the Forecastle threw themselves flat on their Faces, crying out for Mercy.

“Upon examining into the matter, we found, there were not above twenty Men Slaves concerned in this Mutiny; and the two Ring-leaders were missing, having, it seems, jumped overboard as soon as they found their Project defeated, and were drowned. This was all the Loss we suffered on this occasion. For the Negroe that was shot by the Mate, the Surgeon, beyond all Expectation, cured. And I had the good Fortune to lose my Ague, by the fright and hurry I was put into. Moreover, the young Man, who had received the Blow on his Arm to save my Father, was cured by the Surgeon in our Passage to Virginia. At our Arrival in that place we gave him his Freedom; and a worthy Gentleman, one Colonel Carter, took him into his Service, till he became well enough acquainted in the Country to provide for himself.

“I have been several Voyages, when there has been no Attempt made by our Negroes to mutiny; which, I believe, was owing chiefly, to their being kindly used, and to my Officers Care in keeping a good Watch. But sometimes we meet with stout stubborn People amongst them, who are never to be made easy; and these are generally some of the Cormantines, a Nation of the Gold Coast. I went in the year 1721, in the _Henry_ of London, a Voyage to that part of the Coast, and bought a good many of these People. We were obliged to secure them very well in Irons, and watch them narrowly: Yet they nevertheless mutined, tho’ they had little prospect of succeeding. I lay at that time near a place called Mumfort, on the Gold Coast, having near five hundred Negroes on board, three hundred of which were Men. Our Ship’s Company consisted of fifty white People, all in health: And I had very good Officers; so that I was very easy in all respects.

“This Mutiny began at Midnight (the Moon then shining very bright) in this manner. Two Men that stood Centry at the Fore-hatch way, where the Men Slaves came up to go to the house of Office, permitted four to go to that place; but neglected to lay the Gratings again, as they should have done: Whereupon four more Negroes came on Deck, who had got their Irons off, and the four in the house of Office having done the same, all the eight fell on the two Centries, who immediately called out for help. The Negroes endeavoured to get their Cutlaces from them, but the Lineyards (that is the Lines by which the handles of the Cutlaces were fastened to the Mens Wrists) were so twisted in the Scuffle, that they could not get them off before we came to their Assistance. The Negroes perceiving several white Men coming towards them, with Arms in their hands, quitted the Centries, and jumped over the Ship’s side into the Sea.

“I being by this time come forward on the Deck, my first care was to secure the Gratings, to prevent any more Negroes from coming up; and then I ordered People to get into the Boat, and save those that had jumped over-board, which they luckily did: For they found them all clinging to the Cables the Ship was moored by.

“After we had secured these People, I called the Linguists, and ordered them to bid the Men-Negroes between Decks be quiet (for there was a great noise amongst them). On their being silent, I asked, ‘What had induced them to mutiny?’ They answered, ‘I was a great Rogue to buy them, in order to carry them away from their own Country; and that they were resolved to regain their Liberty if possible.’ I replied, ‘That they had forfeited their Freedom before I bought them, either by Crimes, or by being taken in War, according to the Custom of their Country; and they being now my Property, I was resolved to let them feel my Resentment, if they abused my Kindness: Asking at the same time, Whether they had been ill used by the white Men, or had wanted for any thing the Ship afforded?’ To this they replied, ‘They had nothing to complain of.’ Then I observed to them, ‘That if they should gain their Point and escape to the Shore, it would be no Advantage to them, because their Countrymen would catch them, and sell them to other Ships.’ This served my purpose, and they seemed to be convinced of their Fault, begging, ‘I would forgive them, and promising for the future to be obedient, and never mutiny again, if I would not punish them this time.’ This I readily granted, and so they went to sleep. When Day-light came we called the Men-Negroes up on Deck, and examining their Irons, found them all secure. So this Affair happily ended, which I was very glad of; for these People are the stoutest and most sensible Negroes on the Coast: Neither are they so weak as to imagine as others do, that we buy them to eat them; being satisfied we carry them to work in our Plantations, as they do in their own Country.

