Middle Passage

in the days of the African slave trade to the New World, the middle part of the slave's journey—i.e., the crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. From about 1518 to the mid-19th century, millions of African men, women, and children made the 21-to-90-day voyage aboard grossly overcrowded sailing ships manned by crews mostly from Great Britain, the Netherlands, Portugal, and France. Slaver captains anchored chiefly off the Guinea Coast for a month to a year to gather their cargoes of 150 to 600 persons. Then began a long period of continuous danger, with raids at port by hostile tribes, threats of slave mutiny, epidemics, attack by pirates or enemy ships, and bad weather. During the Middle Passage, male slaves were kept constantly shackled to each other or to the deck to prevent mutiny, of which 55 detailed accounts were recorded between 1699 and 1845.

So that the largest possible cargo might be carried, the captives were wedged horizontally, chained to low-lying platforms stacked in tiers, with an average individual space allotment of 6 feet by 16 inches wide (183 by 41 cm).

Unable to stand erect or turn over, many slaves died in this position. If bad weather or equatorial calms prolonged the journey, the twice-daily ration of water plus either boiled rice, millet, cornmeal, or stewed yams was greatly reduced, resulting in near starvation and attendant illnesses. In the daytime, weather permitting, captives were brought on deck for exercise or for “dancing the slaves” (forced jumping up and down). At this time, conscientious captains insisted that the sleeping quarters be scraped and swabbed by the crew; but in bad weather the oppressive heat and noxious fumes in the unventilated and unsanitary holds caused fevers and dysentery, with a high mortality rate. Deaths during the Middle Passage, caused by epidemics, suicide, “fixed melancholy,” and mutiny, have been estimated at 13 percent. So many bodies of dead or dying Africans were jettisoned into the ocean that sharks regularly followed the slave ships on their westward journey.

The Middle Passage supplied the New World with its major work force and brought enormous profits to international slave traders. At the same time, it exacted a terrible price in physical and emotional anguish on the part of the uprooted Africans; it was distinguished by the callousness to human suffering it developed among the traders.