Voyage of Midnight (28 page)

Another event in my novel was based on facts. Sir Henry Huntley, in his book
Seven Years’ Service on the Slave Coast of Western Africa
, describes two warships chasing two slavers up the Bonny River and into a forked tributary, where the warships split up, separated by a foliage-covered sand spit. During the chase, the slavers frantically loaded the slaves into canoes and took them ashore, and, when the warships came too close, began tossing the slaves overboard, still shackled in pairs. The slaving ships were eventually captured, but not before one-third of the five hundred slaves had drowned or been devoured by sharks and crocodiles.
ⁱⁱ

Herman Melville, author of
Moby-Dick
, said, “Sharks … are the invariable outriders of all slave ships crossing the Atlantic, systematically trotting alongside, to be handy in case a parcel needs to be carried anywhere, or a dead slave to be decently buried.…”
ⁱⁱⁱ
And, as in the river chase described above, eyewitness accounts of shark attacks in freshwater abound. Sharks literally
waited
alongside slaving ships.
While at the time it was not noted (at least not to this author’s knowledge) what species of shark was responsible, in all likelihood it was the bull shark
(Carcharhinus leucas)
. Bull sharks have been found in freshwater as far as 2,500 miles inland, and can also live in saltwater.
^iv
They can grow up to 11 feet in length and weigh 500 pounds.
^v
Bull sharks have a wide distribution around the world’s waterways, including the Bonny River. Shark experts believe that the majority of shark attacks worldwide today are by bull sharks. Not only are they extremely aggressive, but they lurk in shallow freshwater, where people least expect them.

Because of the willingness of callous slavers to fling slaves overboard just to avoid prosecution, in 1841 the law in the United States was changed so that slavers could be prosecuted solely upon evidence of slaving
activity
, such as the presence of shackles or handcuffs, huge cooking kettles or boilers, spare planks used to build tiers in the hold, an overabundance of food and water stores, and so on.
^vi
Convictions of slave traders greatly increased with the enactment of this new law, and the practice of tossing slaves overboard ended.

Public sentiment in the United States in the early part of the nineteenth century was, generally speaking, supportive of slavery, although anti-slavery feelings were gaining momentum. Simply put, slavery was big business, profited many people, and was foundational to the American economy.
^vii
When Britain passed a law prohibiting the slave trade in 1807, the U.S. government was far more interested in protecting its own economic interests and the interests of its well-to-do citizens. Due to pressure from Britain, however, the United States reluctantly passed a similar law in 1808. Yet the United States did little to enforce the new law, at times providing no more than a token force to patrol the coast of Africa, at other times having no force at all. The War of 1812 further distanced American interests from those of Britain, the United States seeking autonomy at sea regardless of whether or not a vessel was suspected of engaging in illegal ventures. The additional U.S. law passed in 1820 equating slave trading with piracy and making it punishable by hanging was, once again, an empty gesture. The death penalty was enacted only once, in 1862, when anti-slavery sentiment was at a fever pitch and civil war was imminent.
^viii
Along with the Cuban slave trade, that of the United States was brisk up until the Civil
War, which ended slavery once and for all in the United States in 1865. The Cuban slave market was not closed until 1869.
^ix

In contrast to the U.S. government, the commanders of the American squadron, whose task it was to patrol the African coast, were zealous in their pursuit of slavers and in their desire to see justice served and the slaves liberated.
^x
And unlike their respective governments, the American and British squadrons often cooperated cordially in their efforts at capturing slavers.
^xi
Besides having to catch the slavers “red-handed” with slaves aboard, the difficulties of successful capture were compounded when slaving ships began carrying multiple sets of papers. One American captain reported in frustration, “We have made ten captures, [and] although they are evidently owned by Americans, they are so completely covered by Spanish papers that it is impossible to condemn them.… There are probably no less than 300 vessels on the coast engaged in the traffic, each having two or three sets of papers.”
^xii