“However, a few days after this, we discovered they were plotting again, and preparing to mutiny. For some of the Ringleaders proposed to one of our Linguists, If he could procure them an Ax, they would cut the Cables the Ship rid by in the night; and so on her driving (as they imagined) ashore, they should get out of our hands, and then would become his Servants as long as they lived.

“For the better understanding of this I must observe here, that these Linguists are Natives and Freeman of the Country, whom we hire on account of their speaking good English, during the time we remain trading on the Coast; and they are likewise Brokers between us and the black Merchants.

“This Linguist was so honest as to acquaint me with what had been proposed to him; and advised me to keep a strict Watch over the Slaves: For tho’ he had represented to them the same as I had done on their mutinying, before, That they would be all catch’d again, and sold to other Ships, in case they could carry their Point, and get on Shore; yet it had no effect upon them.

“This gave me a good deal of uneasiness. For I knew several Voyages had proved unsuccessful by Mutinies; as they occasioned either the total loss of the Ship and the white Men’s Lives; or at least by rendering it absolutely necessary to kill or wound a great number of the Slaves, in order to prevent a total Destruction. Moreover, I knew many of these Cormantine Negroes despised Punishment, and even Death itself: It having often happened at Barbadoes and other Islands, that on their being any ways hardly dealt with, to break them of their Stubbornness in refusing to work, twenty or more have hang’d themselves at a time in a Plantation. However, about a Month after this, a sad Accident happened, that brought our Slaves to be more orderly, and put them in a better Temper: And it was this. On our going from Mumfort to Annamaboe, which is the principal part on the Gold Coast, I met there with another of my Owner’s Ships, called the _Elizabeth_. One Captain Thompson, that commanded her, was dead; as also his chief Mate: Moreover, the Ship had afterwards been taken at Cape Laboe on the windward Coast, by Roberts the Pirate, with whom several of the Sailors belonging to her had entered. However, some of the Pirates had hindered the Cargoe’s being plundered, and obtained that the Ship should be restored to the second Mate: Telling him, ‘They did it out of respect to the generous Character his Owner bore, in doing good to poor Sailors.’

“When I met with this Vessel I had almost disposed of my Ship’s Cargoe: and the _Elizabeth_ being under my Direction, I acquainted the second Mate, who then commanded her, That I thought it for our Owner’s Interest, to take the Slaves from on board him, being about 120, into my Ship; and then go off the Coast; and that I would deliver him at the same time the Remains of my Cargoe, for him to dispose of with his own after I was sailed. This he readily complied with, but told me, ‘He feared his Ship’s Company would mutiny, and oppose my taking the Slaves from him.’ And indeed, they came at that instant in a Body on the Quarter-deck; where one spoke for the rest, telling me plainly, ‘that they would not allow the Slaves to be taken out by me.’ I found by this they had lost all respect for their present Commander, who indeed was a weak Man. However, I calmly asked the reason, ‘Why they offered to oppose my taking the Slaves?’ To which they answered, ‘I had no business with them.’ On this I desired the Captain to send to his Scrutore, for the Book of Instructions Captain Thompson had received from our Owner; and he read to them, at my request, that Part, in which their former Captain, or his Successor (in case of Death) was to follow my Orders. Hereupon they all cried out, ‘they should remain a great while longer on the Coast to purchase more Slaves, if I took these from them, which they were resolved to oppose.’ I answered, ‘That such of the Ship’s Company as desired it, I would receive on board my own; where they should have the same Wages they had at present on board the _Elizabeth_, and I would send some of my own People to supply their Places.’ This, so reasonable an Offer, was refused, one of the Men who was the Ship’s Cooper telling me, that the Slaves had been on board a long time, and they had great Friendship with them: therefore they would keep them. I asked him, ‘Whether he had ever been on the Coast of Guinea before?’ He replied no. Then I told him, ‘I supposed he had not by his way of talking, and advised him not to rely on the Friendship of the Slaves, which he might have reason to repent of when too late.’ And ’Tis remarkable this very person was killed by them the next Night, as shall be presently related.

