Equiano's Middle Passage: Quick Reference Notes3.4

Source Overview

  • Primary source: Olaudah Equiano's description of the Middle Passage, 17891789; published as The Interesting Narrative… (London: 17901790), pages 51−5451-54; Equiano later purchased his freedom and advocated abolition.

Conditions aboard the Slave Ship

  • Crowded, confined under deck; stench and heat made respiration difficult; air became pestilential.
  • Extreme closeness and heat caused copious perspiration; air unfit for respiration; many died.
  • Chains and fetters; filth of tubs; children often fell and were almost suffocated; women’s shrieks and the dying’s groans.
  • Equiano avoided fetters due to youth; kept mostly on deck.

Human Experience and Reactions

  • Envy of the freedom of those in the sea; desire to change condition; sense of cruelty by whites.
  • Hunger led to secret attempts to eat fish; punished with flogging.
  • Despair: at times some preferred death to the life of slavery.

Incidents of Resistance and Consequences

  • When hunger or misery peaked, some jumped overboard; two leapt first, another followed; crew alarmed and stopped the exit.
  • Drowning occurred; others were flogged for attempting suicide.
  • The ship’s crew suppressed attempts to escape; further hardships endured.

Observations and Cognitive Impressions

  • First sight of flying fish; astonishment at their behavior.
  • Learned to use the quadrant; initial confusion over its purpose; perceived land as distant or magical.
  • Sight of Barbadoes sparked joy among the whites on board.

Historical Context and Purpose

  • Source highlights the cruelty of the transatlantic slave trade from a personal, abolitionist perspective.
  • Used to illustrate the realities of the Middle Passage and to support abolition efforts.