The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African Written by Himself

- By Olaudah Equiano
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Abolitionist and writer (c. 1745 – 1797) For the exoplanet named in his honour, see HD 43197 b. For the Swedish king, see Gustav Vasa. Olaudah EquianoEquiano by Daniel Orme, frontispiece of his autobiography (1789)Bornc. 1745Essaka in IgbolandDied31 March 1797 (aged 52)Westminster, Middlesex, United KingdomOther namesGustavus Vassa, Jacob, MichaelOccupations Sailor writer merchant Known forInfluence over British abolitionists; The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah EquianoSpouse Susannah Cullen ​ ​(m. 1792; died 1796)​ChildrenAnna Maria Vassa Joanna Vassa Olaudah Equiano (/əˈlaʊdə/; c. 1745 – 31 March 1797), known for most of his life as Gustavus Vassa (/ˈvæsə/), was a writer and abolitionist. According to his memoir, he was from the village of Essaka in modern southern Nigeria.[1][2] Enslaved as a child in West Africa, he was shipped to the Caribbean and sold to a Royal Navy officer. He was sold twice more before purchasing his freedom in 1766. As a freedman in London, Equiano supported the British abolitionist movement, in the 1780s becoming one of its leading figures. Equiano was part of the abolitionist group the Sons of Africa, whose members were Africans living in Britain. His 1789 autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, sold so well that nine editions were published during his life and helped secure passage of the British Slave Trade Act 1807, which abolished the slave trade.[3] The Interesting Narrative gained renewed popularity among scholars in the late 20th century and remains a useful primary source.[4][5] Early life and enslavement[edit] According to his 1789 memoir, Equiano was born around 1745 in the Igbo village of Essaka in what is now southern Nigeria. He claimed his home was part of the Kingdom of Benin.[6][7] Equiano recounted an incident of an attempted kidnapping of children in his Igbo village, which was foiled by adults. When he was around the age of eleven, he and his sister were left alone to look after their family premises, as was common when adults went out of the house to work. They were kidnapped and taken far from their home, separated and sold to slave traders. He tried to escape but was thwarted. After his owners changed several times, Equiano happened to meet with his sister but they were separated again. Six or seven months after he had been kidnapped, he arrived at the coast where he was taken on board a European slave ship.[8][9] He was transported with 244 other enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to Barbados in the British West Indies. He and a few other slaves were sent on for sale in the Colony of Virginia. Literary scholar Vincent Carretta argued in his 2005 biography of Equiano that the activist could have been born in colonial South Carolina rather than Africa, based on a 1759 parish baptismal record that lists Equiano's place of birth as Carolina and a 1773 ship's muster that indicates South Carolina.[5][10] Carretta's conclusion is disputed by other scholars who believe the weight of evidence supports Equiano's account of coming from Africa.[11] In Virginia, Equiano was bought by Michael Henry Pascal, a lieutenant in the Royal Navy. Pascal renamed the boy "Gustavus Vassa", after the 16th-century King of Sweden Gustav Vasa[8] who began the Protestant Reformation in Sweden. Equiano had already been renamed twice: he was called Michael while on board the slave ship that brought him to the Americas, and Jacob by his first owner. This time, Equiano refused and told his new owner that he would prefer to be called Jacob. His refusal, he says, "gained me many a cuff" and eventually he submitted to the new name.: 62  He used this name for the rest of his life, including on all official records; he only used Equiano in his autobiography.[1] Pascal took Equiano with him when he returned to England and had him accompany him as a valet during the Seven Years' War with France (1756–1763). Equiano gives witness reports of the Siege of Louisbourg (1758), the Battle of Lagos (1759) and the Capture of Belle Île (1761). Also trained in seamanship, Equiano was expected to assist the ship's crew in times of battle; his duty was to haul gunpowder to the gun decks. Pascal favoured Equiano and sent him to his sister-in-law in Great Britain so that he could attend school and learn to read and write. Equiano converted to Christianity and was baptised at St Margaret's, Westminster, on 9 February 1759, when he was described in the parish register as "a Black, born in Carolina, 12 years old".[12] His godparents were Mary Guerin and her brother, Maynard, who were cousins of his master Pascal. They had taken an interest in him and helped him to learn English. Later, when Equiano's origins were questioned after his book was published, the Guerins testified to his lack of English when he first came to London.[1] In December 1762, Pascal sold Equiano to Captain James Doran of the Charming Sally at Gravesend, from where he was transported back to the Caribbean, to Montserrat, in the Leeward Islands. There, he was sold to Robert King, an American Quaker merchant from Philadelphia who traded in the Caribbean.[13] Release[edit] The wrecking of the Nancy on the Bahama Banks in 1767, from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African Robert King set Equiano to work on his shipping routes and in his stores. In 1765, when Equiano was about 20 years old, King promised that for his purchase price of 40 pounds (equivalent to £6,900 in 2023) he could buy his freedom.[14] King taught him to read and write more fluently, guided him along the path of religion, and allowed Equiano to engage in profitable trading for his own account, as well as on his owner's behalf. Equiano sold fruits, glass tumblers and other items between Georgia and the Caribbean islands. King allowed Equiano to buy his freedom, which he achieved in 1766. The merchant urged Equiano to stay on as a business partner. However, Equiano found it dangerous and limiting to remain in the British colonies as a freedman. While loading a ship in Georgia, he was almost kidnapped back into enslavement. Freedom[edit] By about 1768, Equiano had gone to Britain. He continued to work at sea, travelling sometimes as a deckhand based in England. In 1773 on the Royal Navy ship HMS Racehorse, he travelled to the Arctic in an expedition towards the North Pole.[15] On that voyage he worked with Dr Charles Irving, who had developed a process to distill seawater and later made a fortune from it. Two years later, Irving recruited Equiano for a project on the Mosquito Coast in Central America, where he was to use his African background to help select slaves and manage them as labourers on sugar-cane plantations. Irving and Equiano had a working relationship and friendship for more than a decade, but the plantation venture failed.[16] Equiano met with George, the "Musquito king's son". Equiano left the Mosquito Coast in 1776 and arrived at Plymouth, England, on 7 January 1777.[citation needed] Pioneer of the abolitionist cause[edit] Equiano settled in London, where in the 1780s he became involved in the abolitionist movement. The movement to end the slave trade had been particularly strong among Quakers, but the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade was founded in 1787 as a non-denominational group, with Anglican members, in an attempt to influence parliament directly. Under the Test Act, only those prepared to receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper according to the rites of the Church of England were permitted to serve as MPs. Equiano had been influenced by George Whitefield's evangelism. As early as 1783, Equiano informed abolitionists such as Granville Sharp about the slave trade; that year he was the first to tell Sharp about the Zong massacre, which was being tried in London as litigation for insurance claims. It became a cause célèbre for the abolitionist movement and contributed to its growth.[7] On 21 October 1785 he was one of eight delegates from Africans in America to present an 'Address of Thanks' to the Quakers at a meeting in Gracechurch Street, London. The address referred to A Caution to Great Britain and her Colonies by Anthony Benezet, founder of the Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage.[17] Equiano was befriended and supported by abolitionists, many of whom encouraged him to write and publish his life story. He was supported financially in this effort by philanthropic abolitionists and religious benefactors. His lectures and preparation for the book were promoted by, among others, Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon. Memoir[edit] Plaque at Riding House Street, Westminster, noting the place where Equiano lived and published his narrative Entitled The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African (1789), the book went through nine editions in his lifetime. It is one of the earliest-known examples of published writing by an African writer to be widely read in England. By 1792, it was a best seller and had been published in Russia, Germany, Holland and the United States. It was the first influential slave narrative of what became a large literary genre. But Equiano's experience in slavery was quite different from that of most slaves; he did not participate in field work, he served his owners personally and went to sea, was taught to read and write, and worked in trading.