“So finding that reasoning with these Men was to no Purpose, I told them, ‘When I came with my Boats to fetch the Slaves, they should find me as resolute to chastise such of them as should dare to oppose me, as I had been condescending to convince them by arguing calmly.’ So I took my leave of their Captain, telling him, ‘I would come next Morning to finish the Affair.’

“But that very Night, which was near a month after the Mutiny on board of us at Mumfort, the Moon shining now very bright, as it did then, we heard, about ten a Clock, two or three Musquets fired on board the _Elizabeth_. Upon that I ordered all our Boats to be manned, and having secured every thing in our Ship, to prevent our Slaves from mutinying, I went myself in our Pinnace (the other Boats following me), on board the _Elizabeth_, in our way we saw two Negroes swimming from her, but before we could reach them with our Boats, some Sharks rose from the bottom, and tore them in Pieces. We came presently along the side of the Ship, where we found two Men-Negroes holding by a Rope, with their Heads just above water; they were afraid, it seems, to swim from the Ship’s side, having seen their Companions devoured just before by the Sharks. These two Slaves we took into our Boat, and then went into the Ship, where we found the Negroes very quiet, and all under Deck: but the Ship’s Company was on the Quarter-Deck, in a great Confusion, saying, ‘The Cooper, who had been placed centry at the Fore-hatch way, over the Men-Negroes, was, they believed, kill’d by them.’ I was surprised to hear this, wondering that these cowardly fellows, who had so vigorously opposed my taking the Slaves out, a few hours before, had not Courage enough to venture forward, to save their Ship-mate; but had secured themselves by shutting the Quarter-deck-door, where they all stood with Arms in their Hands. So I went to the fore-part of the Ship with some of my People, and there we found the Cooper lying on his back quite dead, his Scull being cleft asunder with a Hatchet that lay by him. At the sight of this I called for the Linguist, and bid him ask the Negroes between Decks, ‘Who had killed the white Man?’ They answered, ‘They knew nothing of the matter; for there had been no design of mutinying amongst them:’ Which upon Examination we found true; for above one hundred of the Negroes then on board, being bought to Windward, did not understand a word of the Gold Coast Language, and so had not been in the Plot. But this Mutiny was contrived by a few Cormantee-Negroes, who had been purchased about two or three days before. At last, one of the two Men-Negroes we had taken up along the Ship side, impeached his Companion, and he readily confessed he had kill’d the Cooper, with no other View, but that he and his Countrymen might escape undiscovered by swimming on Shore. For on their coming upon Deck, they observed, that all the white Men set to watch were asleep; and having found the Cook’s Hatchet by the Fire-place, he took it up, not designing then to do any Mischief with it; but passing by the Cooper, who was centry, and he beginning to awake, the Negroe rashly struck him on the head with it, and then jump’d overboard. Upon this frank Confession, the white Men would have cut him to Pieces; but I prevented it, and carried him to my own Ship. Early the next morning, I went on board the _Elizabeth_ with my Boats, and sent away all the Negroes then in her, into my own Ship: not one of the other Ship’s Company offering to oppose it. Two of them, the Carpenter and Steward, desired to go with me, which I readily granted; and by way of Security for the future Success of the Voyage, I put my chief Mate, and four of my under Officers (with their own Consent), on board the _Elizabeth_; and they arrived about five Months after this, at Jamaica, having disposed of most part of the Cargoe.

SECTION SHOWING METHOD OF STOWING SLAVES, IN 1786, ON THE SHIP
“BROOKES” OF LIVERPOOL
From Clarkson’s _Abolition of the Slave Trade_, London, 1808
]

“After having sent the Slaves out of the _Elizabeth_, as I have just now mentioned, I went on board my own Ship, and there being then in the Road of Anamaboe, eight sail of Ships besides us, I sent an Officer in my Boat to the Commanders of them, ‘To desire their Company on board my Ship, because I had an Affair of great Consequence to communicate to them.’ Soon after, most of them were pleased to come; and I having acquainted them with the whole Matter, and they having also heard the Negroe’s Confession, ‘That he had killed the white Man’; They unanimously advised me to put him to death; arguing, ‘That Blood required Blood by all Laws both divine and human; especially as there was in this Case the clearest Proof, namely the Murderer’s Confession: Moreover this would in all probability prevent future Mischiefs; for by publickly executing this Person at the Ship’s Fore-yard Arm, the Negroes on board their Ships would see it; and as they were very much disposed to mutiny, it might prevent them from ‘attempting it.’ These Reasons, with my being in the same Circumstances, made me comply.

