Conditions were dirty, smelly and deadly
The cramped conditions below deck were not just uncomfortable and dehumanizing for the slaves, they were deadly too. In such confined spaces, disease was rife and spread quickly. Below deck, the sights, sounds and perhaps above all, the smell, would have been simply overwhelming. Understandably, ship captains tried to stay as far away from the slaves’ quarters as possible, leaving the lowest members of the crew to look after them.
Not surprisingly, the leading cause of death among slaves was dysentery. Indeed, it was so common it even had its own name among the crews, being known as “the Flux”. This was caused by the unsanitary conditions below deck, especially by the lack of proper toilet facilities. While a ship’s crew would be required to clean the slaves on a regular basis, dysentery outbreaks were only too common and would spread quickly and easily, killing even the strongest of slaves in a couple of days. As well as urine and faeces everywhere, the decks would also be covered in vomit. Almost none of the enslaved men and women had ever been to sea before and so, in the rough waters of the Atlantic, seasickness was very common, only adding to the unsanitary conditions.
Almost as serious was smallpox. Again, the cramped conditions meant that a single case could spread rapidly, killing dozens of slaves and even crew members. In bad weather, crews kept slaves below the deck for days at a time for fear of losing any of their human cargo overboard. This placed them at heightened risk of contracting the Pox or any other disease passing through the slaves.
The records from the slave trade show that, up until the 1750s, around one in five of the African slaves being carried on these ships died mid-journey. By 1800, this ratio had fallen to around one in 18, a significant improvement. This was due mainly to the British and French, who, towards the end of the 18th century passed laws aimed at improving conditions on the slave ships. One such law required ships to have a ‘surgeon’ onboard to look after the slaves’ health. In many cases, these were men with little or no medical training or knowledge, and they could be extremely cruel themselves. Nevertheless, they were paid ‘head money’ to keep their charges alive, and the greed rather than the compassion or skills of the surgeons meant many more slaves made it across the Atlantic.