[7] Equiano's personal account of slavery, his journey of advancement, and his experiences as a black immigrant caused a sensation on publication. The book fuelled a growing anti-slavery movement in Great Britain, Europe and the New World.[18] His account surprised many with the quality of its imagery, description and literary style. In his account, Equiano gives details about his hometown and the laws and customs of the Eboe people. After being captured as a boy, he described communities he passed through as a captive on his way to the coast. His biography details his voyage on a slave ship and the brutality of slavery in the colonies of the West Indies, Virginia and Georgia. Equiano commented on the reduced rights that freed people of colour had in these same places, and they also faced risks of kidnapping and enslavement. Equiano embraced Christianity at the age of 14 and its importance to him is a recurring theme in his autobiography. He was baptised into the Church of England in 1759; he described himself in his autobiography as a "protestant of the church of England" but also flirted with Methodism.[19] Several events in Equiano's life led him to question his faith. He was distressed in 1774 by the kidnapping of his friend, a black cook named John Annis. Annis and his former enslaver, William Kirkpatrick, had initially "parted by consent" but Kirkpatrick reneged, seeking to kidnap and re-enslave Annis. Kirkpatrick was ultimately successful, forcibly removing Annis from the British ship Anglicania where both he and Equiano served.[20] This was in violation of the decision in the Somersett Case (1772), that slaves could not be taken from England without their permission, as common law did not support the institution in England & Wales. Kirkpatrick had Annis transported to Saint Kitts, where he was punished severely and worked as a plantation labourer until he died. With the aid of Granville Sharp, Equiano tried to get Annis released before he was shipped from England but was unsuccessful. He heard that Annis was not free from suffering until he died in slavery.[21] Despite his questioning, he affirms his faith in Christianity, as seen in the penultimate sentence of his work that quotes the prophet Micah (Micah 6:8): "After all, what makes any event important, unless by its observation we become better and wiser, and learn 'to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly before God?'" In his account, Equiano also told of his settling in London. He married an English woman and lived with her in Soham, Cambridgeshire, where they had two daughters. He became a leading abolitionist in the 1780s, lecturing in numerous cities against the slave trade. Equiano records his and Granville Sharp's central roles in the anti-slave trade movement, and their effort to publicise the Zong massacre, which became known in 1783. Reviewers have found that his book demonstrated the full and complex humanity of Africans as much as the inhumanity of slavery. The book was considered an exemplary work of English literature by a new African author. Equiano did so well in sales that he achieved independence from his benefactors. He travelled throughout England, Scotland and Ireland promoting the book, spending eight months in Ireland alone between 1792 and 1793.[22] He worked to improve economic, social and educational conditions in Africa. Specifically, he became involved in working in Sierra Leone, a colony founded in 1792 for freed slaves by Britain in West Africa. Later years, radical connections[edit] During the American Revolutionary War, Britain had recruited black people to fight with it by offering freedom to those who left rebel masters. In practice, it also freed women and children, and attracted thousands of slaves to its lines in New York City, which it occupied, and in the South, where its troops occupied Charleston, South Carolina. When British troops were evacuated at the end of the war, their officers also evacuated these former American slaves. They were resettled in the Caribbean, in Nova Scotia, in Sierra Leone in Africa, and in London. Britain refused to return the slaves, which the United States sought in peace negotiations. In 1783, following the United States' gaining independence, Equiano became involved in helping the Black Poor of London, who were mostly those former African-American slaves freed during and after the American Revolution by the British. There were also some freed slaves from the Caribbean, and some who had been brought by their owners to England and freed later after the decision that Britain had no basis in common law for slavery. The black community numbered about 20,000.[23] After the Revolution some 3,000 former slaves had been transported from New York to Nova Scotia, where they became known as Black Loyalists, among other Loyalists also resettled there. Many of the freedmen found it difficult to make new lives in London or Canada. Equiano was appointed "Commissary of Provisions and Stores for the Black Poor going to Sierra Leone" in November 1786.[citation needed] This was an expedition to resettle London's Black Poor in Freetown, a new British colony founded on the west coast of Africa, in present-day Sierra Leone. The blacks from London were joined by more than 1,200 Black Loyalists who chose to leave Nova Scotia. They were aided by John Clarkson, younger brother of abolitionist Thomas Clarkson. Jamaican maroons, as well as slaves liberated from illegal slave-trading ships after Britain abolished the slave trade, also settled at Freetown in the early decades. Equiano was dismissed from the new settlement after protesting against financial mismanagement and he returned to London.[24][25] Equiano was a prominent figure in London and often served as a spokesman for the black community. He was one of the leading members of the Sons of Africa, a small abolitionist group composed of free Africans in London. They were closely allied with the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. Equiano's comments on issues were published in newspapers such as the Public Advertiser and the Morning Chronicle. He replied to James Tobin in 1788, in the Public Advertiser, attacking two of his pamphlets and a related book from 1786 by Gordon Turnbull.[26][27] Equiano had more of a public voice than most Africans or Black Loyalists and he seized various opportunities to use it.[28] Equiano was an active member of the radical working-class London Corresponding Society, which campaigned for democratic reform. In 1791–92, touring the British Isles with his autobiography and drawing on abolitionist networks he brokered connections for the LCS, including what may have been the Society's first contacts with the United Irishmen.[29] In Belfast, where his appearance in May 1791 was celebrated by abolitionists who five years previously had defeated plans to commission vessels in the port for the Middle Passage,[30] Equiano was hosted by the leading United Irishman, publisher of their Painite newspaper the Northern Star, Samuel Neilson.[31] Following the onset of war with revolutionary France, leading members of the LCS, including Thomas Hardy with whom Equiano lodged in 1792, were charged with treason, and in 1799, following evidence of communication between leading members and the insurrectionary United Irishmen, the society was suppressed. Marriage and family[edit] A portrait of an unknown man previously identified as Ignatius Sancho,[32][33] or as Equiano,[34] in the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter On 7 April 1792, Equiano married Susannah Cullen, a local woman, in St Andrew's Church, Soham, Cambridgeshire.[35] The original marriage register containing the entry for Vassa and Cullen is held today by the Cambridgeshire Archives and Local Studies. He included his marriage in every edition of his autobiography from 1792 onwards. The couple settled in the area and had two daughters, Anna Maria (1793–1797) and Joanna (1795–1857) who were baptised at Soham church. Susannah died in February 1796, aged 34, and Equiano died a year after that on 31 March 1797.[8] Soon after, Anna died at the age of four, leaving Joanna to inherit Equiano's estate when she was 21; it was then valued at £950 (equivalent to £92,000 in 2023). Anna Maria is commemorated by a plaque at St Andrew's Church, Chesterton, Cambridge.[36] Joanna Vassa married the Reverend Henry Bromley, a Congregationalist minister, in 1821. They are both buried at the non-denominational Abney Park Cemetery in Stoke Newington, London; the Bromleys' monument is now a Grade II listed building.[37] Last days and will[edit] He drew up his will on 28 May 1796. At the time he was living at the Plaisterers' Hall,[38] then on Addle Street, in Aldermanbury in the City of London.[39][40] He moved to John Street (now Whitfield Street), close to Whitefield's Tabernacle, Tottenham Court Road. At his death on 31 March 1797, he was living in Paddington Street, Westminster.[41] Equiano's death was reported in American[42] as well as British newspapers. Equiano was buried at Whitefield's Tabernacle on 6 April. The entry in the register reads "Gustus Vasa, 52 years, St Mary Le bone".[43][44] His burial place has been lost. The small burial ground lay either side of the chapel and is now Whitfield Gardens.