Slavery

African slavery and the sea

Written and illustrated by Chris Coulson in 'A celebration of Wilberforce and Company' (2007).

It has been estimated that between 8 million and 17 million slaves (perhaps many more) could have been transported by sea from Africa between the 8th and 19th century using two main sea routes. These were the trans-Atlantic route and the Arab route (Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea) and while non Africans were involved the trade couldn’t have existed without the co-operation of land based African ‘associates’. A third slave route was operated by the Barbary corsairs of North Africa. (see map). While these ‘pirates’ weren’t averse to enslaving people they didn’t form part of the African slave trade as we understand it and in actual fact they brought slaves to Africa, some from Europe! Because of differences in sailing cultures and shipping requirements in the regions these routes used different types of boats.

The trans-Atlantic slave route

This was a triangular shipping route (‘The Triangle of Shame’) between Europe (England and France), West Africa and the Americas and this was the slave trade William Wilberforce was instrumental in stopping. On this route goods were taken by sea from Europe to West Africa (the Outward Passage) and exchanged for slaves who were then shipped to the Americas (the Middle Passage, notorious for its inhumanity) where they were sold at a great profit. With the money from the sale of slaves, goods such as rum, sugar, cotton etc were bought in the Americas and shipped to back to Europe (the Homeward Passage). Initially slow sailing ships of various types such as Barques and those similar to the East Indiamen (both having square sails) were used to transport the slaves on this route but as ship design advanced and competition and anti slavery naval patrols using steam powered craft increased, faster more manoeuvrable boats called Schooners (two masts with fore and aft sails) came into the slaving operation.

East Indiaman

These faster ships not only had a better chance of escaping naval patrols but reduced the time at sea, an attempt to reduce the death rate of the slaves being transported. When the British Navy boarded an empty, though suspect slaving boat, extra wood (for slave decks) and extra water barrels usually gave the game away! On the trans-Atlantic route more men than women were transported, the ratio being about two men for every woman. This reflected the need for manual labour in the developing economy of the Americas. The opposite was true of the Arab slave routes.

Schooner

The Arab slave route

Over the centuries there were more slaves traded by the Arabs though the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea than by Europeans on the trans-Atlantic route. In the Indian Ocean the main sailing craft are Dhows, their normal cargoes being such things as dates, salt, fish, carpets, pots, tiles, bricks, timber etc. There are several types of Dhow, the smaller single masted Lamu Dhow commonly used for coastal work while the bigger ones like the two masted Booms being used for longer deep water trips Because of their sail arrangements (triangular lateen sails) all dhows are limited in their sailing abilities and sailing clockwise around the Indian Ocean with the monsoon winds was an ‘easy’ option. Slaves were picked up along the east coast of Africa at places like Zanzibar and Mombassa and indeed the Sheikh of Mombassa is thought to have owned a slave pen south of the port at Msabweni. At Mombassa slaves were embarked onto dhows at the Old Harbour from the Leven Steps, commonly called ‘the old slave steps’. While most of these slaves had been marched from the interior of the continent to the coast some had been obtained when dhows raided vulnerable coastal communities. One such community at Kisauni north of Mombassa had a bell, set up by a Rev. Downes Shaw, to warn off raiding dhows at night as its ringing indicated someone was awake in the village.

Once on board the slaves were taken below decks to start their journey in unsanitary, crowded and stifling condition north to the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf as well eastward to India from where they could be taken further inland to China. On this slaving route there were more women than men (the reverse of the trans-Atlantic trade) as there was a requirement of female slaves as servants and concubines. Although the British had a presence in East Africa the slave trade was so established it was difficult to control and the dhows were never much bothered by the British Navy as, because of the lack of dock yard facilities, the navy had very few fast steam boats in the area. This is perhaps one reason that the Arab slave trade never came under the same scrutiny and went on longer than the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

The Barbary corsairs

Although these ‘pirates’ where not specifically slave traders they were greatly feared. From the 1530s to the 1780s they operated from North Africa (Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli) raiding on both sea and land in the Mediterranean, along the Portuguese, Spanish and French coasts to England and Ireland and even as far as Iceland. In 1635 they even set up a raiding base on Ludy Island off North Devon and on June 20th 1631 they raided Baltimore in southern Ireland enslaving nearly the whole village. Indeed over the years several thousand Europeans were taken by the Barbary corsairs to sold as slaves in North Africa. They might be considered opportunistic slavers in that if there were people to be enslaved during their raids, be it on land or sea, they enslaved them, taking them back to North Africa to sell. They used boats called Xebecs which early on in this boats development had oars as well as sails but by the 17th century they had done away with the oars to become full sailing boats . Because of their narrowness and sail arrangement (part lateen sail, part square sail and with a mizzen sail) were fast and manoeuvrable, a great advantage when raiding. If attacked by the Barbary corsairs at sea many victims preferred a watery escape as opposed to their cruel enslavement!

Slavery today

It is said that in the Ahagger, a mountainous region in the central Sahara, the Tuareg tribe still practice slavery though such remote areas are much less likely to come under the scrutiny of the outside world which would perhaps condemn the practice. Because of our concepts and preoccupation with the trans-Atlantic Africa slave trade modern slavery tends not to be recognised although it has been estimated that 12 million people are currently enslaved. Modern slavery takes many recognised forms and is exemplified by practices such as child soldiers, bonded and forced labour, clothing ‘sweat shops’ and nearer to home in Europe the trafficking of people, particularly women, some very young, for the sex trade. South East Asia is particularly renowned for this practice. While the whole sale movement of slaves by sea seems to have disappeared there is still evidence within many continents of the subjugation of one people by another bordering on, if not actual, slavery.

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