Cea tad ‘Analyse the folowing sources which provide information about the experience of Aican HISTORICAL SKILLS slaves during the ‘middle passage'—that is, ther journey aboard the slave ships which > dently and analyse the -—_-‘tTansported them from Africa across the Atiantic Ocean to the West Indies or North America. perspectives ofpe0p2 ps - a ~ ‘fom the past have been informed that some commanders have cut off the legs or arms of the most willful > Develop ters, partcusary | slaves, to terrify the rest for they believe that, ifthey lose a member, they cannot return home scriptions and again: | was advised by some of my officers to do the same, but I could not be persuaded to ‘Gacussions, that use ‘entertain the least thought of it, much less to put in practice such barbarity and cruelty to poor cence tom aerge__ Greatures who, excepting their want of Christianity and true religion (hei misfortine more ae | than fault) are as much the works of God's hands, and no doubt as dear to him as ourselves. Source 1 Thomas Philips, a slave-ship captain, wrote an account ‘of his activities in ‘A Journal of a Voyage’ (1746) With our ships, the great object is to be full. When the ship is there, it is thought desirable, she should take as many as possible. "The cargo of a vessel ofa hundred tons, of lite more, is ‘calculated to purchase from two hundred and twenty to two hundred and fifty slaves. Their Jodging-rooms below the deck, which are thre (for the men, the boys, and the women) besides ‘place for the sick, are sometimes more than five feet high, and sometimes less; and this height {is divided towards the middle, forthe slaves ie in two rows, one above the other, on each side of the ship, close to each other, like books upon a shel. have known them s0 close, thatthe sh | would not, easly, contain one more. —_ z Source 2 John Newton, a slave-ship captain between 1747 and 1754, wrote an ‘account of his activities in ‘Thoughts upon the African Slave Trade (1787). | ‘Tyas soon put down under the decks, and there I received sucha greeting in my nostlsasThad never experienced in my life; so that, withthe loathsomeness ofthe stench, and erying together, became so sick and low that I was not able to eat, nor had I the least desire to taste anything, ‘now wished for the last friend, death, to relieve me; but soon, to my grief, two of the white ‘men offered me eatables; and, on my refusing to eat, one of them held me fast by the hands, and laid me across, I think, the windlass, and tied my feet, while the other flogged me severely. ‘The white people looked and acted, as I thought, in so savage a manner; for I had never seen ‘among my people such instances of brutal cruelty. The closeness ofthe place, and the heat of the Glimate, added to the number in the ship, which was so crowded that each had scarcely room to ‘turn himself, almost suffocated us, The air soon became unfit for respiration, from a variety of Toathsome smells, and brought on a sickness among the slaves, of which many died. The wretched sation was again aggravate bythe chains, now unsopportable and the fi ofthe | necessary tubs, nto which the children often fel, and were almost suffocated. The shrieks ofthe | women, and the groans ofthe dying, rendered the whole asc Source 3 Olaudeh Equiano was captured and sold as a slave. This is an extract from his book ‘The Life of Olaudah Equiano the African’ (1789). “The slaves that are out of irons are locked spoonways and locked to one another. Its the duty of the first mate to see them stowed in this manner every morning: those which do not get ‘quickly into ther places are compelled by the cat and, such was the situation when stowed in this ‘manner, and when the ship had much motion at sea, they were often miserably bruised against ‘the deck or against each other. I have seen their breasts heaving and observed them draw their breath, with all those laborious and anxious efforts for lf which we observein expiring animals | subjected by experiment to bad air of various kinds, Source 4 Thomas Trotter, a doctor working on the slave-ship ‘Brookes’, was interviewed by a government committee in 1790 and asked if “the slaves had room (on the ship) to turn themselves (© Oster Unteraty Press SAN 978018 57578 1 (OXFORD BIG IDEAS HISTORY 9 Australian Curiculum Workbook