[45] The site of the chapel is now the American International Church. Equiano's will, in the event of his daughters' deaths before reaching the age of 21, bequeathed half his wealth to the Sierra Leone Company for a school in Sierra Leone, and half to the London Missionary Society.[40] Controversy related to memoir[edit] Following publication in 1967 of a newly edited version of his memoir by Paul Edwards, interest in Equiano revived. Scholars from Nigeria have also begun studying him. For example, O. S. Ogede identifies Equiano as a pioneer in asserting "the dignity of African life in the white society of his time".[46] In researching his life, some scholars since the late 20th century have disputed Equiano's account of his origins. In 1999 while editing a new version of Equiano's memoir, Vincent Carretta, a professor of English at the University of Maryland, found two records that led him to question the former slave's account of being born in Africa. He first published his findings in the journal Slavery and Abolition.[10][47] At a 2003 conference in England, Carretta defended himself against Nigerian academics, like Obiwu, who accused him of "pseudo-detective work" and indulging "in vast publicity gamesmanship".[48] In his 2005 biography, Carretta suggested that Equiano may have been born in South Carolina rather than Africa, as he was twice recorded from there. Carretta wrote: Equiano was certainly African by descent. The circumstantial evidence that Equiano was also African-American by birth and African-British by choice is compelling but not absolutely conclusive. Although the circumstantial evidence is not equivalent to proof, anyone dealing with Equiano's life and art must consider it.[5] According to Carretta, Equiano/Vassa's baptismal record and a naval muster roll document him as from South Carolina.[10] Carretta interpreted these anomalies as possible evidence that Equiano had made up the account of his African origins, and adopted material from others. But Paul Lovejoy, Alexander X. Byrd and Douglas Chambers note how many general and specific details Carretta can document from sources that related to the slave trade in the 1750s as described by Equiano, including the voyages from Africa to Virginia, sale to Pascal in 1754, and others. They conclude he was more likely telling what he understood as fact, rather than creating a fictional account; his work is shaped as an autobiography.[15][7][49] Lovejoy wrote that: circumstantial evidence indicates that he was born where he said he was, and that, in fact, The Interesting Narrative is reasonably accurate in its details, although, of course, subject to the same criticisms of selectivity and self-interested distortion that characterize the genre of autobiography. Lovejoy uses the name of Vassa in his article, since that was what the man used throughout his life, in "his baptism, his naval records, marriage certificate and will".[7] He emphasises that Vassa only used his African name in his autobiography. Other historians also argue that the fact that many parts of Equiano's account can be proven lends weight to accepting his account of African birth. As historian Adam Hochschild has written: In the long and fascinating history of autobiographies that distort or exaggerate the truth. ... Seldom is one crucial portion of a memoir totally fabricated and the remainder scrupulously accurate; among autobiographers ... both dissemblers and truth-tellers tend to be consistent.[50] He also noted that "since the 'rediscovery' of Vassa's account in the 1960s, scholars have valued it as the most extensive account of an eighteenth-century slave's life and the difficult passage from slavery to freedom".[7] Legacy[edit] The Equiano Society was formed in London in November 1996. Its main objective is to publicise and celebrate the life and work of Olaudah Equiano.[51][52] In 1789 Equiano moved to 10 Union Street (now 73 Riding House Street). A City of Westminster commemorative green plaque was unveiled there on 11 October 2000 as part of Black History Month. Student musicians from Trinity College of Music played a fanfare composed by Professor Ian Hall for the unveiling.[53] Equiano is honoured in the Church of England and remembered in its Calendar of saints with a Lesser Festival on 30 July, along with Thomas Clarkson and William Wilberforce who worked for abolition of the slave trade and slavery.[54][55] In 2007, the year of the celebration in Britain of the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade, Equiano's life and achievements were included in the National Curriculum, together with William Wilberforce. In December 2012 The Daily Mail claimed that both would be dropped from the curriculum, a claim which itself became subject to controversy.[56] In January 2013 Operation Black Vote launched a petition to request Education Secretary Michael Gove to keep both Equiano and Mary Seacole in the National Curriculum.[57] American Rev. Jesse Jackson and others wrote a letter to The Times protesting against the mooted removal of both figures from the National Curriculum.[58][59] A statue of Equiano, made by pupils of Edmund Waller School, was erected in Telegraph Hill Lower Park, New Cross, London, in 2008.[60] The head of Equiano is included in Martin Bond's 1997 sculpture Wall of the Ancestors in Deptford, London Author Ann Cameron adapted Equiano's autobiography for children, leaving most of the text in Equiano's own words; the book was published in 1995 in the U.S. by Random House as The Kidnapped Prince: The Life of Olaudah Equiano, with an introduction by historian Henry Louis Gates Jr. On 16 October 2017, Google Doodle honoured Equiano by celebrating the 272nd year since his birth.[61] A crater on Mercury was named "Equiano" in 1976.[62] The exoplanet HD 43197 b was officially named Equiano in 2019 as part of NameExoWorlds.[63] In 2019, Google Cloud named a subsea cable running from Portugal through the West Coast of Africa and terminating in South Africa after Equiano.[64] In 2022, the city of Cambridge honoured Equiano by renaming Riverside Bridge to Equiano Bridge.[65][66] Representation in other media[edit] The Gambian actor Louis Mahoney played Equiano in the BBC television mini-series The Fight Against Slavery (1975).[67] A 28-minute documentary, Son of Africa: The Slave Narrative of Olaudah Equiano (1996), produced by the BBC and directed by Alrick Riley, uses dramatic reconstruction, archival material and interviews to provide the social and economic context for his life and the slave trade.[68] Numerous works about Equiano have been produced for and since the 2007 bicentenary of Britain's abolition of the slave trade: Equiano was portrayed by the Senegalese musician Youssou N'Dour in the film Amazing Grace (2006). African Snow (2007), a play by Murray Watts, takes place in the mind of John Newton, a captain in the slave trade who later became an Anglican cleric and hymnwriter. It was first produced at the York Theatre Royal as a co-production with Riding Lights Theatre Company, transferring to the Trafalgar Studios in London's West End and a national tour. Newton was played by Roger Alborough and Equiano by Israel Oyelumade. Kent historian Dr Robert Hume wrote a children's book entitled Equiano: The Slave with the Loud Voice (2007), illustrated by Cheryl Ives.[69] David and Jessica Oyelowo appeared as Olaudah and his wife in Grace Unshackled – The Olaudah Equiano Story (2007), a radio adaptation of Equiano's autobiography, created by Focus on the Family Radio Theatre.[70][71] The British jazz artist Soweto Kinch's first album, Conversations with the Unseen (2003), contains a track entitled "Equiano's Tears". Equiano was portrayed by Jeffery Kissoon in Margaret Busby's 2007 play An African Cargo, staged at London's Greenwich Theatre.[72][73] Equiano is portrayed by Danny Sapani in the BBC series Garrow's Law (2010). The Nigerian writer Chika Unigwe has written a fictional memoir of Equiano: The Black Messiah, originally published in Dutch as De zwarte messias (2013).[74] In Jason Young's 2007 short animated film, The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano, Chris Rochester portrayed Equiano.[75] A TikTok series under the account @equiano.stories recounts "the true story of Olaudah Equiano", a collection of episodes reimagining the childhood of Equiano. The story is captured as a self-recorded, first-person account, within the format of Instagram Stories/TikTok posts, using video, still images, and text.[76] In 2022 a documentary entitled The Amazing Life of Olaudah Equiano was broadcast by BBC Radio 4.[77] See also[edit] Ottobah Cugoano, an African abolitionist active in Britain in the late 18th century Phillis Wheatley, recognised in the 18th century as the first African-American poet; first African-American woman to publish a book List of civil rights leaders List of slaves References[edit] ^ a b c Lovejoy, Paul E. (2006). "Autobiography and Memory: Gustavus Vassa, alias Olaudah Equiano, the African". Slavery & Abolition. 27 (3): 317–347. doi:10.1080/01440390601014302. S2CID 146143041. ^ Christer Petley, White Fury: A Jamaican Slaveholder and the Age of Revolution (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018), p. 151. ^ Equiano, Olaudah (1999). The Life of Olaudah Equiano, or, Gustavus Vassa, the African. