Slavery And The Slave Trade - 1453 Words

For this assignment, I have decided to write about slave ships. There is an extreme amount of sadness and cruelty that surrounds the slave trade. I am very passionate about this subject because I don’t think that slaves are given the proper recognition that they deserve. I don’t think people think about what it was like to actually be on one of these slave ships. I think it is important to keep the history of the slave trade alive since we will never fully know what life was really like on a slave ship and to honor those who died on the voyage and those who died once reaching their destination. The beginning of slave ships started with the Portuguese making voyages to the west coast of Africa in the fifteenth century. On these voyages the†¦show more content†¦Larger ships had a third or fourth mate, a few mates for the doctor, and a few more seamen and landsmen (Rediker, 2007, p.57). Compared to the number of slaves on the ship the crew was undermanned usually with only six to eighteen crew members, including the captain (Greene, 1944, p. 347). The captain was responsible for managing the navigation and everything related to the cargo, voyage, and sailors (Rediker, 2007, p. 57). He had the responsibility of hiring the crew members, he oversaw the loading of the original cargo, and he conducted all of the business of the voyage, such as the buying of slaves in Africa until their sale (Rediker, 2007, p. 57). There was a doctor present on slave ships as well. The doctor’s job was to make sure that the crew and slaves survived the voyage from one side of the At lantic to the other side (Rediker, 2007, p. 59). The doctor attended to slaves daily, tried to answer any complaints they had, diagnosed their illnesses, and even prescribed them medications that were in stock onboard (Rediker, 2007, p. 59). The doctor also treated the crew since any illnesses the slaves had could easily spread to the crew members. The doctor, however, also assisted in the purchase of slaves. He would carefully inspect each one for signs of illness or debility (Rediker, 2007, p. 59). Healthy Africans had a better chance of surviving the stay on the African coast and during