Page:The History of Slavery and the Slave Trade.djvu/156

 quitting the Albion and informed Mr. Simpson that he was cruelly beaten both by the captain and surgeon; that he was half starved; and that the surgeon neglected the sick seamen, alleging that he was only paid for attending the slaves. He also informed Mr. Simpson that their allowance of provisions was increased, and their treatment somewhat better when a man-of-war was on the coast. He recollects another instance of a seaman, with a leg shockingly ulcerated, requesting a passage in the Adventure to England; alleging that he was left behind from a Guineaman. He alleged various instances of ill treatment he had received, and confirmed the account of the sailor of the Albion, that their allowance of provisions was increased, and treatment better, when a man-of-war was on the coast. During Mr. Simpson's stay at Cape Coast Castle, the Adventure's boat was sent to Annamaboe to the Spy Guineaman; on her-return, three men were concealed under her sails, who had left the slaveship; they complained that their treatment was so bad that their lives were miserable on board — beaten and half starved. There were various other instances which escaped his memory. Mr. Simpson says, however, that he has never heard any complaints from West Indiamen, or other merchant ships; on the contrary, they wished to avoid a man-of-war; whereas, if the captain of the Adventure had listened to all the complaints made to him from sailors of slaveships, and removed them, he must have greatly distressed the African trade.

Captain Hall, of the navy, speaking on the same subject, asserts that as to peculiar modes of punishment adopted in Guineamen, he once saw a man chained by the neck in the main top of a slave-ship, when passing under the stern of His Majesty's ship Crescent, in Kingston-Bay, St. Vincent's; and was told by part of the crew, taken out of the ship, at their own request, that the man had been there one hundred and twenty days. He says he has great reason to believe that in no trade are seamen so badly treated as in the slavetrade, from their always flying to men-of-war for redress, and whenever they came within reach; whereas men from West Indian or other trades seldom apply to a ship-of-war.

The last witness it will be necessary to cite is the Rev. Mr. Newton. This gentleman agrees in the ill usage of the seamen alluded to, and believes that the slave-trade itself is a great cause of it, for he thinks that the real or supposed necessity of treating the negroes with rigor gradually brings a numbness upon the heart, and renders most of those who are engaged in it too indifferent to the sufferings of their fellow-creatures. If it should be asked how it happened that seamen entered for slave-vessels, when such general ill usage there could hardly fail of being known, the reply must be taken from the evidence, "that whereas some of them enter voluntarily, the greater part of them are trepanned, for that it is the business of certain landlords to make them intoxicated, and get them into debt, after which their only alternative is a Guineaman or a gaol."