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications. ISBN 978-0-486-40661-9. ^ F. Onyeoziri (2008),"Olaudah Equiano: Facts about his People and Place of Birth" Archived 17 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine. ^ a b c Carretta, Vincent (2005). Equiano, the African: Biography of a Self-Made Man. University of Georgia Press. p. xvi. ISBN 978-0-8203-2571-2. ^ "Equiano's World". www.equianosworld.org. Archived from the original on 22 April 2023. Retrieved 22 April 2023. ^ a b c d e f Paul E. Lovejoy, "Autobiography and Memory: Gustavus Vassa, alias Olaudah Equiano, the African" Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Slavery and Abolition 27, no. 3 (2006): 317–347. ^ a b c "Olaudah Equiano". BBC History. Archived from the original on 13 July 2006. Retrieved 5 July 2006. ^ Equiano, Olaudah (2005). The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano. Printed for, and sold by the author. ISBN 9781615362622. ^ a b c Robin Blackburn, "The True Story of Equiano", The Nation, 2 November 2005 (archived). 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Manning (eds), The Longman Anthology of British Literature, Volume 2A: "The Romantics and Their Contemporaries" (2003), p. 211. ^ Michael Siva, Why did Black Londoners not join the Sierra Leone Resettlement Scheme 1783–1815? (London: Open University, 2014), pp. 28–33. ^ Vincent Carretta; Philip Gould (2015). Genius in Bondage: Literature of the Early Black Atlantic. University Press of Kentucky. p. 67. ISBN 978-0-8131-5946-1. ^ Peter Fryer (1984). Staying Power: The History of Black People in Britain. University of Alberta. pp. 108–9. ISBN 978-0-86104-749-9. ^ Shyllon, Folarin (September 1977). "Olaudah Equiano; Nigerian Abolitionist and First Leader of Africans in Britain". Journal of African Studies. 4 (4): 433–451. ^ Featherstone, David (2013). "'We will have equality and liberty in Ireland': The Contested Geographies of Irish Democratic Political Cultures in the 1790s". Historical Geography. 41: 124–126. ^ Rolston, Bill (2003). "A Lying Old Scoundrel". 18th–19th - Century History, Features. 11 (1). Archived from the original on 19 June 2022. Retrieved 19 June 2022 – via History Ireland. ^ Rodgers, Nini (1997). "Equiano in Belfast: A study of the Anti-Slavery Ethos in a Northern Town". Slavery and Abolition. 18 (2): 73–89. doi:10.1080/01440399708575211. ^ "Trading faces". BBC. 8 July 2008. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 24 December 2019. ^ "Portrait of an African (probably Ignatius Sancho, 1729–1780)". artuk.org. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 1 April 2019. ^ "The Equiano Portraits". brycchancarey.com. Archived from the original on 1 February 2017. Retrieved 18 May 2017. ^ "Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa The African – 200th Anniversary of the Abolition of Slavery". equiano.soham.org.uk. Archived from the original on 14 August 2021. Retrieved 14 August 2021. ^ Historic England, "Church of St Andrew, Cambridge (1112541)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 20 October 2020. ^ Historic England, "Monument to Joanna Vassa in Abney Park Cemetery (1392851)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 18 January 2020. ^ Bamping, Nigel (17 July 2020). "The Plaisterers and the abolition of slavery". Plaistererslivery.co.uk. Archived from the original on 16 November 2020. Retrieved 14 November 2020. ^ "Will of Gustavus Vassa or Olaudah Equiano, Gentleman of Addle Street Aldermanbury, City of London." Archived 25 November 2020 at the Wayback Machine England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858, PROB 11: Will Registers: 1796–1798, Piece 1289: Exeter Quire Numbers 238–284. The National Archives, Kew. Retrieved 14 November 2020. ^ a b "Transcript Gustavus Vassa Provides for His Family PROB 10/3372". Nationalarchives.gov.uk/. TNA. Archived from the original on 16 November 2020. Retrieved 14 November 2020. ^ Vincent Carretta, Equiano, the African: Biography of a Self-made Man, University of Georgia Press, 2005, p. 365. ^ "Deaths: In London, Mr. Gustavus Vassa, the African, well known to the public for the interesting narrative of his life." Weekly Oracle (New London, CT), 12 August 1797, p. 3. ^ "Was Olaudah Equiano a nonconformist?". 16 October 2017. Archived from the original on 23 October 2017. Retrieved 23 October 2017. ^ London Metropolitan Archives; Clerkenwell, London, England; Whitefield's Memorial Church [Formerly Tottenham Court Road Chapel], Tottenham Court Road, Saint Pancras, Register of burials; Reference Code: LMA/4472/A/01/004 ^ "Whitfield Gardens". Londongardensonline.org.uk. Retrieved 21 January 2020.[permanent dead link‍] ^ O. S. Ogede, "'The Igbo Roots of Olaudah Equiano' by Catherine Acholonu" Archived 23 June 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, Vol. 61, No. 1, 1991, at JSTOR (subscription required) ^ Vincent Carretta, "Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa? New Light on an Eighteenth-Century Question of Identity", Slavery and Abolition 20, no. 3 (1999): 96–105. ^ "Slave fiction?". Florida International University. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 26 December 2015. ^ Alexander X. Byrd, "Eboe, Country, Nation, and Gustavus Vassa's Interesting Narrative" Archived 5 November 2016 at the Wayback Machine, William and Mary Quarterly 63, no. 1 (2006): 123–148, at JSTOR (subscription required) ^ Hochschild, Adam (2006). Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 372. ISBN 978-0-618-61907-8. ^ "The Equiano Society: Information and Forthcoming Events". brycchancarey.com. Archived from the original on 22 April 2012. Retrieved 5 August 2012. ^ Thomas, Shirley (10 February 2019). "Iconic Guyanese working to promote Caribbean heritage in Britain". Guyana Chronicle. Archived from the original on 26 March 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2020. ^ "City of Westminster green plaques". Archived from the original on 16 July 2012. ^ "William Wilberforce, Olaudah Equiano and Thomas Clarkson" Archived 9 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Common Worship Texts: Festivals. Retrieved 28 September 2014. ^ "The Calendar". The Church of England. Archived from the original on 9 March 2021. Retrieved 27 March 2021. ^ "Here's why Mary Seacole and other inspiring black figures should stay". Independent.co.uk. 8 February 2013. Archived from the original on 16 June 2019. Retrieved 17 May 2020. ^ "OBV initiate Mary Seacole Petition". Operation Black Vote (OBV). 3 January 2013. Archived from the original on 9 January 2013. Retrieved 19 January 2013. ^ Hurst, Greg (9 January 2013). "Civil rights veteran Jesse Jackson joins fight against curriculum changes". The Times. Archived from the original on 19 January 2013. Retrieved 19 January 2013. ^ "Open letter to Rt Michael Gove MP". Operation Black Vote (OBV). 9 January 2013. Archived from the original on 14 January 2013. Retrieved 19 January 2013. ^ "Little treasures: #1 Equiano". Brockley Central. 25 June 2008. Archived from the original on 8 May 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2019. ^ "Olaudah Equiano's 272nd Birthday". doodles.google. Archived from the original on 16 October 2017. Retrieved 16 October 2017. ^ WGPSN ^ "2019 Approved Names". NameExoworlds. Archived from the original on 30 September 2023. Retrieved 30 September 2023. ^ "Introducing Equiano, a subsea cable from Portugal to South Africa". Google Cloud. Archived from the original on 10 March 2020. Retrieved 14 April 2020. ^ "News". Equiano Bridge. 2022. Archived from the original on 14 October 2022. Retrieved 14 October 2022. ^ "City bridge to be renamed after writer and abolitionist Olaudah Equiano". Cambridge Independent. Cambridge. 27 October 2022. ISSN 2398-8959. Archived from the original on 28 October 2022. Retrieved 28 October 2022. ^ "The Fight Against Slavery". IMDb. Archived from the original on 24 July 2022. Retrieved 24 July 2022. ^ Son of Africa: The Slave Narrative of Olaudah Equiano Archived 1 October 2006 at the Wayback Machine, 1996, sale at California Newsreel. ^ Robert Hume (2007), Equiano: The Slave with the Loud Voice, Stone Publishing House, ISBN 978-0-9549909-1-6. ^ "Grace Unshackled: The Olaudah Equiano Story". BBC. 15 April 2007. Archived from the original on 2 February 2009. Retrieved 15 January 2009. ^ "The Focus Store". 