16. Sailors were reluctant to crew the slave ships
Throughout the period of the transatlantic slave trade, most sailors tried to avoid sailing on slave ships. Their reasons for doing so varied. One was the initial destination, the West Coast of Africa, a region known for its pestilential diseases and other dangers. The Middle Passage presented another danger, one well known to sailors by the beginning of the nineteenth century. About ten percent of all slave ships making the Middle Passage suffered some sort of insurrection during the voyage, often with injuries or death among the ship’s crew. Sailors on slave ships also served as jail guards, and were responsible for administering punishments as ordered by the Captain and other officers. For the most part, common sailors received little pay from the long, arduous voyages. And the mortality rate on slave ships was about the same as it was for the slaves.
On the other hand, Captains and shipowners received lucrative remuneration for their voyages, with some becoming quite wealthy. This led them to use whatever means they could find to recruit crews for their vessels. The threat of debtor’s prison pressured sailors into signing on for a voyage. Often ship officers used guile to lure a sailor into debt, and then offered the unemployed sailor a choice of imprisonment or sailing on a slave ship. Few merchant ships hired sailors with a prison record, though the British Navy had no such qualms. Once a sailor participated in the transatlantic slave trade, he found it difficult to obtain employment out of it. Captains would blacklist them as unreliable, mutinous, and the like. This left them with no choice but to remain in the trade or find another profession.