View a Slave Ship

Infamous Slave Ship Zong

This image depicts the "legal" drowning of 132 slaves. During the trial investigating this tragedy, the judge stated this was acceptable, "as if horses had been thrown overboard." Outraging many abolitionists, this was key to igniting the movement. 

Image from Amazing Grace - William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery.

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“The closeness of the place and the heat of the climate, added to the number of the ship, which was so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself, almost suffocated us."

-Olaudah Equiano, former slave

View of the Slave Ship Brookes 

Fig I lengthwise cross-section

Fig II breadthwise cross-section: men

Fig III breadthwise cross-section: women

Fig IV lower deck with platforms

Fig V lower deck without platforms

Fig VI half-deck with platforms

Fig VII half-deck with platforms

A lower deck

B lower deck: breath

C men's section

D platform: men's section

E boy's section

F platforms:

G women's section

H platforms: women's section

I gun room

K quarter deck

L cabin M half-deck

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Wilberforce used this drawing as a visual aid in his speeches conveying the cramped quarters of the slave ship Brookes. 

Image from Spartacus Educational website.