303 Series III Volume IV- Serial 125 - Union Letters, Orders, Reports
Page 303 | UNION AUTHORITIES. |
was asked, "If the blank of the bill is filled with one and a half to a ton, will it, in your opinion, tend to the abolition of the trade?" Answer. "I am clearly of opinion that it will." a
This witness handed in a table, of which the accuracy was afterward indorsed by Mr. Tarleton, a Liverpool merchant extensively engaged in the slave-trade, exhibiting the estimate of profit or loss on a vessel of 100 tons at different rates of slaves per ton. Here it is:
Pounds. s. d.
At one man per ton, the loss is................... 590 1 0
At one man and a half per ton, the loss is........ 206 19 9
At two men per ton, the profit is................. 180 3 6
At two men and a half per ton, the profit is......b761 5 6
James Jones, six years captain of a slaver, deposed: "If a ship of 200 tons does not purchase 400 slaves and more, she must certainly sink the owners" money." He was asked, "What measurement do the merchants allow for each slave?" Answer. "In a ship of 200 tons and under, merchants all carry more than two slaves to each ton." Being asked what width was allowed, at that rate, to each slave men stowed below, he answered: "A full-grown slave takes sixteen inches in width; smaller slaves, twelve to fourteen inches." c
John Matthews, seventeen years in the slave-trade, was asked, "What space in length and breadth do you consider sufficient for the health and comfort of the negroes on board?" Answer. "The space they occupy when they lie on their backs is always considered sufficient for them." When asked for the number of inches, he at first refused to give it, saying he did not know; afterward he gave fourteen and two-third inches as a fair average. d
Another slave captain (James Bowen) expressed a different opinion. He said: "The average number of slaves carried is two to a ton. * * * Is of opinion that the greatest number of slaves which a ship can carry consistent with their preservation is not above one per ton." e
James Penny, a part of whose evidence has already been quoted, said: "The average allowance of width to a slave is fourteen and two-thirds inches."
Captain Parrey was sent to Liverpool by Government in 1788 to take the dimensions of ships employed in the African trade. A plan and sections are given of one of these, the Brooks, a ship of 297 tons burden, well known in the trade. The room said by her owners to be allowed for each slave was: For men, each, six feet by sixteen inches; for women, each, five feet ten inches by sixteen inches; for boys, each, five feet by fourteen inches; for girls, each, four feet six inches by twelve inches. At these rates Captain Parrey found that she could carry 470 slaves. But she did carry 607, being about two to a ton. This reduces the width actually allowed to the men to less than twelve inches and a half; and the rest in proportion. f
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a Lords of Council Report, Minutes of Evidence, p.41.
b Report cited, Minutes of Evidence, p.21.
c Lords of Council Report, Minutes of Evidence, pp.44,45.
d Report cited, Minutes of Evidence, pp.24,25.
e Lords of Council Report, Part III, Sheet D.
f Mr. William James, who had made three voyages on slavers, testified "that on board the Britannia the height between decks was about five feet and a half. No slave whatever had room to turn himself when the cargo was completed. The chief mate, boatswain, and an active young man were employed in stowing or packing them together, as in adjusting their arms and legs and prescribing a fixed space for each." (Lords" Report, Part II, Sheet D 7.)
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Page 303 | UNION AUTHORITIES. |