The History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave Trade by the British Parliament (1808), Vol. I by Thomas Clarkson

T >> Thomas Clarkson >> The History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave Trade by the British Parliament (1808), Vol. I

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[Footnote A: Dean Tucker, in his Reflections on the Disputes between Great
Britain and Ireland, published in 1785, had passed a severe censure on the
British planters for the inhuman treatment of their slaves.]

Among others, who were useful to me in my pursuit, was Mr. Henry Sulgar, an
amiable minister of the gospel belonging to the religious society of the
Moravians in the same city. From him I first procured authentic documents
relative to the treacherous massacre at Calabar. This cruel transaction had
been frequently mentioned to me; but as it had taken place twenty years
before, I could not find one person who had been engaged in it, nor could I
come, in a satisfactory manner, at the various particulars belonging to it.
My friend, however, put me in possession of copies of the real depositions
which had been taken in the case of the King against Lippincott and others,
relative to this event, namely, of captain Floyd, of the city of Bristol,
who had been a witness to the scene, and of Ephraim Robin John, and of
Ancona Robin Robin John, two African chiefs, who had been sufferers by it.
These depositions had been taken before Jacob Kirby, and Thomas Symons,
esquires, commissioners at Bristol for taking affidavits in the court of
King's Bench. The tragedy, of which they gave a circumstantial account, I
shall present to the reader in as concise a manner as I can.

In the year 1767, the ships Indian Queen, Duke of York, Nancy, and Concord,
of Bristol, the Edgar, of Liverpool, and the Canterbury, of London, lay in
old Calabar river.

It happened at this time, that a quarrel subsisted between the principal
inhabitants of Old Town and those of New Town, Old Calabar, which had
originated in a jealousy respecting slaves. The captains of the vessels now
mentioned joined in sending several letters to the inhabitants of Old Town,
but particularly to Ephraim Robin John, who was at that time a grandee or
principal inhabitant of the place. The tenor of these letters was, that
they were sorry that any jealousy or quarrel should subsist between the two
parties; that if the inhabitants of Old Town would come on board, they
would afford them security and protection; adding at the same time, that
their intention in inviting them was, that they might become mediators,
and, thus heal their disputes.

The inhabitants of Old Town, happy to find that their differences were
likely to be accommodated, joyfully accepted the invitation. The three
brothers of the grandee just mentioned, the eldest of whom was Amboe Robin
John, first entered their canoe, attended by twenty-seven others, and,
being followed by nine canoes, directed their course to the Indian Queen.
They were dispatched from thence the next morning to the Edgar, and
afterwards to the Duke of York, on board of which they went, leaving their
canoe and attendants by the side of the same vessel. In the mean time the
people on board the other canoes were either distributed on board, or lying
close to, the other ships.

This being the situation of the three brothers, and of the principal
inhabitants of the place, the treachery now began to appear. The crew of
the Duke of York, aided by the captain and mates, and armed with pistols
and cutlasses, rushed into the cabin, with an intent to seize the persons
of their three innocent and unsuspicious guests. The unhappy men, alarmed
at this violation of the rights of hospitality and struck with astonishment
at the behaviour of their supposed friends, attempted to escape through the
cabin windows, but being wounded were obliged to desist, and to submit to
be put in irons.

In the same moment, in which this atrocious attempt had been made, an order
had been given to fire upon the canoe, which was then lying by the side of
the Duke of York. The canoe soon filled and sunk, and the wretched
attendants were either seized, killed, or drowned. Most of the other ships
followed the example. Great numbers were additionally killed and drowned on
the occasion, and others were swimming to the shore.

At this juncture the inhabitants of New Town, who had concealed themselves
in the bushes by the water-side, and between whom and the commanders of the
vessels the plan had been previously concerted, came out from their
hiding-places, and, embarking in their canoes, made for such, as were
swimming from the fire of the ships. The ships' boats also were manned, and
joined in the pursuit. They butchered the greater part of those whom they
caught. Many dead bodies were soon seen upon the sands, and others were
floating upon the water; and including those who were seized and carried
off, and those who were drowned and killed, either by the firing of the
ships or by the people of New Town, three hundred were lost to the
inhabitants of Old Town on that day.