“Accordingly we acquainted the Negroe, that he was to die in an hour’s time for murdering the white Man. He answered, ‘He must confess it was a rash Action in him to kill him; but he desired me to consider, that if I put him to death, I should lose all the Money I had paid for him.’ To this I bid the Interpreter reply, ‘That tho’ I knew it was customary in his Country to commute for Murder by a Sum of Money, yet it was not so with us; and he should find that I had no regard to my Profit in this respect: For as soon as an Hour-Glass, just then turned, was run out, he should be put to death’; At which I observed he shewed no Concern.

“Hereupon the other Commanders went on board their respective Ships, in order to have all their Negroes upon Deck at the time of Execution, and to inform them of the occasion of it. The Hour-Glass being run out, the Murderer was carried on the Ship’s Forecastle, where he had a Rope fastened under his Arms, in order to be hoisted up to the Fore-yard Arm, to be shot to death. This some of his Countrymen observing, told him (as the Linguist informed me afterwards), ‘That they would not have him be frightened; for it was plain I did not design to put him to death, otherwise the Rope would have been put about his neck, to hang him.’ For it seems they had no thought of his being shot; judging he was only to be hoisted up to the Yard-arm, in order to scare him: But they immediately saw the contrary; for as soon as he was hoisted up, ten white Men who were placed behind the Barricado on the Quarter-deck, fired their Musquets, and instantly killed him. This struck a sudden Damp on our Negroe-Men, who thought, that, on account of my Profit, I would not have executed him.

“The Body being let down upon the Deck, the Head was cut off, and thrown overboard. This last part was done, to let our Negroes see, that all who offended thus, should be served in the same manner. For many of the Blacks believe, that if they are put to death and not dismembered, they shall return again to their own Country, after they are thrown overboard. But neither the Person that was executed, nor his Countrymen of Cormantee (as I understood afterwards), were so weak as to believe any such thing; tho’ many I had on board from other Countries had that Opinion.

“When the Execution was over, I ordered the Linguist to acquaint the Men-Negroes, ‘That now they might judge, no one that killed a white Man should be spared:’ And I thought proper now to acquaint them once for all, ‘That if they attempted to mutiny again, I should be obliged to punish the Ringleaders with death, in order to prevent further Mischief.’ Upon this they all promised to be obedient, and I assured them they should be kindly used, if they kept their Promise: which they faithfully did. For we sailed, two days after, from Annamaboe for Jamaica; and tho’ they were on board near four Months, from our going off the Coast, till they were sold at that Island, they never gave us the least reason to be jealous of them: which doubtless was owing to the Execution of the white Man’s Murderer.

“These three Mutinies, I have here related, are all that ever happened where I was present, tho’ I have gone many Voyages to the Coast of Guinea. But I have heard of several, that have ended in a very tragical manner. However, to avoid being tedious, I shall relate only one, which is very remarkable, and happen’d on board the _Ferres Galley_ of London, Capt. Messervy; who, by his overcare, and too great Kindness to the Negroes on board his Ship, was destroyed by them, and the Voyage at last came to nothing. I met this Gentleman at Anamaboe on the Coast of Guinea, in January 1722. At his coming on board my Ship, he informed me of his good fortune, in that he had purchased near 300 Negroes in a few Days, at a place called Cetre-Crue, on the windward part of the Coast of Guinea, which happened in this manner.

