The Slave Trade
Page 116
APPENDIX TWO
The Trial of Pedro José de Zulueta in London for Trading in Slaves
PEDRO JOSÉ DE ZULUETA, son of a successful London merchant, a first cousin (and frequent partner) of the planter and slave merchant Julián Zulueta in Cuba, and an associate of the slave trader Pedro Blanco, was in 1841 charged in London with trading slaves. The accusation was that the previous year he had fitted out and used a ship, the Augusta, for the purpose of trading in slaves. He was tried with Thomas Jennings, who had captained the ship, when it was detained off the notorious river Gallinas, in what is now Liberia. The cargo shipped seemed suspicious—29 hogsheads of tobacco, 60 cases of arms, 1 case of looking glasses, 10 casks of copperware, 134 bales of unidentified merchandise (probably cloths), 1,600 iron pots, and 2,370 kegs of gunpowder—just the sort of cargo used in the slave trade. The prosecution established that the Augusta had in 1839 been known as the Gollupchick, and was sailing under a Russian flag, with Thomas Bernardos as the captain, commanding a crew that was mostly Spanish. Detained by a British naval officer, Captain Hill, the court in Sierra Leone declared that they could not act against a Russian ship—though there was plainly slave equipment aboard; in the judgment of Captain Hill, there were “more water casks than are necessary for an ordinary trading vessel . . . a caboose [kitchen] to hold a very large copper, gratings covered with temporary planks. . . .”
The ship was then sold to Zulueta and Co., at Portsmouth, for £650 and, according to the prosecution, dispatched as the Augusta to the river Gallinas, as part of an arrangement with the well-known firm of merchants of Cádiz and Havana, Pedro Martínez. The agreement was that payment should be made by the firm of Pedro Blanco with his associate Carballo, dealing from Cádiz, in Havana. There was no written specification that the ship was to take on slaves on the river Gallinas but, the prosecution argued, it could have no other purpose than that in that place: the only buildings there were slave barracoons.
The Augusta picked up part of her cargo at Liverpool and part of it at Cádiz. She was detained again by Captain Hill on the high seas off the river Gallinas; he was surprised to see his old prize, the Gollupchick, back on the West African coast in new colors.
The weakness of the prosecution’s case was that there was no sign of “slave equipment” by Canning’s definition on the Augusta when she was detained under that name. But Captain Hill testified that any ship could be turned into a slave ship in a short time. Numerous witnesses were called to prove that the river Gallinas had no other business than slaves so that, if the Augusta were bound for there, the purpose must have been the slave trade. But did Zulueta know that? The prosecution could not prove that he did; and the jury returned a verdict of not guilty.
In the light of the realization that, on the one hand, there was no trade other than the slave trade on the Gallinas and, on the other, that both Pedro Blanco and Pedro Martínez were major slave merchants (the former was called the largest slave trader in the world by Judge H. W. Macaulay), the verdict must seem rather generous. Zulueta formally told a House of Lords select committee that neither he, his father, nor his grandfather had ever had “any kind of interest of any sort, or derived any emolument or connexion from the slave trade”; and he was believed. Yet Pedro Blanco usually had all his bills in London drawn on Zulueta and Co.; and later evidence (not found in time for the trial) showed that the cargo of the Augusta was destined for three well-known slave merchants on the river: José Pérez Rola, Angel Ximénez, and José Alvarez.
APPENDIX THREE
Estimated StatisticsI
I. CARRIERS
COUNTRY
VOYAGES
SLAVES TRANSPORTED
Portugal (including Brazil)
30,000
4,650,000
Spain (including Cuba)
4,000
1,600,000
France (including West Indies)
4,200
1,250,000
Holland
2,000
500,000
Britain
12,000
2,600,000
British North America, U.S.
1,500
300,000
Denmark
250
50,000
Other
250
50,000
TOTAL
54,200
11,000,000
II. SLAVES DELIVERED TO
Brazil
4,000,000
Spanish empire (including Cuba)
2,500,000
British West Indies
2,000,000
French West Indies (including Cayenne)
1,600,000
British North America & U.S.
500,000
Dutch West Indies (including Surinam)
500,000
Danish West Indies
28,000
Europe (including Portugal, Canary Islands, Madeira, Azores, etc.)
200,000
TOTAL
11,328,000
III. ORIGINS
Senegambia (in Arguin), Sierra Leone
2,000,000
Windward Coast
250,000
Ivory Coast
250,000
Gold Coast (Ashanti)
1,500,000
Slave Coast (Dahomey, Adra, Oyo)
2,000,000
Benin to Calabar
2,000,000
Cameroons/Gabon
250,000
Loango
750,000
Congo/Angola
3,000,000
Mozambique/Madagascar
1,000,000
TOTAL LEAVING AFRICAN PORTS
13,000,000
IV. LABOR
(First employment in the Americas)
Sugar plantations
6,000,000
Coffee plantations
2,000,000
Mines
1,000,000
Domestic labor
1,000,000
Cotton fields
500,000
Cocoa fields
250,000
Building
250,000
TOTAL
11,000,000
* * *
I For sources see Notes.
