12. Suicides were common among the captive Africans
Most captured Africans remained relatively peaceful while still in Africa, though many attempted to escape and flee back to their homes. Even while in the factories many retained the hope of regaining their freedom. But once aboard the ships carrying them away from their homeland, they reacted in different ways. Some became despondent, others angrily resistant. Both led to different behaviors during the voyage. Some simply refused to eat, either from despair or as a means of committing suicide. Others resisted by fighting with crewmen, resulting in severe beatings and often death. Still, others resisted by committing suicide, through a variety of means, including jumping over the side. Some ships dispatched a boat to recover the jumper, others simply watched him or her drown. Still, others shot them while they were in the water.
One West African ethnic group, the Kru, made themselves undesirable as African slaves. They were known to kill themselves within hours of capture, if not sooner. Many killed themselves rather than submit to capture. Aboard the slave ships, crews trained in the methods of preventing suicides and force-feeding those who refused their rations. Safety nets were spread along the sides of the ship when Africans were on deck, and some captains simply kept their cargo battened down for the length of the voyage. Still, many Africans succeeded in killing themselves during the voyage, avoiding a life of slavery in a strange land. Enough so that investors and shippers rated captains for, among other things, the number of suicides lost under his command. To them a suicide, by any means, represented a loss of valuable cargo.