Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1902-04-23
SLAVE CARRIERS.
...,nau Being Fared Worse than Cat
HUM" tie ia Old ships.

lfruW o"'f
Every one knows how wearisome II Is to
90 ,or any great length OF time in one
us -, sven on a well-msde bed. We
-, needs turn over when We sse awak-
"a On the night. But the slaves were
s nes.od down naked on the planks OF the
eD and shelves pianks that were
inst as they came from the saw,
Ma cracks between them. No one
ia turn from side to side 10 rest the
e gu body. They must lie there on their
sscts for eighteen hours at stretch, even
- nleasant weather In pors.
u.rd as that fate was, new fortunes
80 added with the tirst jump of the ship
,he waves, For she must roll to the
..ssure Of the wind on the sails, so that
is.sa IN the weather side found their
s.sls higher than their heads, and when
-, .b,n,s angle increased under the
-, Of smart breeze, the unfortu-
-. sometimes ssgged down to leeward,
,ntil they were stopped by the irons
s,onnd ankle and wrist. They were liter
.rv suspended in their shackles.
Even that was not the worst OF their
.,ssrIugs that grew out OF the motion OF
The ship, for she was rarely steady when
sa.,ss BIZ the wind. She had to roll, and
=. she aid 20 the slaves sometimes slid to
.na ,ro. with naked bodies on the rough
and spIintery decks. There was never
sewage. even in the best Of ships, where
,hs slaves did not suffer tortures from
mere contact with the slave. deck.
TO the suTerings.. due to these causes
xsre added other torments, when the
xea,ber was stormy. For then II was
necessary to cover the matches lest the
waves that swept across the deck pour
down and ill the ship. The slaves were
confined In utter darkness, and the scant
Ventilation afforded by the hatchways was
.aut OF. Serious az that was, stiil worse
must be told. The negroes were made
Violently sessick more readily than white
People even-they sometimes died in their
eopyulsions. The heat and foul air
quickly brought on more serious illness,
but there the slaves were kept In their
chains for days at arstretch, wholly help
hess and wholly unattended.
In the larger ships the space between
the top Of the cargo and the under side OF
the deck was sometimes as much as Ave
feet. To devote all that space to air was,
in the mind OF the thrifty SLAYER, sheer
waste. So he built a shelf or gallery six
hold, between the deck and the slave floor
that was laid on top OF the cargo. On
this shelf was placed another layer OF
slaves, thus increasing the number carried
by nearly so per cent.
The crowding In the big ships, having
two decks regularly, was still worse, for 9
slave.deck was built clear across between
these two, and the galleries or shelves
were built both under and above the slave
deck. There were ships here four layers
Of slaves were placed thus between perma-
nent decks that were only eight feet apart,
and there are records OF cases where
smaller ships-ships having but three feet
or so OF space between cargo and deck
we're fitted with galleries, so that the
slaves stretched ON their backs had but a
foot or less OF air-spaee between their
faces and he deck or the next layer above
them.
To increase the number carried, when
stretched out on deck or shelf, the slaves
were sometimes placed on their sides,
breast to haok-''spoon fashion," as the
slasefs called it--and this made room for
considerable per cent. extra.
However, in the eighteenth century the
usual practice was to place them on their
backs, and to allow about two and hall
feet OF air-space above the faces OF the
slaves, and in this way cargoes OF over 800
were carried.