Romaigne I Journal of a Slave Ship Voyage I 641

7

J. B. ROMATGNE

Journal of a Slave Ship Voyage, 1819

The French slave ship Le Rodeursailed from the Cuinea coast of Africato the French Caribbean island of Cuadeloupe in April, 1819. Theship carried twenty-two crewmen and a cargo of 160 African slaves.j. B. Romaigne, the twelve-year-old son of a Cuadeloupe planrer, wasa passenger under the special care of the captain. This is his journalof the voyage, written for his mother. What happened on thar voy-age? How were the slaves treatedT What does this account tell youabout the transatlantic slave trade?

THINKINC HISTORICALLYBoth this and the previous selection are raken from journals, or dia-ries. What unique characteristics and common elements of diariesshould enhance their reliability for the historian? ls the journal of atwelve-year-old likelyto be more or less reliable than thar of a seacaptain like Phillips? What aspects of this document make it seemmore, or less, reliable to you?

I"lt is now just a week since we sailed; but, indeed, it is not my fault thatI have not sooner sat down to write. The first two days I was sick, andthe other five were so stormy that I could not sit at the table withoutholding. Even now we are rolling like a great porpoise yet I can sit verywell and keep the pen steady. Since I am to send you what I do without

Source: Capt. Ernest H. Pentecost, RNR, "lntroduction" to George Francis Dow, SlaueShips and Slauing, originally published by the Marine Research Societ5 Salem, MA, 1927 .

Reprinted by Dover Press,2002, xxvii-xxxv.

642 16 / Atlantic World Encounters

copying it over again at the end of the voyage, I shall take what pains Ican; but I hope, my dear mother, you will consider that my fingers aregrown hard and tarry with hauling all day on the ropes, the Captainbeing determined, as he says, to make me a sailor. The Captain is veryfond of me and is very good-tempered; he drinks a great deal of brandy;he is a fine, handsome man and I am sure I shall like him very much.

u

"l enquired of the Captain today, how long it would be before we shouldget to Guadaloupe; and he told me we had a great distance to go beforewe should steer that way at all. He asked how I should like to have alittle black slave and I said very well; that I was to have plenty of themat Guadaloupe. He asked me what I could do with them. 'Feed them,'I said. 'That is right,' said the Captain; 'it will make them strong. Butyou will make them work won't you?' added he. 'Yes, to be sure,' said I.'Then I can tell you you must flog them as well as feed them.' 'I will,'said I, 'it is what I intend, but I must not hurt them very much.' 'Ofcourse not maim them,' returned he, 'for then they could not work; butif you do not make them feel to the marrow, you might as well throwthem into the sea.'

il"Since we have been at this place, Bonny Town in the Bonny river, on thecoast of Africa, I have become more accustomed to the howling of thesenegroes. At first, it alarmed me, and I could not sleep. The Captain saysthat if they behave well they will be much better off at Guadaloupe; andI am sure, I wish the ignorant creatures would come quietly and have itover. Today, one of the blacks whom they were forcing into the hold,suddenly knocked down a sailor and attempted to leap overboard. Hewas caught, however, by the leg by another of the crew, and the sailor,rising up in a passion, hamstrung him with a cutlass. The Captain, see-ing this, knocked the butcher flat upon the deck with a handspike. 'I willteach you to keep your temper,' said he, with an oath. 'He was the bestslave in the lot.' I ran to the main chains and looked over; for they haddropped the black into the sea when they saw that he was useless. Hecontinued to swim, even after he had sunk under water, for I saw the redtrack extending shoreward; but by and by, it stopped, widened, faded,and I saw it no more.

Romaigne I )ournal of a Slave Ship Voyage t 643

ry"'We are now fairly at sea again, and I am sure my dear Mother, I amheartily glad of it. The Captain is in the besr remper in the world; hewalks the deck, rubbing his hands and humming a rune. He says he hassix dozen slaves on board, men, women and children, and all in primemarketable condition. I have not seen them, however, since we set sail.Their cries are so terrible that I do not like to go and look down into thehold. . . .

V

"Today, word was brought to the Captain, while we were at breakfast,that two of the slaves were dead, suffocated, as was supposed, by thecloseness of the hold; and he immediately ordered the rest should bebrought up, gang by gang, to the forecastle, to give them air. I ran up ondeck to see them. They did nor appear to me ro be very unwell; but theseblacks, who are not distinguished from one another by dress, are somuch alike one can hardly tell.

"However, they had no sooner reached the ship's side, than first one,then another, then a third, sprang up on the gunwale, and darted into thesea, before the astonished sailors could tell what they were about. Manymore made the attempt, but without success; they were all knocked flatto the deck, and the crew kept watch over them with handspikes andcutlasses till the Captain's pleasure should be known with regard tothe revolt.

"The negroes, in the meantime, who had got off, continued dancingabout among the waves, yelling with all their might, whar seemed to mea song of triumph, in the burden of which they were joined by some oftheir companions on deck. Our ship speedily left the ignorant creaturesbehind; their voices came fainter and fainter upon the wind; the blackhead, first of one, then of another, disappeared; and then the sea waswithout a spot; and the air without a sound.

