Chapter Four: Olaudah Equiano: Astonishment and Terror

Chapter four is the first chance Rediker gives his readers to follow one person, stretched out over one chapter, and their journey on the Middle Passage. This specific chapter is based on Olaudah Equiano, who was seized from his home in Igbo (present day Nigeria) at age eleven. Equiano and his sister were forced to work at the home of their captors. His captors later pulled him and his sister apart and they were both sold many times. Six or seven months after being captured he had arrived at the sea coast and likely the slave trading port of Bonny. He was placed aboard one ship and described an instant distinction of terror. "Whites looked and acted as I thought in so savage a manner; for I have never seen among any people such instances of brutal cruelty." At this point the reader feels for all of the enslaved aboard as Rediker inserts a passage from Equiano's narrative which goes into conditions of the ship. "Everyone was confined together belowdecks, the apartments were so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself. The enslaved were spooned together in close quarters, each with about as much room as a corpse in a coffin. The stench became absolutely pestilential as the sweat, the vomit, the blood, and the necessary tubs full of excitement almost suffocated us" I thought this chapter was very intriguing because it focused on one person's experience. What made Olaudah Equiano different from other the enslaved aboard slave ships, was what he did with himself after he landed in Virginia. The book mentions Equiano, "learned all he could from the sailors about how the ship worked." This later became his own path to liberation. He went on to work as a sailor, and buy his freedom at age twenty four. Equiano was also the first person to write about the slave ship from the perspective of the enslaved. Therefore, I believe the Rediker chose his focus of this chapter wisely. The reader is really able to get a feel for life as a slave before, during, and after the Middle Passage.

Chapter Three: African Paths To The Middle Passage

Chapter three gives the reader background information to why the slaves involved in the slave trade came from where they did. This chapter was very interesting to me, because it explained the underlying causes of the trade and why it unfolded the way it did. However, the chapter is extremely disheartening as well. Redicker mentions that enslavement began in the interior of Africa, and most people who ended up on slave shops were enslaved by force, in capture or through judicial punishments as a sentence of crime committed. I find this very ironic due to the fact that slavery was later seen as crime. Redicker goes on to say that slavery was an ancient and widely accepted institution throughout larger societies of Africa. These slaves were traded in highly commercial markets because slave-ship captains wanted to deal with ruling groups and strong leaders, people who could command labor resources and deliver the “goods” and partly because wealth and powerful technologies accrued to these people during the course of trade. This explanation, in my opinion, is helpful in understanding the slave trade and why captains chose to trade with certain parts of Africa over others. The last bits of the chapter are focused on different regions of Africa and their culture and geography and how that affected the slaves within the trade. It also talks about the spread of culture, for example the spread of Islam, as a result of the trade. The very last thing Redicker talks about in chapter three is how Africans and African-Americans had come to express the “wrenching” departure of slaves through the symbol of the “door of no return”. Captives would have no choice but to live in struggle, a never-ending fight to survive. 

Chapter Two: The Evolution Of The Slave Ship

Chapter two is centered around how the slave ships were made and organized for the Slave Trade. The importance of the ships, not only to the Slave Trade but to mankind, is strongly emphasized in this chapter. Rediker describes the machine as "one of the most useful ever invented". Ships were important because they helped connect the globe and were the historic vessel for the emergence of capitalism. The author goes into the origins of the slave ship, which dates back to the late fifteenth century, when the Portuguese made their historic voyages to the west coast of Africa, where they bought gold, ivory, and human beings. The ships could be made as expensive or as cheap as the buyer wanted. It was a way for people to display their wealth to others. Although, the ships were a display of wealth they also served a purpose, and were made to efficiently carry slaves from one place to another. The ships were also organized in a way to make sure everything ran as smooth as possible, attempting to keep the majority of slaves alive and healthy. The organization of labor on the slave ship began with the captain, the first person hired and the last to be discharged by the shipowner at the voyage's end. Most slave ships had two mates as well, because the threat of mortality required that several people be on board who knew navigation. There was always a doctor on board to keep the crew and the slaves alive from one side of the Atlantic to the other. The carpenter was responsible for the structural soundness of the ship and its various parts. Lastly, the landsmen on board were in charge of guarding the slaves. This chapter also describes how the ships were set up in order to hold large amounts of slaves. The building of these ships were strategic as it was all about carrying as many slaves as possible while keeping as many of them alive.

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Chapter One: Life, Death, and Terror in the Slave Trade

Marcus Rediker begins "The Slave Ship" with various short stories centered around the people involved in the Slave Trade during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. I got a great feel for what life was like aboard the ships and the dangers faced after I read the first chapter. Many of the stories' subjects are the slaves that were unjustly taken from their homes and traded throughout North America and the Caribbean. The terrors of their time aboard are exemplified through Rediker's writing. He explains in multiple stories that if a slave passed away in mid journey they were thrown overboard as a feast for the sharks. This method was also used as show for other slaves in attempt to evoke fear and keep them obedient to the captain's orders. However, the novel is not just focused on the slaves, it also gives the reader the ships captains' points of view. One captain describes his career choice as one that allows for opportunity. He ran the boat not because he was pro-slavery per say but because it was an opportunity to make money, and the harsh tactics put in place for the passengers aboard were methods to keep passengers subordinate to those who were running the ships. This first chapter is broad but a well developed intro to the rest of the novel.