The Forgotten Trade: Comprising the Log of the "Daniel and Henry" of 1700 and Accounts of the Slave Trade from the Minor Ports of England, 1698-1725 - Hardcover

Tattersfield, Nigel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0224029150 ISBN 13: 9780224029155

Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd, 1991

Synopsis

The chance discovery of the log of a slave ship - the "Daniel and Henry" which set sail from Dartmouth in 1700, bound for the Guinea Coast - prompted Nigel Tattersfield to make this investigation into an episode in England's provincial maritime history. After an Act of Parliament in 1698 released monopoly on trading in West Africa, respectable burghers in a dozen small provincial ports seized their chance of quick rewards from human souls. This book provides an insight into the world of these merchants who knew nothing of trading in Africa, nor of the unscrupulous tribal chiefs who readily offered men, women and children in hard bargaining for beads, alcohol, weapons and gunpowder. After months at sea, what remained alive of the human cargo, stacked in chains on platforms in sweltering heat below deck, was delivered into the hands of rich plantation owners in the West Indies and North America in exchange for sugar, cotton, rice or tobacco. The author draws on long-forgotten documents to chart how the ports of Deal, Lyme Regis, Exeter, Falmouth, Whitehaven, among others, fared both economically and morally in the frantic early years of slaving when so much was won and lost.

About this title

Review:

"A great amount of detail,...the material is still fascinating and shows how easily men can numb their consciences when profit calls." (Irish Times)

Book Description:

The discovery of the log of a slave ship on a stall in London's Farringdon Road prompted Nigel Tattersfield to make this unique investigation into a little-known quarter of England's provincial maritime history - the frantic early years of slave trading when so much was lost and won.

About this edition

• Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0224029150
• ISBN 13: 9780224029155
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 460