Africans Escaped from Slave Ship, 19th cent.

Caption: Left to Die. Included in a lengthy chapter on the slave trade, this scene illustrates an incident from a novel wherein an illegal slaving vessel was consumed by fire before it could be boarded by British sailors who intended to liberate the slaves. The fire spread rapidly and many of the slaves drowned; others were swept into the sea and ultimately made it to the shore (pp. 443-44). Although this illustration is sometimes reproduced in secondary sources on slavery which erroneously give the impression it is based on an eye-witness drawing, the illustration is the late nineteenth century artist's imaginative rendering and is a complete fabrication.

Image Title

Africans Escaped from Slave Ship, 19th cent.

RegID

SI-OB-783

Title

Africans Escaped from Slave Ship, 19th cent.

Source

Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch, ed., The Story of the Sea (London, 1895-96), vol. 2, p. 444

Language

English

Item sets

Slave Ships & the Atlantic Crossing (Middle Passage)

Spatial Coverage

Atlantic

Reproduced In

Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch, ed., The Story of the Sea (London, 1895-96), vol. 2, p. 444

Researchers

Handler, Jerome; Tuite, Michael; Randall Ericson; Henry B. Lovejoy Graduate Research Assistants: Tiffany Beebe; Travis May

Last Updated

13-Nov-13

Identifier

mariners08