The carnage, which I have been now describing, was scarcely over, when a
canoe, full of the principal people of New Town, who had been the promoters
of the scheme, dropped alongside of the Duke of York. They demanded the
person of Amboe Robin John, the brother of the grandee of Old Town, and the
eldest of the three on board. The unfortunate man put the palms of his
hands together, and beseeched the commander of the vessel, that he would
not violate the rights of hospitality by giving up an unoffending stranger
to his enemies. But no entreaties could avail. The commander received from
the New Town people a slave, of the name of Econg, in his stead, and then
forced him into the canoe, where his head was immediately struck off in the
sight of the crew, and of his afflicted and disconsolate brothers. As for
them, they escaped his fate; but they were carried off with their
attendants to the West Indies, and sold for slaves.

The knowledge of this tragical event now fully confirmed me in the
sentiment, that the hearts of those, who were concerned in this traffic,
became unusually hardened, and that I might readily believe any atrocities,
however great, which might be related of them. It made also my blood boil
as it were within me. It gave a new spring to my exertions. And I rejoiced,
sorrowful as I otherwise was, that I had visited Bristol, if it had been
only to gain an accurate statement of this one fact.

In pursuing my objects, I found that reports were current, that the crew of
the Alfred slave-vessel, which had just returned, had been barbarously
used, but particularly a young man of the name of Thomas, who had served as
the surgeon's mate on board her. The report was, that he had been
repeatedly knocked down by the captain; that he had become in consequence
of his ill usage so weary of his life, that he had three times jumped over
board to destroy it; that on being taken up the last time he had been
chained to the deck of the ship, in which situation he had remained night
and day for some time; that in consequence of this his health had been
greatly impaired; and that it was supposed he could not long survive this
treatment.

It was with great difficulty, notwithstanding all my inquiries, that I
could trace this person. I discovered him, however, at last. He was
confined to his bed when I saw him, and appeared to me to be delirious. I
could collect nothing from himself relative to the particulars of his
treatment. In his intervals of sense, he exclaimed against the cruelty both
of the captain and of the chief mate, and pointing to his legs, thighs and
body, which were all wrapped up in flannel, he endeavoured to convince me
how much he had suffered there. At one time he said he forgave them. At
another he asked, if I came to befriend him. At another he looked wildly,
and asked if I meant to take the captain's part and to kill him.

I was greatly affected by the situation of this poor man, whose image
haunted me both night and day, and I was meditating how most effectually to
assist him, when I heard that he was dead.

I was very desirous of tracing something further on this subject, when
Walter Chandler, of the society of the Quakers, who had been daily looking
out for intelligence for me, brought a young man to me of the name of
Dixon. He had been one of the crew of the same ship. He told me the
particulars of the treatment of Thomas, with very little variation from
those contained in the public report. After cross-examining him in the best
manner I was able, I could find no inconsistency in his account.

I asked Dixon, how the captain came to treat the surgeon's mate in
particular so ill. He said he had treated them all much alike. A person of
the name of Bulpin, he believed, was the only one who had escaped bad usage
in the ship. With respect to himself, he had been cruelly used so early as
in the outward bound passage, which had occasioned him to jump overboard.
When taken up he was put into irons, and kept in these for a considerable
time. He was afterwards ill used at different times, and even so late as
within three or four days of his return to port. For just before the Alfred
made the island of Lundy, he was struck by the captain, who cut his under
lip into two. He said that it had bled so much, that the captain expressed
himself as if much alarmed; and having the expectation of arriving soon at
Bristol, he had promised to make him amends, if he would hold his peace.
This he said he had hitherto done, but he had received no recompense. In
confirmation of his own usage, he desired me to examine his lip, which I
had no occasion to do, having already perceived it, for the wound was
apparently almost fresh.

I asked Dixon, if there was any person in Bristol, besides himself, who
could confirm to me this his own treatment, as well as that of the other
unfortunate man who was now dead. He referred me to a seaman of the name of
Matthew Pyke. This person, when brought to me, not only related readily the
particulars of the usage in both cases, as I have now stated them, but that
which he received himself. He said that his own arm had been broken by the
chief mate in Black River, Jamaica, and that he had also by the captain's
orders, though contrary to the practice in merchant vessels, been severely
flogged. His arm appeared to be then in pain. And I had a proof of the
punishment by an inspection of his back.

