Section 3 "Crossing the River" Summary

The title section of Caryl Phillips novel of the black diaspora is a truncated journal, written in the manner of a ship's log. It chronicles the journey of the Duke of York, which sets out from Liverpool on August 24, 1752, bound for the coast of Africa to take on a load of slaves for transportation to America. James Hamilton is the master of the Duke of York and the keeper of the ship's log. The only relief from the terse language of the ship's log are two letters Hamilton pens to his newlywed wife in England, which provide a stark contrast between the brutality of the slave trade and the genteel personal life of an English merchant and trader.

The log begins with a list of the twenty-eight members of the York's crew when they weighed...