31 July 2024. Archived from the original on 31 July 2024. Retrieved 31 July 2024. ^ "An African Cargo, 2007". Nitro Music Theatre, 4 February 2007. Archived 18 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine. ^ "Vassa's Legacy". Equiano's World. Archived from the original on 18 November 2022. Retrieved 24 May 2022. ^ Chika Unigwe (2013), De zwarte messias, De Bezige Bij, ISBN 978-90-8542-454-3. ^ The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano at IMDb  ^ "The true story of Olaudah Equiano". A joint feature film project by Stelo Stories Studio Archived 1 April 2022 at the Wayback Machine and the DuSable Museum of African American History Archived 13 March 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Early 2022. ^ "The Amazing Life of Olaudah Equiano". BBC. Archived from the original on 4 July 2022. Retrieved 26 June 2022. Further reading[edit] The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African at Wikisource. For the history of the Narrative's publication, see James Green, "The Publishing History of Olaudah Equiano's Interesting Narrative", Slavery and Abolition 16, no. 3 (1995): 362–375. S. E. Ogude, "Facts into fiction: Equiano's narrative reconsidered", Research into African Literatures, Vol. 13, No. 1, 1982 S. E. Ogude, "Olaudah Equiano and the tradition of Defoe", African Literature Today, Vol. 14, 1984 James Walvin, An African's Life: The Life and Times of Olaudah Equiano, 1745–1797 (London: Continuum, 1998) Luke Walker, Olaudah Equiano: The Interesting Man (Wrath and Grace Publishing, 2017) External links[edit] Wikiquote has quotations related to Olaudah Equiano. Wikisource has original works by or about:Olaudah Equiano Wikimedia Commons has media related to Olaudah Equiano. Works by Olaudah Equiano in eBook form at Standard Ebooks Works by Olaudah Equiano at Project Gutenberg Works by or about Olaudah Equiano at the Internet Archive Works by Olaudah Equiano at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks) Frederick Quinn, "Olaudah Equiano", Dictionary of African Christian Biography, article reproduced with permission from African Saints: Saints, Martyrs, and Holy People from the Continent of Africa, copyright © 2002 by Frederick Quinn, New York: Crossroads Publishing Company Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, Brycchan Carey website, Carey 2003–2005. Includes Carey's comprehensive collection of resources for the study of Equiano. The Nativity section Where was Olaudah Equiano born? includes a detailed comparison of differing data related to his place of birth. The Equiano Project Archived 23 October 2018 at the Wayback Machine, The Equiano Society and Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery Part I: "Olaudah Equiano", Africans in America, PBS "Historic figures: Olaudah Equiano", BBC vteHistory of slavery in Virginia Slavery in the colonial history of the United States History of Virginia Enslaved people Angela (fl. 1619–1625) Henry Box Brown (c. 1815–1897) Anthony Burns (1834–1862) John Casor (living 1655) Emanuel Driggus (c. 1620s-d. 1673) Olaudah Equiano (c. 1745–1797) Isabella Gibbons (c. 1836–1890) William D. Gibbons (1825–1886) John Graweere (living 1641) Elizabeth Key Grinstead (Greenstead) (1630–1665) Left, husband of Jane Webb (fl. 1704–1727) Mary and Anthony Johnson (1600–1670) Philip Lee (c. 1785–?) Dangerfield Newby (c. 1820–1859) John Punch (fl. 1630s, living 1640) Gabriel Prosser (1776–1800) William Tucker (born 1624) Nat Turner (1800–1831) Booker T. Washington (1856–1915) Slave owners Presidents of the United States Washington Jefferson Madison Monroe Tyler John Armfield (1797–1871) Carter Braxton (1736–1797) Landon Carter (1710–1778) Robert "King" Carter (1663–1732) Robert Carter III (1728–1804) Thomas Roderick Dew (1802–1846) Andrew Hunter (1804–1888) Robert M. T. Hunter (1809–1887) Eppa Hunton (1822–1908) Richard Bland Lee (1761–1827) William Mahone (1826–1895) George Mason (1725–1792) James M. Mason (1798–1871) John Page (1628–1692) Thomas Prosser (died 1798) Randolph family of Virginia William Barton Rogers (1804–1882) George Henry Thomas (1816–1870) William Tucker (died 1642) John Wayles (1715–1773) Henry A. Wise (1806–1876) Seth Woodroof (1805–1875) Plantations Beall-Air Berry Hill Brookfield Kenmore Monticello Montpelier Mount Airy Mount Vernon (enslaved people) Oatlands Poplar Forest Shirley Stratford Hall Tuckahoe Westover Woodlawn List of plantations in Virginia Slave pens Bruin's Slave Jail The Cage Franklin and Armfield Office Lumpkin's Jail Other sites African American Burial Ground Bremo Slave Chapel Memorial to Enslaved Laborers White House of the Confederacy Legal history Virginia Slave Codes of 1705 Virginia v. John Brown Revolts Gabriel's Rebellion Nat Turner's Rebellion John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry Related articles The 1619 Project Atlantic Creole Burning of Winchester Medical College Coastwise slave trade First Africans in Virginia Indentured servitude in Virginia District of Columbia retrocession Great Dismal Swamp maroons Human trafficking in Virginia Liberation and Freedom Day Richmond slave market Virginia in the American Civil War vteSlave narratives Slave Narrative Collection Individualsby continentof enslavementAfrica Robert Adams (c. 1790–?) Marcus Berg (1714-1761) Francis Bok (b. 1979) Isaac Brassard (1620–1702) Felice Caronni (1747–1815) James Leander Cathcart (1767–1843) Ólafur Egilsson (1564–1639) Petro Kilekwa (late 19th c.) Elizabeth Marsh (1735–1785) Maria ter Meetelen (1704–?) Mende Nazer (b. 1982) Hark Olufs (1708–1754) Thomas Pellow (1705–?) Joseph Pitts (1663 – c. 1735) Guðríður Símonardóttir (1598–1682) Antoine Qaurtier (1632–1702) Andreas Matthäus Wolfgang (1660–1736) Johann Georg Wolffgang (1644–1744) Asia Brigitta Scherzenfeldt (1684–1736) Europe Václav Vratislav (1576–1635) Lovisa von Burghausen (1698–1733) Olaudah Equiano (c. 1745 Nigeria – 31 March 1797 Eng) Ukawsaw Gronniosaw (c. 1705 Bornu – 1775 Eng) Jean Marteilhe (1684-1777) Roustam Raza (1783–1845) Nunzio Otello Francesco Gioacchino (1792 – fl. 1828) Ottoman Empire Johann Schiltberger Konstantin Mihailović George of Hungary North America:Canada Marie-Joseph Angélique (c. 1710 Portugal – 1734 Montreal) John R. Jewitt (1783 England – 1821 United States) North America:Caribbean Juan Francisco Manzano (1797–1854, Cuba) Esteban Montejo (1860–1965, Cuba) Mary Prince (c. 1788 Bermuda – after 1833) Venerable Pierre Toussaint (1766 Saint-Dominque – June 30, 1853 NY) Marcos Xiorro (c. 1819 – ???, Puerto Rico) North America:United States Sam Aleckson Jordan Anderson William J. Anderson Jared Maurice Arter Solomon Bayley Polly Berry Henry Bibb Leonard Black James Bradley (1834) Henry "Box" Brown John Brown William Wells Brown Peter Bruner (1845 KY – 1938 OH) Ellen and William Craft Hannah Crafts Lucinda Davis Noah Davis Lucy Delaney Ayuba Suleiman Diallo Frederick Douglass Kate Drumgoold Jordan Winston Early (1814 – after 1894) Sarah Jane Woodson Early Peter Fossett (1815 Monticello–1901) David George Moses Grandy Lear Green William Green (19th century MD) William Grimes Josiah Henson Fountain Hughes (1848/1854 VA – 1957) Omar ibn Said John Andrew Jackson Harriet Jacobs Thomas James John Jea Paul Jennings (1799–1874) Elizabeth Keckley Boston King Lunsford Lane J. Vance Lewis Jermain Wesley Loguen James Mars (1790–1880) Solomon Northup Greensbury Washington Offley John Parker (1827 VA – 1900) William Parker James Roberts Moses Roper William Henry Singleton James Lindsay Smith Venture Smith Austin Steward (1793 VA – 1860) Venerable Pierre Toussaint (1766 Saint-Dominque – 1853 NY) Harriet Tubman Wallace Turnage Bethany Veney Booker T. Washington Wallace Willis (19th century Indian Territory) Harriet E. Wilson Zamba Zembola (b. c. 1780 Congo) South America Mahommah Gardo Baquaqua (1845–1847, Brazil) Miguel de Buría (? Puerto Rico – 1555 Venezuela) Osifekunde (c. 1795 Nigeria – ? Brazil) Non-fiction books The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (1789) The Narrative of Robert Adams (1816) American Slavery as It Is (1839) Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845) The Life of Josiah Henson (1849) Twelve Years a Slave (1853) My Bondage and My Freedom (1855) Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) The Underground Railroad Records (1872) Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1881) Up from Slavery (1901) Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States (1936–38) The Peculiar Institution (1956) The Slave Community (1972) Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo" (2018) Fiction/novels Oroonoko (1688) Sab (1841) Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) The Heroic Slave (1852) Clotel (1853) The Bondwoman's Narrative (c. 1853 – c. 1861) Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp (1856) Our Nig (1859) Jubilee (1966) The Confessions of Nat Turner (1967) Roots: The Saga of an American Family (1976) Underground to Canada (1977) Kindred (1979) Dessa Rose (1986) Beloved (1987) Middle Passage (1990) Queen: The Story of an American Family (1993) Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons (1996) Ama: A Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade (2001) Walk Through Darkness (2002) The Known World (2003) Unburnable (2006) The Book of Negroes (2007) The Underground Railroad (2016) Young adult books Amos Fortune, Free Man (1951) I, Juan de Pareja (1965) Copper Sun (2006) Essays "To a Southern Slaveholder" (1848) A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin (1853) Plays The Escape; or, A Leap for Freedom (1858) The Octoroon (1859) Omar (2022) Documentaries Unchained Memories (2003) Frederick Douglass and the White Negro (2008) Related Abolitionism in the United States African-American literature Anti-Tom novels Atlantic slave trade Captivity narrative Caribbean literature Films featuring slavery Slavery in the United States Songs of the Underground Railroad Treatment of slaves in the United States List of last surviving American enslaved people Book of Negroes (1783) Cotton Plantation Record and Account Book (1847) Slave-Trading in the Old South (1931) Sarah Johnson's Mount Vernon (2008) Slave Songs of the United States (1867) Amazing Grace: An Anthology of Poems about Slavery (2002) The Hemingses of Monticello (2008) Authority control databases InternationalISNIVIAFFASTWorldCatNationalGermanyUnited StatesFranceBnF dataJapanCzech RepublicSpainNetherlandsNorwayGreeceKoreaSwedenIsraelBelgiumPeopleDeutsche BiographieDDBOtherIdRef
I now totally lost the small remains of comfort I had enjoyed in conversing with my countrymen; the women too, who used to wash and take care of me, were all gone different ways, and I never saw one of them afterwards.
