Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 Lost in Translation? Tracking Robinson Crusoe across the Eighteenth Century
- 2 Vernon's Nemesis: The Caribbean Expeditions of 1741–42
- 3 War, Race and Labour in Caribbean Waters, 1740–50
- 4 Piracy and Slavery aboard the Black Prince, 1760–77
- 5 Rebellion, War and the Jamaican Conspiracy of 1776
- 6 War, Race and Marginality: The Mosquito Coast in the Eighteenth Century
- 7 Eighteenth-century Warfare in the Tropics: The Nicaraguan Expedition of 1780
- 8 The Carbet and the Plantation: The Black Caribs of Saint Vincent
- Epilogue: The Caribbean Crucible at the Turn of the Century
- Appendix: Black Risings, Conspiracies and Marronage, 1773–80
- Bibliography
- Index
- STUDIES IN EARLY MODERN CULTURAL, POLITICAL AND SOCIAL HISTORY
4 - Piracy and Slavery aboard the Black Prince, 1760–77
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 May 2022
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 Lost in Translation? Tracking Robinson Crusoe across the Eighteenth Century
- 2 Vernon's Nemesis: The Caribbean Expeditions of 1741–42
- 3 War, Race and Labour in Caribbean Waters, 1740–50
- 4 Piracy and Slavery aboard the Black Prince, 1760–77
- 5 Rebellion, War and the Jamaican Conspiracy of 1776
- 6 War, Race and Marginality: The Mosquito Coast in the Eighteenth Century
- 7 Eighteenth-century Warfare in the Tropics: The Nicaraguan Expedition of 1780
- 8 The Carbet and the Plantation: The Black Caribs of Saint Vincent
- Epilogue: The Caribbean Crucible at the Turn of the Century
- Appendix: Black Risings, Conspiracies and Marronage, 1773–80
- Bibliography
- Index
- STUDIES IN EARLY MODERN CULTURAL, POLITICAL AND SOCIAL HISTORY
Summary
In these days of Brexit, the Black Prince may well conjure up images of Edward of Woodstock, aka the Black Prince, the eldest son of Edward III and one of the most successful English commanders of the Hundred Years War, a major player in the defeat of the French at the Battle of Crécy in 1346. But the Black Prince was also the name of a Bristol slaver which between 1750 and 1769 made eight voyages to the African coast before it was scuttled on the shores of Haiti. The tale of the Bristol Black Prince is one of risk, violence and treachery. Its history dramatizes many of the hazards of the Bristol slave trade.
The Black Prince was built after the heyday of Bristol's slave trade, which lasted from the late Stuart era until roughly 1745, the year of the Jacobite rebellion. By then, the trade was dominated by Bristol's northern rival Liverpool, although Bristol's trafficking in slaves still equalled London and was greater than any other European or North American port. Between 1746 and 1769, an average of twenty-four ships cleared Bristol every year with thirty or more leaving the Avon for Africa in the immediate aftermath of two wars, in 1747–48 and again in 1763–64. In the years 1748 to 1750 the outlays for a single ship ranged from £2,800 to £10,000, the average running at £5,539, in today's terms around £750,000. This was a substantial investment in what was a potentially profitable but always risky enterprise. Fortunes could be made, but as the American slave merchant and commission agent Henry Laurens put it in 1755, ‘every one that enters upon it should fortify themselves’ against misfortune.
The Black Prince did make money. In four out of nine voyages between 1750 and 1765 for which we have figures, it transported an average of 314 slaves; almost double the capacity it would have done under the Dolben act decades later. It was refitted to bring in more. Its next voyage, however, proved a disaster.
The Black Prince was built on the Thames in 1739. She was officially a 100-ton vessel although alterations to the hold could increase her capacity.
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- Blood WatersWar, Disease and Race in the Eighteenth-Century British Caribbean, pp. 84 - 101Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2021