APPENDIX FOUR
Selected Prices of Slaves 1440-1870
THESE PRICES ARE mere indications. In general, prices rose slowly throughout the period of the trade but, at the end of the eighteenth century, the price of slaves in Africa was rather too close to that in the Americas for the comfort of the slave traders. In the nineteenth century, prices rose in the Americas (Cuba, Brazil) and fell in Africa, so some great fortunes were made.
1440s: in Senegambia, one horse for 25 or 30 slaves
1500:12 to 15 manillas on the coast of Guinea
1500-1510: average price in Seville, 20 ducats
1500-1510: in Senegambia, 8, 7, or 6 slaves exchanged for a horse, or 20 to 25 manillas in Benin
1504: Lisbon price 5,300 réis (hereinafter rs.)
1550: 80-90 ducats
1552: Lisbon price as high as 50,000 rs.
1556: in America, 100 ducados fixed by cédula in Caribbean, 110 on northern coast of South America and most of Central America, 120 in New Spain and Nicaragua, 140 in New Granada, 150 in Peru and the river Plate, and 180 in Chile
1593: average price 20,000-30,000 rs.
1594-95: price reaches average of 75-80 pesos per Angolan slave
1595: average for ladino slave in Lima is 727 pesos, because of extra transport costs
1612: in Brazil, prime slaves from Angola sold at 28,000 reals each
1615: a male slave with much sugar experience is sold in Mexico for 800 pesos
1620: 270-315 pesos for a Guinea slave, 200 for an Angolan
1650 or so: one slave valued at 10 cabess (40,000 cowries)
1654: Dutch charging 2,000 pounds of sugar per slave
1657: in Brazil, a pieza sold at 22,0
00 reals, various others at lower prices, down to 12,000
1657: Spaniards offering the Dutch to pay 200 reals (pieces of eight) per slave plus heavy taxes—113 pieces of eight
1698: in Madagascar, slaves can be bought for 10 shillings in English goods; in Guinea, price rising from £3 to £4 Late 17th century: prices in Lima never below 600 pesos de plata
1700: Grazilier on the Albion buys 2,900 slaves at 24 and 26 bars a man, but a year later the price falls to 12 bars a man and 9 for a woman at Calabar
1700: £44 for a man, £23 for a boy, £16 for a girl in Barbados
1700-1704: slaves imported into Barbados vary between £23 and £16 a head
1700-1750: slave prices in Virginia £28-£35
1702: André Brüe reported that one might buy slaves from natives south of Gambia River for 10-15 bars a head, and from the Portuguese for 30
1750: cost of slave is 500 livres in Africa
1750-1800: slave prices in Virginia perhaps averaged £40
1750s: £12.80 at mouth of the Gambia
1753: Gold Coast slaves cost £16 each, Windward Coast ones £12-£14; in the West Indies, the cost was £35
1800: in Cuba, slaves at $90, according to Humboldt
1801-10: price per slave in Senegambia is £29.28
1802: prices at Buenos Aires, 300 pesos if slave came direct
1807: slaves from Costa da Mina sell at Bahia at $100 each, as opposed to $80 for the less favored slaves from Angola
1810: new slaves in Brazil each $150 to $200
1811-15: “the price of a good slave” in Bahia is 150,000 reis (£45 sterling), according to the British consul in Bahia, Lindemann, who also estimated slaves cost £130-£150 sterling in Chile
1848: slaves in Brazil selling at 400 m or £45-£50
1850: slaves at $360 in the U.S.
1850s: Saint-Louis, Sénégal, prices at £28
1851: prices of slaves in Mozambique about $3-$5; in Pongas, about $12; in Luanda about $14-$16
1852: slaves in Cuba at £75
1859: Cuban slaves at $700, old slaves and young ones at $300; slaves sold in the U.S. after the Wanderer affair at $1,151 for a girl of ten, $1,705 for a girl with a child, and $500 for an old man
1860: slaves at $500 in the U.S.
1864: slaves in Cuba at $1,250-$1,500
APPENDIX FIVE
The Voyage of the Enterprize
I HAVE SELECTED this voyage as being one for which the papers are complete, the profits considerable, the family of the owner (that of Thomas Leyland) interesting, and there are heirs.
The voyage to Bonny (modern Nigeria) and then to Havana, of the Liverpool ship Enterprize, captain Cesar Lawson, owned by Thomas Leyland, in 1803.