I asked Matthew Pyke, if the crew in general had been treated in a cruel
manner. He replied, they had, except James Bulpin. I then asked where James
Bulpin was to be found. He told me where he had lodged, but feared he had
gone home to his friends in Somersetshire, I think, somewhere in the
neighbourhood of Bridgewater.

I thought it prudent to institute an inquiry into the characters of Thomas,
Dixon, and Matthew Pyke, before I went further. The two former I found were
strangers in Bristol, and I could collect nothing about them. The latter
was a native of the place, had served his time as a seaman from the port,
and was reputed of fair character.

My next business was to see James Bulpin. I found him just setting off for
the country. He stopped, however, to converse with me. He was a young man
of very respectable appearance and of mild manners. His appearance, indeed,
gave me reason to hope that I might depend upon his statements; but I was
most of all influenced by the consideration, that, never having been
ill-used himself, he could have no inducement to go beyond the bounds of
truth on this occasion. He gave me a melancholy confirmation of all the
three cases. He told me also that one Joseph Cunningham had been a severe
sufferer, and that there was reason to fear that Charles Horseler, another
of the crew, had been so severely beaten over the breast with a knotted end
of a rope (which end was of the size of a large ball, and had been made on
purpose) that he died of it. To this he added, that it was now a notorious
fact, that the captain of the Alfred, when mate of a slave-ship, had been
tried at Barbadoes for the murder of one of the crew, with whom he had
sailed, but that he escaped by bribing the principal witness to
disappear[A].

[Footnote A: Mr. Sampson, who was surgeon's mate of the ship, in which the
captain had thus served as a mate, confirmed to me afterwards this
assertion, having often heard him boast in the cabin, "how he had tricked
the law on that occasion."]

The reader will see, the further I went into the history of this voyage,
the more dismal it became. One miserable account, when examined, only
brought up another. I saw no end to inquiry. The great question was, what
was I to do? I thought the best thing would be to get the captain
apprehended, and make him stand his trial either for the murder of Thomas
or of Charles Horseler. I communicated with the late Mr. Burges, an eminent
attorney and the deputy town-clerk, on this occasion. He had shown an
attachment to me on account of the cause I had undertaken, and had given me
privately assistance in it. I say privately; because, knowing the
sentiments of many of the corporate body at Bristol, under whom he acted,
he was fearful of coming forward in an open manner. His advice to me was,
to take notes of the case for my own private conviction, but to take no
public cognizance of it. He said that seamen, as soon as their wages were
expended, must be off to sea again. They could not generally, as landsmen
do, maintain themselves on shore. Hence I should be obliged to keep the
whole crew at my own expense till the day of trial, which might not be for
months to come. He doubted not that, in the interim, the merchants and
others would inveigle many of them away by making them boatswains and other
inferior officers in some of their ships; so that, when the day of trial
should come, I should find my witnesses dispersed and gone. He observed
moreover, that, if any of the officers of the ship had any notion of going
out again under the same owners[A], I should have all these against me. To
which he added that, if I were to make a point of taking up the cause of
those whom I found complaining of hard usage in this trade, I must take up
that of nearly all who sailed in it; for that he only knew of one captain
from the port in the Slave-trade, who did not deserve long ago to be
hanged. Hence I should get into a labyrinth of expense, and difficulty, and
uneasiness of mind, from whence I should not easily find a clew to guide
me.

[Footnote A: The seamen of the Alfred informed the purser of their ill
usage. Matthew Pyke not only showed him his arm and his back, but
acquainted him with the murder of Charles Horseler, stating that he had the
instrument of his death in his possession. The purser seemed more alive to
this than to any other circumstance, and wished to get it from him. Pyke,
however, had given it to me. Now what will the reader think, when he is
informed that the purser, after all this knowledge of the captain's
cruelty, sent him out again, and that he was the same person, who was
purser of the Brothers, and who had also sent out the captain of that ship
a second time, as has been related, notwithstanding his barbarities in
former voyages!!]

