Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 2).djvu/269

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built expressly for the trade; and at the date of the report, 1786, from which we derive our information, six vessels were in course of construction, and about a dozen fitting out or ready for sea. A slave then cost from 8l. to 22l. in Africa, and realised in the West Indies from 28l. to 35l., the prices having about doubled during the previous century. In addition to the British import of slaves, the French carried away from Africa every year about twenty thousand; the Portuguese ten thousand; the Dutch four thousand; and the Danes two thousand; making a total of seventy-four thousand annually exported from Africa, including the thirty-eight thousand despatched in British vessels. A considerable portion of these found their way to the Spanish possessions. When after the restoration of peace with the colonies the London streets were filled with emancipated negroes, many of them, collected by an order of the 9th of December, 1786, were forwarded in British transports to Sierra Leone, where a settlement was formed.

14 ft., by 19 ft. in diameter, and 6 ft. 2 in. in height. The vessel, named after the owners, the Brooks, is described as frigate-built without forecastle, and pierced for 20 guns. When leaving the coast of Africa she carried, besides her crew, 351 men, 121 women, 90 boys, and 41 girls, a total of 609! She lost by death, on her passage, 10 men, 5 women, 3 boys, and 1 girl. Her provisions for the negroes were:—20 tons of split beans, peas, rice, shelled barley, and Indian corn; 2 tons of bread; 12 cwt. of flour; 2070 yams, averaging 7 lbs. each; 34,002 gallons of water; 330 gallons of brandy, rum, &c.; 70 gallons of wine; 60 gallons of vinegar; 60 gallons of molasses; 200 gallons of palm oil; 10 barrels of beef; 20 cwt. of stock fish; with 100 lbs. of pepper. She was 49 days on the passage from the Gold Coast to the West Indies, the shortest passage of nine vessels reported being 42 days, and the longest 50 days.]*
 * [Footnote: 33 ft. 6 in., by a breadth of 19 ft. 6 in.; the length of the cabin was