5.4.5 Drawing of the slave ship 'Brookes'

Description

Drawing of the slave ship ‘Brookes’. From: Thomas Clarkson, ‘The history of the rise, progress, and accomplishment of the abolition of the African slave-trade by the British Parliament’ (London: Longman & Co., 1808). This image was produced to illustrate how captives destined for the Americas were crammed into the hold of the slave ship Brookes. It shows 454 people, the maximum allowed by British law from 1788. In fact, the Brookes carried as many as 609 at one time. This engraving was published in the 1780s by abolitionists to raise awareness about the horrors of the Middle Passage.