"'When the Captain came up on deck, having finished his break-fast, and was told of the revolt, his face grew pale, and he gnashed histeeth. 'We must make an example,' said he, 'or our labour will belost.' He then ordered the whole of the slaves in the ship to be tiedtogether in gangs and placed upon the forecastle, and having selectedsix, who were known to have joined in the chorus of the revolters andmight thus be considered as rhe ringleaders, he caused three of themto be shot, and the other three hanged, before the eyes of theircomrades. . . .

644 16 / Aclantic World Encounters

VII

"The negroes, ever since the revolt, were confined closely to the lowerhold and this brought on a disease called ophthalmia, which producedblindness. The sailors, who sling down the provisions from the upperhold, report that the disease is spreading frightfully and today, at din-ner, the Captain and the surgeon held a conference on the subiect. Thesurgeon declared that, from all he could learn, the cases were alreadyso numerous as to be beyond his management; but the Captain insistedthat every slave cured was worth his value and that it was better to losea part than all. The disease, it seems, although generally fatal to thenegro, is not always so. The patient is at first blind; but some escape,eventuallS with the loss of one eye or a mere dimness of vision. Theresult of the conversation was, that the infected slaves were to be trans-ferred to the upper hold and attended by the surgeon the same as ifthey were white men.

VIII"All the slaves and some of the crew are blind. The Captain, the sur-geon, and the mate are blind. There is hardly enough men left, out of ourtwenty-two, to work the ship. The Captain preseryes what order he canand the surgeon still attempts to do his duty, but our situation isfrightful.

Ix"AIl the crew are now blind but one man. The rest work under his orderslike unconscious machines; the Captain standing by with a thick rope,which he sometimes applies, when led to any recreant by the man whocan see. My own eyes begin to be affected; in a little while, I shall seenothing but death. I asked the Captain if he would not allow the blacksto come up on deck. He said it was of no use; that the crew, who werealways on deck, were as blind as they; that if brought up, they wouldonly drown themselves, whereas, if they remained where they were,there would, in all probability, be at least a portion of them salable, if wehad ever the good fortune to reach Guadaloupe. . . .

x"Mother, your son was blind for ten days, although now so well as to beable to write. I can tell you hardly anything of our history during that

Romaigne I )ournal of a Slave Ship Voyage t 645

period. Each of us lived in a little dark world of his own, peopled byshadows and phantasms. . . .

"Then there came a storm. No hand was upon the helm, not a reefupon the sails. On we flew like a phantom ship of old, that cared nor forwind or weather, our masts straining and cracking; . . . the furious seaone moment devouring us up, stem and stern, and the next casting usforth again, as if with loathing and disgust. . . . The wind, at last, diedmoaningly awa5 and we found ourselves rocking, without progressivemotion, on the sullen deep. !7e at length heard a sound upon the warers,unlike that of the smooth swell which remained after the storm, and ourhearts beat with a hope which was painful from its suddenness and in-tensity. 'We held our breath. The sound was continued; it was like thesplashing of a heavy body in smooth water; and a simultaneous cry arosefrom every lip on deck and was echoed by the men in their hammocksbelow and by the slaves in the hold. . . .

"The Captain was the first to recover his self-possession, and ourvoices sank into silence when we heard him speak the approaching ves-sel with the usual challenge.

"'Ship Ahoy! Ahoy! \il/hat ship?'"'The Saint Leon of Spain. Help us for God's sake!'" ''W'e want help ourselves,' replied our Captain." ''V7e are dying of hunger and thirst. Send us on board some provi-

sions and a few hands to work the ship and name your own terms.'" ''SVe can give you food, but we are in want of hands. Come on

board of us and we will exchange provisions with you for men,' an-swered our Captain.

"'Dollars! dollars! \7e will pay you in money, a thousand fold; butwe cannot send. \X/e have negroes on board; they have infected us withophthalmia, and we are all stone-blind.'

"At the announcement of this horrible coincidence, there was asilence among us, for some moments, like that of death. It was brokenby a fit of laughter, in which I joined myself; and, before our awful mer-riment was over, we could hear, by the sound of the curses which theSpaniards shouted against us, that the Sr. Leonhad drifted away.

"This vessel, in all probability, foundered at sea, as she never reachedany port.

XI"The man who preserved his sight the longest, recovered the soonestland to his exertions alone, under the providence of God and the mercyof the blessed saints, is it owing thar we are now within a few leagues ofGuadaloupe, this twenty-first day of June 1 8 1 9. I am myself almost well.The surgeon and eleven more are irrecoverably blind; the Captain has

646 16 / Atlantic World Encounters

lost one eye; four others have met with the same calamity; and five areable to see, though dimly, with both. Among the slaves, thirty-nine arecompletely blind and the rest blind of one eye or their sight otherwiseinjured.

"This morning the Captain called all hands on deck, negroes and all.The shores of Guadaloupe were in sight. I thought he was going toreturn God thanks publicly for our miraculous escape.

"'Are you quite certain," said the mate, 'that the cargo is insured?'"'I amr' said the Captain. 'Every slave that is lost must be made

good by the underwriters. Besides, would you have me turn my ship intoa hospital for the support of blind negroes? They have cost us enoughaheady. Do your duty.'

"The mate picked out thirty-nine negroes who were completelyblind, and, with the assistance of the rest of the crew, tied a piece of bal-last to the legs of each. The miserable wretches were then thrown intothe sea."