This advice, though it was judicious, and founded on a knowledge of
Law-proceedings, I found it very difficult to adopt. My own disposition was
naturally such, that whatever I engaged in I followed with more than
ordinary warmth. I could not be supposed therefore, affected and interested
as I then was, to be cool and tranquil on this occasion. And yet what would
my worthy friend have said, if in this first instance I had opposed him? I
had a very severe struggle in my own feelings on this account. At length,
though reluctantly, I obeyed. But as the passions, which agitate the human
mind, when it is greatly inflamed, must have a vent somewhere, or must work
off as it were, or in working together must produce some new passion or
effect; so I found the rage, which had been kindling within me, subsiding
into the most determined resolutions of future increased activity and
perseverance. I began now to think that the day was not long enough for me
to labour in. I regretted often the approach of night, which suspended my
work, and I often welcomed that of the morning, which restored me to it.
When I felt myself weary, I became refreshed by the thought of what I was
doing; when disconsolate, I was comforted by it. I lived in hope that every
day's labour would furnish me with that knowledge, which would bring this
evil nearer to its end; and I worked on, under these feelings, regarding
neither trouble nor danger in the pursuit.

CHAPTER XV.

_Author confers with the inhabitants of Bridgewater relative to a petition
to parliament in behalf of the abolition--returns to Bristol--discovers a
scandalous mode of procuring seamen for the Slave-trade--and of paying
them--makes a comparative view of their loss in this and in other
trades--procures imports and exports--examines the construction and
admeasurement of Slave-ships--of the Fly and Neptune--Difficulty of
procuring evidence--Case of Gardiner of the Pilgrim--of Arnold of the
Ruby--some particulars of the latter in his former voyages_.

Having heard by accident, that the inhabitants of the town of Bridgewater
had sent a petition to the House of Commons, in the year 1785, for the
abolition of the Slave-trade, as has been related in a former part of the
work, I determined, while my feelings were warm, to go there, and to try to
find out those who had been concerned in it, and to confer with them as the
tried friends of the cause. The time seemed to me to be approaching, when
the public voice should be raised against this enormous evil. I was sure
that it was only necessary for the inhabitants of this favoured island to
know it, to feel a just indignation against it. Accordingly I set off. My
friend George Fisher, who was before mentioned to have been of the
religions society of the Quakers, gave me an introduction to the
respectable family of Ball, which was of the same religious persuasion. I
called upon Mr. Sealey, Anstice, Crandon, Chubb, and others. I laid open to
those, whom I saw, the discoveries I had made relative to the loss and ill
treatment of seamen; at which they seemed to be much moved; and it was
agreed, that, if it should be thought a proper measure, (of which I would
inform them when I had consulted the commitee,) a second petition should be
sent to Parliament from the inhabitants, praying for the abolition of the
Slave-trade. With this view I left them several of my Summary Views, before
mentioned, to distribute, that the inhabitants might know more particularly
the nature of the evil, against which they were going to complain. On my
return to Bristol, I determined to inquire into the truth of the reports
that seamen had an aversion to enter, and that they were inveigled, if not
often forced, into this hateful employment. For this purpose I was
introduced to a landlord of the name of Thompson, who kept a public-house
called the Seven Stars. He was a very intelligent man, was accustomed to
receive sailors, when discharged at the end of their voyages, and to board
them till their vessels went out again, or to find them births in others.
He avoided however all connection with the Slave-trade, declaring that the
credit of his house would be ruined, if he were known to send those, who
put themselves under his care, into it.

