Carlisle Bay and Bridgetown, Barbadoes
John A. Waller, a surgeon in the British Navy, lived in Barbados for a year in 1807-08, but it is not known if this scene is based on his sketches. Carlisle Bay was the island's major port. Of the scene he witnessed when he first arrived in April, 1807, Waller wrote "the bay was covered with boats, conveying backwards and forwards the merchants of the place, rowed by their slaves. . . A number of slave ships too, just arrived, were lying close to us, whose owners were taking all possible advantage of the last weeks of their expiring commerce [Britain was to abolish the slave trade in 1807]. The poor wretches were going on-shore by hundreds from the slave-ships, in large barges, for the purpose of being exposed to sale. Barbados had no deep water harbor and ocean going vessels had to transfer their cargoes (human and non-human) to barges or lighters" (p. 3).
Image Title
Carlisle Bay and Bridgetown, Barbadoes
RegID
SI-OB-803
Date
1807
Title
Carlisle Bay and Bridgetown, Barbadoes
Source
John A. Waller, A Voyage in the West Indies (London, 1820), facing p. 3.
Language
English
Item sets
Slave Ships & the Atlantic Crossing (Middle Passage)
Spatial Coverage
Caribbean--Barbados
Reproduced In
John A. Waller, A Voyage in the West Indies (London, 1820), facing p. 3.
Researchers
Jerome Handler; Michael Tuite; Henry B. Lovejoy Graduate Research Assistants: Tiffany Beebe; Travis May
Last Updated
18-Jun-16
Identifier
H010