A slaving voyage to Africa and Jamaica : the log of the Sandown, 1793-1794

"Of the hundreds of logbooks and journals I have examined, this is the most valuable for the slave trade in western Africa.... [Mouser's] exhaustive background research and editing are exemplary." -- George BrooksCaptain Samuel Gamble's log contains the record of a slaving venture to Africa and Jamaica that nearly failed. It is one of the best firsthand narratives of the slave trade to survive. Bruce Mouser's faithfully transcribed and carefully annotated edition of Gamble's log provides a haunting perspective on slave trading at the end of the 18th century. Gamble was captain of the British merchant Sandown. During 1793--1794, the ship embarked on a commercial venture from England to Upper Guinea in West Africa to buy slaves and transport them for sale in Kingston, Jamaica. Gamble describes shipping at the beginning of the Anglo-French war in 1793, naval and nautical procedures for the English-African-West Indian trade, and the slave-trading patterns and institutions on the African coast and at Kingston, Jamaica. He recounts as well a yellow fever epidemic that swept the Atlantic and crippled commerce on both sides of the ocean. Mouser's extensive annotations place Gamble's account in historical context and explain for the reader Gamble's observations on commerce, disease, and African peoples along the Upper Guinea coast.

"Of the hundreds of logbooks and journals I have examined, this is the most valuable for the slave trade in western Africa.... [Mouser’s] exhaustive background research and editing are exemplary." —George Brooks

Captain Samuel Gamble’s log contains the record of a slaving venture to Africa and Jamaica that nearly failed. It is one of the best firsthand narratives of the slave trade to survive. Bruce Mouser’s faithfully transcribed and carefully annotated edition of Gamble’s log provides a haunting perspective on slave trading at the end of the 18th century. Gamble was captain of the British merchant Sandown. During 1793–1794, the ship embarked on a commercial venture from England to Upper Guinea in West Africa to buy slaves and transport them for sale in Kingston, Jamaica. Gamble describes shipping at the beginning of the Anglo-French war in 1793, naval and nautical procedures for the English-African-West Indian trade, and the slave-trading patterns and institutions on the African coast and at Kingston, Jamaica. He recounts as well a yellow fever epidemic that swept the Atlantic and crippled commerce on both sides of the ocean. Mouser’s extensive annotations place Gamble’s account in historical context and explain for the reader Gamble’s observations on commerce, disease, and African peoples along the Upper Guinea coast.

"Captain Samuel Gamble recorded in his ship's log a record of a nearly failed slaving venture to Africa and Jamaica. It is one of the best first-hand narratives of the slave trade to survive. This book presents a faithfully transcribed and carefully annotated edition of Gamble's log, which provides a haunting perspective on slave trading at the end of the eighteenth century. Gamble was Captain of the British merchant Sandown. During 1793-1794, the ship embarked on a commercial venture from England to Upper Guinea in West Africa to buy slaves and to transport them for sale in Kingston, Jamaica. Gamble describes shipping at the beginning of the Anglo-French war in 1793, naval and nautical procedures for the English-African-West Indian trade, and the slave-trading patterns and institutions on the African coast and at Kingston, Jamaica. He recounts as well the beginnings and spread of a yellow fever epidemic that swept the Atlantic and crippled commerce on both sides of the ocean. Bruce L. Mouser's extensive annotations place Gamble's account in historical context and explain for the reader Gamble's observations of commerce, disease, and African peoples along the Upper Guinea coast."--BOOK JACKET. Contents......Page 6 List of Maps and Illustrations......Page 7 Introduction......Page 8 Maps and Illustrations......Page 18 A Journal of an Intended Voyage, by Gods permission, from London towards Africa from hence to America in the good Ship Sandow......Page 26 Works Cited......Page 154 Index......Page 159 About the Author......Page 182 don Foreign Trade, 159, the Sandown was described as "foreign built & was stranded in Sandown Bay at the back of the Isle of Wight in Jan. 1789 & having since been repaired in the proportion required by Law as Reg No. 619 in pursuance of an Order of the Hon{ora}ble Comm' of his Ma{jes}tys Customs dated 1st Feb 1787."