“It seems the Inhabitants of this place, which lies near the Sea-side, had been often misused by some inland People, who for a long time had treated them in a villainous manner, whenever they went to their Towns with Salt, or any other Commodities to sell. For knowing the People of Cetre-Crue, did in a great measure depend on them for their Food, which is Rice, they took their Commodities, and gave them just what quantity of Rice they pleased, in exchange. The Cetre-Crues having long complained of this injury, without redress, resolved to bear it no longer, but to revenge themselves by Arms. And they were crowned with Success, destroying and taking all the Inhabitants of the principal Town where they used to go and buy Rice.

“Captain Messervy happened to anchor near Cetre-Crue just at that time, and had the opportunity of purchasing a great many of the Captives at an easy rate. For the Conquerors were glad to get something for them, at that instant, since, if a Ship had not been in the Road, they would have been obliged to have killed most of the Men-Captives, for their own Security.

“After the Captain had told me this story, he desired me to spare him some Rice, having heard, I had purchased a great many Tuns to the Windward; where he had bought little, not expecting to meet with so many Slaves. This request I could not comply with, having provided no more than was necessary for my self, and for another of my Owner’s Ships, which I quickly expected. And understanding from him, that he had never been on the Coast of Guinea before, I took the liberty to observe to him, ‘That as he had on board so many Negroes of one Town and Language, it required the utmost Care and Management to keep them from mutinying; and that I was sorry he had so little Rice for them: For I had experienced that the Windward Slaves are always very fond of it, it being their usual Food in their own Country; and he might certainly expect dissatisfactions and Uneasiness amongst them for want of a sufficient quantity.’

“This he took kindly, and having asked my Advice about other Matters, took his leave, inviting me to come next day to see him. I went accordingly on board his Ship, about three a clock in the afternoon. At four a clock the Negroes went to Supper, and Captain Messervy desired me to excuse him for a quarter of an hour, whilst he went forward to see the Men-Negroes served with Victuals. I observed from the Quarter-Deck, that he himself put Pepper and Palm Oyl amongst the Rice they were going to eat. When he came back to me, I could not forbear observing to him, ‘How imprudent it was in him to do so: For tho’ it was proper for a Commander sometimes to go forward and observe how things were managed, yet he ought to take a proper time, and have a good many of his white People in Arms when he went; or else they having him so much in their Power, might encourage the Slaves to mutiny: For he might depend upon it, they always aim at the chief Person in the Ship, whom they soon distinguish by the respect shown him by the rest of the People.’

“He thanked me for this Advice, but did not seem to relish it; saying, ‘He thought the old Proverb good, that _The Master’s Eye makes the Horse fat_.’ We then fell into other Discourse, and among other things he told me, ‘He designed to go away in a few days.’ Accordingly he sailed three days after for Jamaica. Some Months after I went for that place, where, at my arrival, I found his Ship, and had the following melancholy account of his Death, which happened about ten days after he left the Coast of Guinea in this manner.

“Being on the forecastle of the Ship, amongst the Men-Negroes, when they were eating their Victuals, they laid hold on him, and beat out his Brains with the little Tubs, out of which they eat their boiled Rice. This Mutiny having been plotted amongst all the grown Negroes on board, they run to the fore-part of the Ship in a body, and endeavoured to force the Barricado on the Quarter-Deck, not regarding the Musquets or Half Pikes, that were presented to their Breasts by the white Men, through the Loop-holes. So that at last the chief Mate was obliged to order one of the Quarter-deck Guns laden with Partridge-Shot, to be fired amongst them; which occasioned a terrible Destruction: For there were near eighty Negroes kill’d and drowned, many jumping overboard when the Gun was fired. This indeed put an end to the Mutiny, but most of the Slaves that remained alive grew so sullen, that several of them were starved to death, obstinately refusing to take any Sustenance; And after the Ship was arrived at Jamaica, they attempted twice to mutiny, before the Sale of them began. This, with their former Misbehaviour, coming to be publickly known, none of the Planters cared to buy them, tho’ offered at a low Price. So that this proved a very unsuccessful Voyage, for the Ship was detained many Months at Jamaica on that account, and at last was lost there in a Hurricane.”