SLO 1: Missing Bodies at Final Disembarking

According to the “The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database… [it has] information on almost 36,000 slaving voyages that forcibly embarked over 10 million Africans for transport to the Americas between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. The actual number is estimated to have been as high as 12.5 million” (Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database). What made in stop in astonishment was the number of passengers that didn’t make it to the final disembarking. In my previous post, highlighted in red the number of missing bodies from each of the voyages that I collected data from. I did a little math and from the seven voyages I collected data from the average number of passengers to just disappear were 30 per a vessel. It seems at estimate was rather low. As as stated in the article titled  The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, “Scholars estimate that from ten to nineteen percent of the millions of Africans forced into the Middle Passage across the Atlantic died due to rough conditions on slave ships” (African Passages, Lowcountry Adaption).  That means that close to 2.5 million people passed away due to the conditions they were forced into. AND This is only the number of deaths of those that made it to a ship!

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            "The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database." Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database. 

                       Emory University, n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2016."


            "The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade · African Passages, Lowcountry Adaptations." 

                        Low country Digital History Initiative. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2016."

SLO 1: Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database

Today, I began the dive into the database. I was able to pull out some info of Great Britain ships that participated in the Atlantic Slave trade during the years 1773-1793. First off less crunch a few numbers, on record there was 35,938 vessels that took part in the distribution of humans. This was over the course of 352 years, when slavery was legal. During the 20 year span and the time period of the American Revolution, 5,345 vessels transported slaves across the Atlantic. Though, of those 5,345 vessels Great Britain took part in 2,263 of them. That means that more than half of the ships that sailed the Atlantic Slave Trade during that time were from Britain.

Okay, now it’s time to start naming those names.

Starting with departure date of 1774 the vessel Meanwell owned by Thomas Lake, Richard Lake Jr., William E. Lake, and James Colley. The captains were James Eackley Colley and John Richard. This vessel set out from Liverpool England and purchased 171 slaves in St. Vincent. 1775 it landed in St. Kitts disembarking 151 slaves (-20).

Also during 1774 the vessel Traffick set out of England. The captain was Thomas Blower. 352 slaves were purchased in Windland Coast and 288 were disembarked into the Danish West Indies (-64). After disembarking there was a ship wreck by natural hazards.

In the year of 1775 captain Bourden guided the vessel Hope to Anomabu and purchased 116 slaves and disembarked in St. Kitts with 100 slaves (-16).

During the year of 1776 a vessel called Venus who was owned by Harrison* and captained by Jeremiah Smith departed London, purchased 359 slaves in Calabar. Then continued their journey and when landing in 1777 at their destination of Dominica and St. Kitts they disembarked 328 slaves (-31).

The vessel the Fly departed from New Castle Upon Tyne in 1776. The captains were Hamilton Wood and Thomas Newman. They stopped and purchased 119 slaves in Saint-Louis. When they disembarked in Florida they had 93 slaves (-16)

The following year 1777 a vessel known as the Adventure owned by Thompson C. and captained by John Muir set out from England and picked up 370 slaves from two locations Senegambia and Gold Coast.  In 1778, when they reached there landing point in Tobago they disembarked 341 (-29).

A vessel named Defiance was captained by Woodward and departed London in 1777. They purchased 335 slaves in Africa and took them Martinique when they disembarked in 1778 with 300 slaves. After disembarking the slaves the ship was captured by pirates (-35).

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"The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database." Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database. Emory 
           University, n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2016."

SLO1: Let Us Begin!

Our professor has introduced us to a database ( http://www.slavevoyages.org) that has been compiled for the last 20 years. It has been a joint contribution amongst universities around the globe. In this immense database you are able to locate over 35,000 vessels that have sailed legally in the Atlantic Slave Trade. They have gathered that over 12 million slaves landed in the new world, that is only the number that landed. Upwards of 25 million have been affected by the slave trade.  I have not yet accessed this database and only have seen glimpses during class lecture. This week we have been unleashed to start navigating the database ourselves and start naming those names that have taken part. Since the slave trade lasted 352 years and over 35,000 ships have been documented, my search is going to be narrowed down to the years surrounding the American Revolution (1773-1793). In my search I am hopeful to discover how the effects of the Slave trade have influenced the world we live in today. But first things first I must learn to navigate this database and start to unveil the names that were directly tied to the sale of human beings.

Introduction

I have created this blog as an assignment requirement for my history class at Butte College. During this semester we must "attempt to identify the owners of the slave ships that transported millions of Africans across the Atlantic selling them into slavery". In the process I hope to figure out who were the companies, corporations, and individuals that traded humans. I am going to guess that many of the names that became wealthy from the slave trade may sound familiar and are still around today amongst many cooperations and wealthy individuals.