I. LETTER OF INSTRUCTION TO CESAR LAWSON
Liverpool July 18, 1803
Sir,
Our ship, Enterprize, to the command of which you are appointed, being now ready for sea, you are immediately to proceed to in her and make the best of your way to Bonny on the coast of Africa. You will receive herewith an invoice of the cargo on board her which you are to barter for prime negroes, ivory and palm oil. By law this vessel is allowed to carry 400 negroes and we request that they may be all males if it is possible to get them anyway buy as few females in your power, because we look to a Spanish market for the disposal of your cargo, where females are a very tedious sale. In the choice of the Negroes, be very particular, select those that are well formed and strong; and do not buy any above 24 years of age, as it may happen that you will have to go to Jamaica, where you know any exceeding that age would be liable to a Duty of £10 per head. While the slaves are on board the ship, allow them every indulgence consistent with your own safety, and do not suffer any of your officers or crew to abuse or insult them in any respect. Perhaps you may be able to procure some Palm Oil on reasonable terms, which is likely to bear a great price here, we therefore wish you to purchase as much as you can with any spare cargo that you may have. We have taken out letters of marque against the French and Batavian republic, and if you are fortunate enough as to fall in with and capture any of their vessels, send the same to this port, under the care of an active prize master, and a sufficient number of men out of your ship; and also put a copy of commission on board her, but do not molest any neutral ship, as it would involve us in expensive lawsuits and subject us to heavy damages. A considerable part of our property under your care will not be insured and we earnestly desire you to look out to avoid the Enemy’s cruisers, which are numerous and you may hourly expect to be attacked by some of them. We request you will keep strict and regular discipline on board the ship; do not suffer any drunkenness among any of your officers or crew, for it is sure to be attended with some misfortune, such as insurrection, mutiny, or fire. Allow to the ship’s company their regular portion of provisions etc., and take every care of such as may get sick. You must keep the ship very clean and see that no part of her stores are embezzled, neglected or idly wasted. As soon as you have finished your trade and laid in a sufficient quantity of yams, wood, water, and every other necessary for the middle passage, proceed with a press of sail for Barbadoes and on your arrival there call on Messrs Barton, Higginson and Co., with whom you will find letters from us by which you are to be governed in prosecuting the remainder of the voyage. Do not fail to write to us by every opportunity and always enclose a copy of your preceding letter.
You are to receive from the House in the West Indies, who may sell your cargo, your coast commission of £2 in £102 on the gross sales, and when this sum with your Chief Mate’s privilege and your Surgeon’s privilege, gratuity and head money are deducted, you are then to draw your commission of £4 in £104 on the remaining account. Your chief mate, Mr James Cowill, is to receive two slaves on an average with the cargo, less the island and any other duty which may be due or payable thereon at the place where you may sell your cargo; and your surgeon Mr Gilb’t Sinclair is to receive two slaves on an average with the cargo less the duty before-mentioned, and one shilling s’tg head money on every slave sold. And in consideration of the aforementioned emoluments, neither you nor your crew, nor any of them, are directly or indirectly to carry on any private trade on your or their accounts under a forfeiture to us of the whole of your commissions arising on this voyage. In case of your death, your chief mate, Mr Cowill, is to succeed to the command of the ship, and diligently follow these and all our further orders. Any prize that you may capture, direct the prize master to hoist a white flag at the fore and one on the main top gallant mast-heads, on his approach to this port, which will be answered by a signal at the light house.
We hope you will have a happy and prosperous voyage and remain your obedient servants
THOMAS LEYLAND, 1/2 share
R. BULLIN, 1/4 share
THOMAS MOLYNEUX, 1/4 share
P.S. Should you capture any vessel from the Eastward of cape Good Hope, send her to Falmouth and there wait for our orders. In case of your capturing a Guineaman with slaves on board, send her to Messrs Bogle, Jopp and Co., of Kingston, Jamaica.
I acknowledge to have received from Messrs Thomas Leyland and Co the orders of which the aforegoing is a true copy, and I engage to execute them as well as all their further orders, the dangers of the sea only excepted, as witness my hand this 18 July 1803.
CESAR LAWSON
II. REPORT
Sailed from Liverpool 20 July 1803
August 26 detained the Spanish brig St Augustin. . . .
September 10, recaptured the John, of Liverpool . . . with 261 slaves on board. . . .
September 23 The Enterprize arrived at Bonny, and sailed from thence on December 6th. . . .
(In January 1804, the Enterprize arrived at Havana and there sold 392 slaves.
On March 28, she sailed from Havana and arrived at Liverpool on April 26, 1804.)
III. OUTFITTING OF THE SHIP
The outfitting cost £8,018 9s 7d, of which the most important items were the cost of the ship (£2,100 0s 0d),
and the carpenter’s fees (£1,340 9s 11d). Advance on wages to the ship’s company, which numbered 65, including the captain, was £727 14s 0d.
IV. CARGO
The cargo loaded cost £9,050 8s 8d, of which the most important item was India goods (£3,197 0s 8d). Other important items were powder and neptunes (£942 19s 3d), callicoes and bandanas (£918 14s 0d), brandy (£620 0s 0d), arms (£484 14s 6d), Manchester goods (£446 17s 0d), beads (£414 11s 4d), and iron (£357 17s 0d). There were also articles of cooperage, manillas, ironmongers goods, lead bars and shot, split beans, red ells, earthenware, wine (from Thomas Leyland and Co.), worsted caps, hats, chairs, sticks and umbrellas, and, very low on the list (£22 13s 6d), medicine.
Kings and Princes of the Slave Trade