Slave Ship Reading Response - "Sarah"

  For this assignment, we used excerpts from "The Slave Ship: A Human History" to learn about personal stories about the slave trade and much of what went on within it.

In the excerpt Sarah, the personal story of a young woman onboard the Hudibras, a Liverpool slave ship. She was a vibrant and lively girl despite the terrible conditions, and the entire crew of the ship adored her, even the captain, Captain Evans. Sarah was not her birth name, but rather a name bestowed upon her by Captain Evans with the inspiration of the biblical Sarah. It was no coincidence, because perhaps the captain wanted her to remain subordinate and submissive. Sarah was one of the captain’s two “favorites”. These two girls were ones that he favored above the rest, and showed them both greater favors and more leniency than to the others. However, there was trouble on the ship when the enslaved men decided to try and mutiny. The resistance was stifled almost immediately, and Sarah (along with her mother) was immediately suspected. Though they both went through thorough questioning, their involvement in the plot wasn’t revealed until the others enslaved began to shout angrily. It was then revealed that they had both been in on the planning and distributing of tools to help the men break free of their bonds. Sarah greatly benefited from her position as a favorite, which let her move around much more freely on the ship.

There is very blatant evidence of resistance and turmoil onboard the Hudibras in Sarah’s story. Sarah herself was involved in the mutiny that arose. It was carried out by the enslaved men onboard, but it was planned and contributed to by Sarah, who was ideal for the job because she had privileges the other slaves on the ship didn’t. The men were able to get out of their shackles and other bindings. To add to the turmoil, after the mutiny failed terribly, both the men and women shouted accusations into the night, which, in turn, revealed Sarah’s involvement in the plot.

From this personal story, I learned how some girls were chosen as “favorites” of the captains of these slave ships, and that these girls would be given more privileges and favors than the other slaves aboard the ship. I also learned that an uprising from the enslaved could be shut down extremely effectively and rapidly. The crew on slave ships truly never let their guard down, not even for a second, it seems. I also learned how resilient the slaves were, and marveled at how they had the strength to revolt after living in such horrid conditions for a period of time. It made me wonder how many, if any, mutinies were successful on other ships.