There are literally hundreds of autobiographies and eyewitness accounts written by individuals—captains, cabin boys, surgeons, passengers—who were involved in the slave trade. Understandably, descriptions of the conditions aboard these vessels varied according to era, nationality, the vessel itself, the character and philosophy of the captain and its owners, and countless other factors. There were extremes at both ends—ships in which there was unspeakable brutality and suffering, and ships in which the slaves were allowed to roam freely and were given as many comforts as could be provided. The vast majority of narratives, however, reveal inhumane conditions as the norm. Conditions deteriorated even further once slaving became an act of smuggling. Government regulations that had previously protected slaves against overcrowding and under-provisioning were gone. Captains crammed the holds with as many slaves as they could, to make up for the losses caused by the inevitable seizures.
^xiii

The human cost of the slave trade in terms of death and displacement is staggering. Records regarding how many slaves were exported from Africa between the years 1450 and 1850 are inaccurate, but estimates range from 10 million to 28 million persons, sold worldwide from the Americas to Asia.
^xiv
This figure swells grotesquely when one realizes that these are the numbers of slaves
who arrived at their destination
alive
. It is estimated that half of all slaves captured died during the march to the African coast and from their time spent in the baracoons. (One slave recounts that it took
seven months
to march to the coast.
^xv
) An additional quarter died during the Middle Passage.
^xvi
Despite the lack of exact numbers, it is clear that this was one of the most horrific holocausts ever perpetrated against a race of people.

Often, criticism has been aimed at the African tribes for their participation in the slave trade. While greed and power no doubt played a role for many of the indigenous participants at that time, it is important to remember that for most the choice was stark: take or be taken. In other words, they could participate in the slave trade as equal partners with the slave traders, or they could themselves—their families and the inhabitants of their villages—be captured and sold as slaves. Few of us today are forced to make such dehumanizing decisions. The slave traders, however, faced no such stark reality, motivated instead by enormous profits, thinly veiled as “God’s will.” Eventually, some of the native nations and rulers adopted Western attitudes. One chief, when told in 1807 of Britain’s new law forbidding the slave trade, said, “We think that this trade must go on. That is the verdict of our oracle and the priests. They say that your country, however great, can never stop a trade ordained by God himself.”
^xvii
Tribal warfare further aided the slave traders because there was lacking a concerted, massive opposition.

During the illegal era, the delta of the Niger River, including the Bonny and Calabar rivers, was a frequent rendezvous of the slavers. Large numbers of slaves, mostly from the Ibo tribe, were exported from this region. It was estimated that out of the 20,000 slaves that were exported from the Bonny River in 1822 alone, 16,000 were Ibo tribespeople, the tribe of Oji, Ikoro, and most of the slaves in
Voyage of Midnight
. Yet despite the forced exodus of the Ibo people, today they inhabit a large portion of the Niger River delta in Nigeria.
^xviii

Whether we are white, black, in-between, or of another ethnic group, it is vital that we remember and seek to understand this legacy of our collective history. It is a legacy of unimaginable suffering and murder, and it is likewise a legacy of privilege extracted from that very suffering. Together we must see into a future in which all are honored, in which our differences are embraced like
different textures and colors of the same fabric. And together we must covenant to never let this happen again.

I dream of a day when every child has a home and food and fresh water, when every child is beloved, when every child has a sense of worth, of oneness and equality with all of humanity.

In such dreams, peace is born.

GLOSSARY
        of
   S
EA
T
ERMS
      

aft
—toward the stern of a vessel.

America’s Second War of Independence
—War of 1812.

amidships
—in the center of a ship.

apothecary
—a pharmacist or druggist; also a pharmacy or drugstore.

atoll
—a ring-shaped coral reef or a string of closely spaced small coral islands.

banquette
—Coastal Louisiana word for a sidewalk, especially a raised one of bricks or planks.

bar
—a hidden or partially submerged bank of land or sand.

barracoon
—a building or enclosure used for keeping slaves in confinement.

batten
—to make something secure, such as battening down in preparation for foul weather.

beaver hat
—a hat commonly made of felt, silk, or even beaver fur. They were similar to top hats and were fashionable for over two hundred years.