From him I collected the truth of all that had been stated to me on this
subject. But I told him I should not be satisfied until I had beheld those
scenes myself, which he had described to me; and I entreated him to take me
into them, saying that I would reward him for all his time and trouble, and
that I would never forget him while I lived. To this he consented; and as
three or four slave-vessels at this time were preparing for their voyages,
it was time that we should begin our rounds. At about twelve at night we
generally set out, and were employed till two and sometimes three in the
morning. He led me from one of those public-houses to another, which the
mates of the slave-vessels used to frequent to pick up their hands. These
houses were in Marsh-street, and most of them were then kept by Irishmen.
The scenes witnessed in these houses were truly distressing to me; and yet,
if I wished to know practically what I had purposed, I could not avoid
them. Music, dancing, rioting, drunkenness, and profane swearing, were kept
up from night to night. The young mariner, if a stranger to the port, and
unacquainted with the nature of the Slave-trade, was sure to be picked up.
The novelty of the voyages, the superiority of the wages in this over any
other trades, and the privileges of various kinds, were set before him.
Gulled in this manner he was frequently enticed to the boat, which was
waiting to carry him away. If these prospects did not attract him, he was
plied with liquor till he became intoxicated, when a bargain was made over
him between the landlord and the mate. After this his senses were kept in
such a constant state of stupefaction by the liquor, that in time the
former might do with him what he pleased. Seamen also were boarded in these
houses, who, when the slave-ships were going out, but at no other time,
were encouraged to spend more than they had money to pay for; and to these,
when they had thus exceeded, but one alternative was given, namely, a
slave-vessel, or a gaol. These distressing scenes I found myself obliged
frequently to witness, for I was no less than nineteen times occupied in
making these hateful rounds. And I can say from my own experience, and all
the information I could collect from Thompson and others, that no such
practices were in use to obtain seamen for other trades.

The treatment of the seamen employed in the Slave-trade had so deeply
interested me, and now the manner of procuring them, that I was determined
to make myself acquainted with their whole history; for I found by report,
that they were not only personally ill-treated, as I have already painfully
described, but that they were robbed by artifice of those wages, which had
been held up to them as so superior in this service. All persons were
obliged to sign articles, that, in case they should die or be discharged
during the voyage, the wages then due to them should be paid in the
currency where the vessel carried her slaves, and that half of the wages
due to them on their arrival there should be paid in the same manner, and
that they were never permitted to read over the articles they had signed.
By means of this iniquitous practice the wages in the Slave-trade, though
nominally higher in order to induce seamen to engage in it, were actually
lower than in other trades. All these usages I ascertained in such a
manner, that no person could doubt the truth of them. I actually obtained
possession of articles of agreement belonging to these vessels, which had
been signed and executed in former voyages. I made the merchants
themselves, by sending those seamen, who had claims upon them, to ask for
their accounts current with their respective ships, furnish me with such
documents as would have been evidence against them in any court of law. On
whatever branch of the system I turned my eyes, I found it equally
barbarous. The trade was, in short, one mass of iniquity from the beginning
to the end.

I employed myself occasionally in the Merchants-hall, in making copies of
the muster-rolls of ships sailing to different parts of the world, that I
might make a comparative view of the loss of seamen in the Slave-trade,
with that of those in the other trades from the same port. The result of
this employment showed me the importance of it: for, when I considered how
partial the inhabitants of this country were to their fellow-citizens, the
seamen belonging to it, and in what estimation the members of the
legislature held them, by enforcing the Navigation-Act, which they
considered to be the bulwark of the nation, and by giving bounties to
certain trades, that these might become so many nurseries for the marine, I
thought it of great importance to be able to prove, as I was then capable
of doing, that more persons would be found dead in three slave-vessels from
Bristol, in a given time, than in all the other vessels put together,
numerous as they were, belonging to the same port.

I procured also an account of the exports and imports for the year 1786, by
means of which I was enabled to judge of the comparative value of this and
the other trades.

In pursuing another object, which was that of going on board the
slave-ships, and learning their construction and dimensions, I was greatly
struck, and indeed affected, by the appearance of two little sloops, which
were fitting out for Africa, the one of only twenty-five tons, which was
said to be destined to carry seventy; and the other of only eleven, which
was said to be destined to carry thirty slaves. I was told also that which
was more affecting, namely, that these were not to act as tenders on the
coast, by going up and down the rivers, and receiving three or four slaves
at a time, and then carrying them to a large ship, which was to take them
to the West Indies, but that it was actually intended, that they should
transport their own slaves themselves; that one if not both of them were,
on their arrival in the West Indies, to be sold as pleasure-vessels, and
that the seamen belonging to them were to be permitted to come home by what
is usually called the run.

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