I stayed in this island for a few days; I believe it could not be above a fortnight; when I and some few more slaves, that were not saleable amongst the rest, from very much fretting, were shipped off in a sloop for North America. On the passage we were better treated than when we were coming from Africa, and we had plenty of rice and fat pork. We were landed up a river a good way from the sea, about Virginia county, where we saw few or none of our native Africans, and not one soul who could talk to me. I was a few weeks weeding grass, and gathering stones in a plantation; and at last all my companions were distributed different ways, and only myself was left. I was now exceedingly miserable, and thought myself worse off than any of the rest of my companions; for they could talk to each other, but I had no person to speak to that I could understand. In this state I was constantly grieving and pining, and wishing for death rather than any thing else. While I was in this plantation the gentleman, to whom I suppose the estate belonged, being unwell, I was one day sent for to his dwelling house to fan him; when I came into the room where he was I was very much affrighted at some things I saw, and the more so as I had seen a black woman slave as I came through the house, who was cooking the dinner, and the poor creature was cruelly loaded with various kinds of iron machines; she had one particularly on her head, which locked her mouth so fast that she could scarcely speak; and could not eat nor drink. I was much astonished and shocked at this contrivance, which I afterwards learned was called the iron muzzle
Soon after I had a fan put into my hand, to fan the gentleman while he slept; and so I did indeed with great fear. While he was fast asleep I indulged myself a great deal in looking about the room, which to me appeared very fine and curious. The first object that engaged my attention was a watch which hung on the chimney, and was going. I was quite surprised at the noise it made, and was afraid it would tell the gentleman any thing I might do amiss: and when I immediately after observed a picture hanging in the room, which appeared constantly to look at me, I was still more affrighted, having never seen such things as these before. At one time I thought it was something relative to magic; and not seeing it move I thought it might be some way the whites had to keep their great men when they died, and offer them libation as we used to do to our friendly spirits. In this state of anxiety I remained till my master awoke, when I was dismissed out of the room, to my no small satisfaction and relief; for I thought that these people were all made up of wonders. In this place I was called Jacob; but on board the African snow I was called Michael. I had been some time in this miserable, forlorn, and much dejected state, without having any one to talk to, which made my life a burden, when the kind and unknown hand of the Creator (who in very deed leads the blind in a way they know not) now began to appear, to my comfort; for one day the captain of a merchant ship, called the Industrious Bee, came on some business to my master's house. This gentleman, whose name was Michael Henry Pascal, was a lieutenant in the royal navy, but now commanded this trading ship, which was somewhere in the confines of the county many miles off. While he was at my master's house it happened that he saw me, and liked me so well that he made a purchase of me. I think I have often heard him say he gave thirty or forty pounds sterling for me; but I do not now remember which. However, he meant me for a present to some of his friends in England: and I was sent accordingly from the house of my then master, one
Mr. Campbell, to the place where the ship lay; I was conducted on horseback by an elderly black man, (a mode of travelling which appeared very odd to me). When I arrived I was carried on board a fine large ship, loaded with tobacco, &c. and just ready to sail for England. I now thought my condition much mended; I had sails to lie on, and plenty of good victuals to eat; and every body on board used me very kindly, quite contrary to what I had seen of any white people before; I therefore began to think that they were not all of the same disposition. A few days after I was on board we sailed for England. I was still at a loss to conjecture my destiny. By this time, however, I could smatter a little imperfect English; and I wanted to know as well as I could where we were going. Some of the people of the ship used to tell me they were going to carry me back to my own country, and this made me very happy. I was quite rejoiced at the sound of going back; and thought if I should get home what wonders I should have to tell. But I was reserved for another fate, and was soon undeceived when we came within sight of the English coast.
While I was on board this ship, my captain and master named me Gustavus Vassa. I at that time began to understand him a little, and refused to be called so, and told him as well as I could that I would be called Jacob; but he said I should not, and still called me Gustavus; and when I refused to answer to my new name, which at first I did, it gained me many a cuff; so at length I submitted, and was obliged to bear the present name, by which I have been known ever since. The ship had a very long passage; and on that account we had very short allowance of provisions. Towards the last we had only one pound and a half of bread per week, and about the same quantity of meat, and one quart of water a-day. We spoke with only one vessel the whole time we were at sea, and but once we caught a few fishes. In our extremities the captain and people told me in jest they would kill and eat me; but I thought them in earnest, and was depressed beyond measure, expecting every moment to be my last. While I was in this situation one evening they caught, with a good deal of trouble, a large shark, and got it on board. This gladdened my poor heart exceedingly, as I thought it would serve the people to eat instead of their eating me; but very soon, to my astonishment, they cut off a small part of the tail, and tossed the rest over the side. This renewed my consternation; and I did not know what to think of these white people, though I very much feared they would kill and eat me.
There was on board the ship a young lad who had never been at sea before, about four or five years older than myself: his name was Richard Baker. He was a native of America, had received an excellent education, and was of a most amiable temper. Soon after I went on board he shewed me a great deal of partiality and attention, and in return I grew extremely fond of him. We at length became inseparable; and, for the space of two years, he was of very great use to me, and was my constant companion and instructor. Although this dear youth had many slaves of his own, yet he and I have gone through many sufferings together on shipboard; and we have many nights lain in each other's bosoms when we were in great distress. Thus such a friendship was cemented between us as we cherished till his death, which, to my very great sorrow, happened in the year 1759, when he was up the Archipelago, on board his majesty's ship the Preston: an event which I have never ceased to regret, as I lost at once a kind interpreter, an agreeable companion, and a faithful friend; who, at the age of fifteen, discovered a mind superior to prejudice; and who was not ashamed to notice, to associate with, and to be the friend and instructor of one who was ignorant, a stranger, of a different complexion, and a slave! My master had lodged in his mother's house in America: he respected him very much, and made him always eat with him in the cabin. He used often to tell him jocularly that he would kill me to eat. Sometimes he would say to me-the black people were not good to eat, and would ask me if we did not eat people in my country. I said, No: then he said he would kill Dick (as he always called him) first, and afterwards me. Though this hearing relieved my mind a little as to myself, I was alarmed for Dick and whenever he was called I used to be very much afraid he was to be killed; and I would peep and watch to see if they were going to kill him: nor was I free from this consternation till we made the land. One night we lost a man overboard; and the cries and noise were so great and confused, in stopping the ship, that I, who did not know what was the matter, began, as usual, to be very much afraid, and to think they were going to make an offering with me, and perform some magic; which I still believed they dealt in. As the waves were very high I thought the Ruler of the seas was angry, and I expected to be offered up to appease him. This filled my mind with agony, and I could not any more that night close my eyes again to rest. However, when daylight appeared I was a little eased in my mind; but still every time I was called I used to think it was to be killed.
Some time after this we saw some very large fish, which I afterwards found were called grampusses. They looked to me extremely terrible, and made their appearance just at dusk; and were so near as to blow the water on the ship's deck. I believed them to be the rulers of the sea; and, as the white people did not make any offerings at any time, I thought they were angry with them: and, at last, what confirmed my belief was, the wind just then died away, and a calm ensued, and in consequence of it the ship stopped going. I supposed that the fish had performed this, and I hid myself in the fore part of the ship, through fear of being offered up to appease them, every minute peeping and quaking: but my good friend Dick came shortly towards me, and I took an opportunity to ask him, as well as I could, what these fish were. Not being able to talk much English, I could but just make him understand my question; and not at all, when I asked him if any offerings were to be made to them: however, he told me these fish would swallow any body; which sufficiently alarmed me. Here he was called away by the captain, who was leaning over the quarter-deck railing and looking at the fish; and most of the people were busied in getting a barrel of pitch to light, for them to play with. The captain now called me to him, having learned some of my apprehensions from Dick; and having diverted himself and others for some time with my fears, which appeared ludicrous enough in my crying and trembling, he dismissed me. The barrel of pitch was now lighted and put over the side into the water: by this time it was just dark, and the fish went after it; and, to my great joy, I saw them no more.
