Basic HTML Version
ANOTHERVARIANT OF THE SLAVESHIP HOLD
3
●
(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.) STOKES, ROBERT.
Regulated Slave Trade.
From the Evidence of Robert Stokes, Esq. Given before the Select Committee
of the House of Lords, in 1849.With a plate of the British Slave Ship Brookes
during the Regulated Slave Trade.
Large folding plate of the hold of the Brookes, 22-
1/2 x 17 inches, showing the appalling conditions under which Africans were transported;
several archival paper repairs to the reverse; creases where folded, otherwise bright and
fresh. 24 pages of text. Crown 8vo, original cloth covered flexible boards, stitched with
hand-written label on the upper cover.
London, 1851
[2,500/3,500]
UNCOMMONVERSION OF THE HOLD OF THE SLAVE SHIP BROOKES
,
not conforming to any
of the previous versions dating from 1789 to 1811.This pamphlet was the result of the efforts
of a group of British businessmen who were obviously “lobbied” by their counterparts in
Brazil, to get support for “regulated” slave trade to Brazil, as opposed to the total interdiction
of the trade.The preposterous argument was made by those in favor, that there would be less
loss of life during the “Middle Passage” if it were “regulated” and left up to the Brazilians
themselves, than if it were left to pirates and privateers. By this they meant to remove the
patrolling cruisers from the coast of West Africa, and instead, put “regulators” in their place
who would see to it that the slaves were properly stowed on the various decks. By mid-century
all of the larger nations and most of the smaller ones were signatories to the 1807 ban on the
African slave trade. Even Spain with slavery in her Caribbean colonies agreed not to take more
slaves out of Africa. Only Brazil and privateers continued.
4
●
(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.)
Pair of “Middle Passage” slave shackles.
Wrought iron, with a 19 inch long bar, to which are attached two circular wrist pieces, 3-1/2
inches in diameter; smooth and even pitting and oxidization consistent with age and material.
Np, 1750-1800
[2,500/3,500]
A pair of shackles of the sort used during the cruel “Middle Passage” fromAfrica to the Americas;
large, probably meant for a strong man. Images of shackles like these can be seen in numerous
early anti-slavery books and later histories. For specific examples see:An Abstract of the Evidence
(London, 1791); Lydia Maria Child’s “Appeal in Behalf of that Class of Americans call
Africans” (Boston, 1833) and Lorenzo Dow’s “Slave Ships and Slaving” (Salem, 1927).