Brooks (1781 ship)
The Brookes print was an image widely used by campaigners for the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade. First designed in Plymouth, UK, in 1788 by the Plymouth Chapter of the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade [1] and depicting the conditions on board the slave ship Brooke. The print has become an iconic image of the inhumanity of the slave trade.
The image portrayed slaves arranged on the ship's lower planking and poop deck, in accordance with the Regulated Slave Trade Act of 1788.[2]
The Brookes was reportedly allowed to stow 454 African slaves, by allowing a space of 6 feet (1.8 m) by 1 foot 4 inches (0.41 m) to each man; 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m) by 1 foot 4 inches (0.41 m) to each women, and 5 feet (1.5 m) by 1 foot 2 inches (0.36 m) to each child. However, the poster's text alleges that a slave trader confessed that before the Act, the Brookes had carried as many as 609 slaves at one time.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).[3]
References
- ^ "The Brookes - visualising the transatlantic slave trade". 2007. Retrieved 2008-03-06.
- ^ "Stowage of the British slave ship "Brookes" under the regulated slave trade act of 1788. [n. p. n. d.]. -- Piece 1 of 1,". An American Time Capsule: Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera. The Library of Congress. Retrieved 22 July 2011.
- ^ "The Brookes - visualising the transatlantic slave trade". 1807 Commemorated: The abolition of the slave trade. Institute for the Public Understanding of the Past. 2007. Retrieved 17 July 2011.