However, all my alarms began to subside when we got sight of land; and at last the ship arrived at Falmouth, after a passage of thirteen weeks. Every heart on board seemed gladdened on our reaching the shore, and none more than mine. The captain immediately went on shore, and sent on board some fresh provisions, which we wanted very much: we made good use of them, and our famine was soon turned into feasting, almost without ending. It was about the beginning of the spring 1757 when I arrived in England, and I was near twelve years of age at that time. I was very much struck with the buildings and the pavement of the streets in Falmouth; and, indeed, any object I saw filled me with new surprise. One morning, when I got upon deck, I saw it covered all over with the snow that fell over-night: as I had never seen any thing of the kind before, I thought it was salt; so I immediately ran down to the mate and desired him, as well as I could, to come and see how somebody in the night had thrown salt all over the deck. He, knowing what it was, desired me to bring some of it down to him: accordingly I took up a handful of it, which I found very cold indeed; and when I brought it to him he desired me to taste it. I did so, and I was surprised beyond measure. I then asked him what it was; he told me it was snow: but I could not in anywise understand him. He asked me if we had no such thing in my country; and I told him, No.
I then asked him the use of it, and who made it; he told me a great man in the heavens, called God: but here again I was to all intents and purposes at a loss to understand him; and the more so, when a little after I saw the air filled with it, in a heavy shower, which fell down on the same day. After this I went to church; and having never been at such a place before, I was again amazed at seeing and hearing the service. I asked all I could about it; and they gave me to understand it was worshipping God, who made us and all things. I was still at a great loss, and soon got into an endless field of inquiries, as well as I was able to speak and ask about things. However, my little friend Dick used to be my best interpreter; for I could make free with him, and he always instructed me with pleasure: and from what I could understand by him of this God, and in seeing these white people did not sell one another, as we did, I was much pleased; and in this I thought they were much happier than we Africans. I was astonished at the wisdom of the white people in all things I saw; but was amazed at their not sacrificing, or making any offerings, and eating with unwashed hands, and touching the dead. I likewise could not help remarking the particular slenderness of their women, which I did not at first like; and I thought they were not so modest and shamefaced as the African women.
I had often seen my master and Dick employed in reading; and I had a great curiosity to talk to the books, as I thought they did; and so to learn how all things had a beginning: for that purpose I have often taken up a book, and have talked to it, and then put my ears to it, when alone, in hopes it would answer me; and I have been very much concerned when I found it remained silent.
My master lodged at the house of a gentleman in Falmouth, who had a fine little daughter about six or seven years of age, and she grew prodigiously fond of me; insomuch that we used to eat together, and had servants to wait on us. I was so much caressed by this family that it often reminded me of the treatment I had received from my little noble African master. After I had been here a few days, I was sent on board of the ship; but the child cried so much after me that nothing could pacify her till I was sent for again. It is ludicrous enough, that I began to fear I should be betrothed to this young lady; and when my master asked me if I would stay there with her behind him, as he was going away with the ship, which had taken in the tobacco again, I cried immediately, and said I would not leave her. At last, by stealth, one night I was sent on board the ship again; and in a little time we sailed for Guernsey, where she was in part owned by a merchant, one Nicholas Doberry. As I was now amongst a people who had not their faces scarred, like some of the African nations where I had been, I was very glad I did not let them ornament me in that manner when I was with them. When we arrived at Guernsey, my master placed me to board and lodge with one of his mates, who had a wife and family there; and some months afterwards he went to England, and left me in care of this mate, together with my friend Dick: This mate had a little daughter, aged about five or six years, with whom I used to be much delighted. I had often observed that when her mother washed her face it looked very rosy; but when she washed mine it did not look so: I therefore tried oftentimes myself if I could not by washing make my face of the same colour as my little play-mate (Mary), but it was all in vain; and I now began to be mortified at the difference in our complexions. This woman behaved to me with great kindness and attention; and taught me every thing in the same manner as she did her own child, and indeed in every respect treated me as such. I remained here till the summer of the year 1757; when my master, being appointed first lieutenant of his majesty's ship the Roebuck, sent for Dick and me, and his old mate: on this we all left Guernsey, and set out for England in a sloop bound for London. As we were coming up towards the Nore, where the Roebuck lay, a man of war's boat came alongside to press our people; on which each man ran to hide himself. I was very much frightened at this, though I did not know what it meant, or what to think or do. However I went and hid myself also under a hencoop. Immediately afterwards the press-gang came on board with their swords drawn, and searched all about, pulled the people out by force, and put them into the boat. At last I was found out also: the man that found me held me up by the heels while they all made their sport of me, I roaring and crying out all the time most lustily: but at last the mate, who was my conductor, seeing this, came to my assistance, and did all he could to pacify me; but all to very little purpose, till I had seen the boat go off. Soon afterwards we came to the Nore, where the Roebuck lay; and, to our great joy, my master came on board to us, and brought us to the ship. When I went on board this large ship, I was amazed indeed to see the quantity of men and the guns. However my surprise began to diminish as my knowledge increased; and I ceased to feel those apprehensions and alarms which had taken such strong possession of me when I first came among the Europeans, and for some time after. I began now to pass to an opposite extreme; I was so far from being afraid of any thing new which I saw, that, after I had been some time in this ship, I even began to long for a battle. My griefs too, which in young minds are not perpetual, were now wearing away; and I soon enjoyed myself pretty well, and felt tolerably easy in my present situation. There was a number of boys on board, which still made it more agreeable; for we were always together, and a great part of our time was spent in play. I remained in this ship a considerable time, during which we made several cruises, and visited a variety of places: among others we were twice in Holland, and brought over several persons of distinction from it, whose names I do not now remember. On the passage, one day, for the diversion of those gentlemen, all the boys were called on the quarter-deck, and were paired proportionably, and then made to fight; after which the gentleman gave the combatants from five to nine shillings each. This was the first time I ever fought with a white boy; and I never knew what it was to have a bloody nose before. This made me fight most desperately; I suppose considerably more than an hour: and at last, both of us being weary, we were parted. I had a great deal of this kind of sport afterwards, in which the captain and the ship's company used very much to encourage me. Sometime afterwards the ship went to Leith in Scotland, and from thence to the Orkneys, where I was surprised in seeing scarcely any night: and from thence we sailed with a great fleet, full of soldiers, for England. All this time we had never come to an engagement, though we were frequently cruising off the coast of France: during which we chased many vessels, and took in all seventeen prizes. I had been learning many of the manoeuvres of the ship during our cruise; and I was several times made to fire the guns. One evening, off Havre de Grace, just as it was growing dark, we were standing off shore, and met with a fine large French-built frigate. We got all things immediately ready for fighting; and I now expected I should be gratified in seeing an engagement, which I had so long wished for in vain. But the very moment the word of command was given to fire we heard those on board the other ship cry 'Haul down the jib;' and in that instant she hoisted English colours. There was instantly with us an amazing cry of-Avast! or stop firing; and I think one or two guns had been let off, but happily they did no mischief. We had hailed them several times; but they not hearing, we received no answer, which was the cause of our firing. The boat was then sent on board of her, and she proved to be the Ambuscade man of war, to my no small disappointment. We returned to Portsmouth, without having been in any action, just at the trial of Admiral Byng (whom I saw several times during it): and my master having left the ship, and gone to London for promotion, Dick and I were put on board the Savage sloop of war, and we went in her to assist in bringing off the St. George man of war, that had ran ashore somewhere on the coast. After staying a few weeks on board the Savage, Dick and I were sent on shore at Deal, where we remained some short time, till my master sent for us to London, the place I had long desired exceedingly to see. We therefore both with great pleasure got into a waggon, and came to London, where we were received by a Mr. Guerin, a relation of my master. This gentleman had two sisters, very amiable ladies, who took much notice and great care of me. Though I had desired so much to see London, when I arrived in it I was unfortunately unable to gratify my curiosity; for I had at this time the chilblains to such a degree that I could not stand for several months, and I was obliged to be sent to St. George's Hospital. There I grew so ill, that the doctors wanted to cut my left leg off at different times, apprehending a mortification; but I always said I would rather die than suffer it; and happily (I thank God) I recovered without the operation. After being there several weeks, and just as I had recovered, the small-pox broke out on me, so that I was again confined; and I thought myself now particularly unfortunate. However I soon recovered again; and by this time my master having been promoted to be first lieutenant of the Preston man of war of fifty guns, then new at Deptford, Dick and I were sent on board her, and soon after we went to Holland to bring over the late Duke of -- to England.