The Merchant Class

While browsing the Slave Voyages, I stumbled upon a English ship that sailed in the year 1563. Among the four owners of the ship, one stood out to me. It was a man by the name of Sir Lionel Duckett. Duckett was born in the year 1511 and was the lead of the London Mercer’s Company. He was known as a merchant adventurer and invested in journeys to discover the North-West Passage. Duckett was one of the richest men of his time; it is said that he gave a dowry of about £5000 in Tudor money and when asked why he did not give more, he responded that the Queen of England currently had only £10,000 in her exchequer.

Sir Lionel Duckett

In 1553, Lionel received monastic lands in surrey, Derbyshire, and Staffordshire. These lands were most likely property previously taken by King Henry VIII who broke off from the Catholic Church in 1534 because he wanted to divorce his current wife. Duckett was the Sheriff of London in 1565 and the Mayor in 1573. Lionel Duckett also was believed to have been a large financial supporter for the building of the Royal Exchange, which provided a place for commerce. Being part of the Merchant and Tudor classes, Lionel Duckett had the means to invest in early slave ships. These early English slave voyages were risky because, as we saw with the first ship, they were often hijacked or turn up as unsuccessful.

Upon researching further on the Voyages site, I found that the same four men, including Sir Lionel, owned a total of three ships that all sailed in the year of 1563. These ships: Swallow, Salomon, and Jonas purchased the slaves in Sierra Leone and ended up Santo Domingo.  The interesting part about these three ships is that they have three different captains; Thomas Hampton, John Hawkins, and Unknown. John Hawkins is the most interesting from these three because he was a well-known merchant and naval commander. We will soon learn more about John Hawkins in the posts to come.

John Hawkins

Bourne, H. (1869). Famous London merchants A book for boys. London: J. Hogg & Son.

Duckett, T.E.; "The Duckett Family History"; Privately published: 1960, Bristol, UK

Emory University. (n.d.). List of voyages. Retrieved October 21, 2015.

Markham, C. (1878). The Hawkins' voyages during the reigns of Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth, and James I. Surrey [England]: MarkGraves.

SLO #3

Beginnings of The British Involvement in The Slave Trade

It was not until the year 1556 when the English embarked on a ship named the Negro to set out on their first attempt at the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. The English did not become involved in the slave trade until later because they were preoccupied with African produce rather than the transportation of slaves. Charters were granted to merchants located on the western coast of Africa to supply ivory, gold, pepper, and indigo. In the year 1625, Barbados was claimed by King James I and would soon be introduced to the sugar cane by Dutch merchants. 

The Negro was only an attempt because, during the ships journey, the Dutch captured the slaves and took them to the Americas. With a total of ninety-four slaves captured from West African, seventy made the journey. Hancock, was the captains name and based on the Slave Voyages Database, this journey was probably his first and last. 

Even though England's first try at the slave trade was not successful, this does not mean they stopped here. Great Britain goes on to become the second most successful slave-trading nation.

Britain and The Slave Trade. (n.d.). Retrieved October 8, 2015, from http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/slavery

A Brief Overview of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. (2009). Retrieved October 8, 2015.

SLO #1 & #2

First Ship in 1514

The first listing on Slave voyages for the time period 1514-1640 was in 1514. The Trans-Atlantic Slave voyages did start in the 1500's, which slowly picked up speed when the demands of slaves increased. The slave voyage in 1514 has the identification number of 49518. The Ship was from Portugal/Brazil. There was no indication towards who were the owners of the vessel. The vessel traveled from Portugal/Brazil to the coast of West Africa and the slaves were purchased from Congo River. The vessel was capable of making a successful return to Europe (Spain) without being captured or destroyed by the sea. The ship reached Europe which meant the slaves were sold off to Europeans. There were 224 slaves embarked and 166 disembarked. 58 slaves died on the voyage most likely from diseases or by jumping over board because they were being taken away from their home. The future of the slaves is unknown after they were sold off to the Europeans. 
           









MMA,s1,I:282: Brásio, António (ed.), Monumenta Missionária Africana (Lisboa, 1953-1988) 

           SLO#1