-While I was in this ship an incident happened, which, though trifling, I beg leave to relate, as I could not help taking particular notice of it, and considering it then as a judgment of God. One morning a young man was looking up to the fore-top, and in a wicked tone, common on shipboard, d--d his eyes about something. Just at the moment some small particles of dirt fell into his left eye, and by the evening it was very much inflamed. The next day it grew worse; and within six or seven days he lost it. From this ship my master was appointed a lieutenant on board the Royal George. When he was going he wished me to stay on board the Preston, to learn the French horn; but the ship being ordered for Turkey I could not think of leaving my master, to whom I was very warmly attached; and I told him if he left me behind it would break my heart. This prevailed on him to take me with him; but he left Dick on board the Preston, whom I embraced at parting for the last time. The Royal George was the largest ship I had ever seen; so that when I came on board of her I was surprised at the number of people, men, women, and children, of every denomination; and the largeness of the guns, many of them also of brass, which I had never seen before. Here were also shops or stalls of every kind of goods, and people crying their different commodities about the ship as in a town. To me it appeared a little world, into which I was again cast without a friend, for I had no longer my dear companion Dick. We did not stay long here. My master was not many weeks on board before he got an appointment to be sixth lieutenant of the Namur, which was then at Spithead, fitting up for Vice-admiral Boscawen, who was going with a large fleet on an expedition against Louisburgh. The crew of the Royal George were turned over to her, and the flag of that gallant admiral was hoisted on board, the blue at the maintop-gallant mast head. There was a very great fleet of men of war of every description assembled together for this expedition, and I was in hopes soon to have an opportunity of being gratified with a sea-fight. All things being now in readiness, this mighty fleet (for there was also Admiral Cornish's fleet in company, destined for the East Indies) at last weighed anchor, and sailed. The two fleets continued in company for several days, and then parted; Admiral Cornish, in the Lenox, having first saluted our admiral in the Namur, which he returned. We then steered for America; but, by contrary winds, we were driven to Teneriffe, where I was struck with its noted peak. Its prodigious height, and its form, resembling a sugar-loaf, filled me with wonder. We remained in sight of this island some days, and then proceeded for America, which we soon made, and got into a very commodious harbour called St. George, in Halifax, where we had fish in great plenty, and all other fresh provisions. We were here joined by different men of war and transport ships with soldiers; after which, our fleet being increased to a prodigious number of ships of all kinds, we sailed for Cape Breton in Nova Scotia. We had the good and gallant General Wolfe on board our ship, whose affability made him highly esteemed and beloved by all the men. He often honoured me, as well as other boys, with marks of his notice; and saved me once a flogging for fighting with a young gentleman. We arrived at Cape Breton in the summer of 1758: and here the soldiers were to be landed, in order to make an attack upon Louisbourgh. My master had some part in superintending the landing; and here I was in a small measure gratified in seeing an encounter between our men and the enemy. The French were posted on the shore to receive us, and disputed our landing for a long time; but at last they were driven from their trenches, and a complete landing was effected. Our troops pursued them as far as the town of Louisbourgh. In this action many were killed on both sides. One thing remarkable I saw this day:-A lieutenant of the Princess Amelia, who, as well as my master, superintended the landing, was giving the word of command, and while his mouth was open a musquet ball went through it, and passed out at his cheek. I had that day in my hand the scalp of an indian king, who was killed in the engagement: the scalp had been taken off by an Highlander. I saw this king's ornaments too, which were very curious, and made of feathers.
Our land forces laid siege to the town of Louisbourgh, while the French men of war were blocked up in the harbour by the fleet, the batteries at the same time playing upon them from the land. This they did with such effect, that one day I saw some of the ships set on fire by the shells from the batteries, and I believe two or three of them were quite burnt. At another time, about fifty boats belonging to the English men of war, commanded by Captain George Balfour of the Ætna fire-ship, and another junior captain, Laforey, attacked and boarded the only two remaining French men of war in the harbour. They also set fire to a seventy-gun ship, but a sixty-four, called the Bienfaisant, they brought off. During my stay here I had often an opportunity of being near Captain Balfour, who was pleased to notice me, and liked me so much that he often asked my master to let him have me, but he would not part with me; and no consideration could have induced me to leave him. At last Louisbourgh was taken, and the English men of war came into the harbour before it, to my very great joy; for I had now more liberty of indulging myself, and I went often on shore. When the ships were in the harbour we had the most beautiful procession on the water I ever saw. All the admirals and captains of the men of war, full dressed, and in their barges, well ornamented with pendants, came alongside of the Namur. The vice-admiral then went on shore in his barge, followed by the other officers in order of seniority, to take possession, as I suppose, of the town and fort. Some time after this the French governor and his lady, and other persons of note, came on board our ship to dine. On this occasion our ships were dressed with colours of all kinds, from the topgallant-mast head to the deck; and this, with the firing of guns, formed a most grand and magnificent spectacle.
As soon as every thing here was settled Admiral Boscawen sailed with part of the fleet for England, leaving some ships behind with Rear-admirals Sir Charles Hardy and Durell. It was now winter; and one evening, during our passage home, about dusk, when we were in the channel, or near soundings, and were beginning to look for land, we descried seven sail of large men of war, which stood off shore. Several people on board of our ship said, as the two fleets were (in forty minutes from the first sight) within hail of each other, that they were English men of war; and some of our people even began to name some of the ships. By this time both fleets began to mingle, and our admiral ordered his flag to be hoisted. At that instant the other fleet, which were French, hoisted their ensigns, and gave us a broadside as they passed by. Nothing could create greater surprise and confusion among us than this: the wind was high, the sea rough, and we had our lower and middle deck guns housed in, so that not a single gun on board was ready to be fired at any of the French ships. However, the Royal William and the Somerset being our sternmost ships, became a little prepared, and each gave the French ships a broadside as they passed by. I afterwards heard this was a French squadron, commanded by Mons. Conflans; and certainly had the Frenchmen known our condition, and had a mind to fight us, they might have done us great mischief. But we were not long before we were prepared for an engagement. Immediately many things were tossed overboard; the ships were made ready for fighting as soon as possible; and about ten at night we had bent a new main sail, the old one being split. Being now in readiness for fighting, we wore ship, and stood after the French fleet, who were one or two ships in number more than we.
However we gave them chase, and continued pursuing them all night; and at daylight we saw six of them, all large ships of the line, and an English East Indiaman, a prize they had taken. We chased them all day till between three and four o'clock in the evening, when we came up with, and passed within a musquet shot of, one seventy-four gun ship, and the Indiaman also, who now hoisted her colours, but immediately hauled them down again. On this we made a signal for the other ships to take possession of her; and, supposing the man of war would likewise strike, we cheered, but she did not; though if we had fired into her, from being so near, we must have taken her. To my utter surprise the Somerset, who was the next ship astern of the Namur, made way likewise; and, thinking they were sure of this French ship, they cheered in the same manner, but still continued to follow us. The French Commodore was about a gun-shot ahead of all, running from us with all speed; and about four o'clock he carried his foretopmast overboard. This caused another loud cheer with us; and a little after the topmast came close by us; but, to our great surprise, instead of coming up with her, we found she went as fast as ever, if not faster. The sea grew now much smoother; and the wind lulling, the seventy-four gun ship we had passed came again by us in the very same direction, and so near, that we heard her people talk as she went by; yet not a shot was fired on either side; and about five or six o'clock, just as it grew dark, she joined her commodore.
We chased all night; but the next day they were out of sight, so that we saw no more of them; and we only had the old Indiaman (called Carnarvon I think) for our trouble. After this we stood in for the channel, and soon made the land; and, about the close of the year 1758-9, we got safe to St. Helen's. Here the Namur ran aground; and also another large ship astern of us; but, by starting our water, and tossing many things overboard to lighten her, we got the ships off without any damage. We stayed for a short time at Spithead, and then went into Portsmouth harbour to refit; from whence the admiral went to London; and my master and I soon followed, with a press-gang, as we wanted some hands to complete our complement.
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Board : a long, thin, flat piece of wood or other hard material, used for floors or other building purposes
Hoist : raise (something) by means of ropes and pulleys
Overboard : from a ship into the water
Seniority : the fact or state of being older or higher in position or status than someone else
Affability : the quality of having a friendly and good-natured manner
Fleet : a group of ships sailing together, engaged in the same activity, or under the same ownership
Libation : a drink poured out as an offering to a deity
Prodigious : remarkably or impressively great in extent, size, or degree
Aground : (of a ship) lying on or touching the ground under shallow water
Jocular : fond of or characterized by joking; humorous or playful

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Rating: Words in the Passage: 6282 Unique Words: 1,240 Sentences: 193
Noun: 1229 Conjunction: 633 Adverb: 521 Interjection: 5
Adjective: 345 Pronoun: 821 Verb: 1114 Preposition: 808
Letter Count: 25,478 Sentiment: Positive / Positive / Positive Tone: Conversational Difficult Words: 753
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