Description
- Abstract:
- In addition to being brutal and inhumane, transatlantic slave trading was also a complex, competitive business, placing a premium on experience and knowledge of local conditions on the African coast. Having determined to send the Sally to Africa, the Brown brothers offered the ship to William Earle, who had commanded their previous slave trading vessel, the Wheel of Fortune, in 1759. But Earl declined, having already accepted the command of an Africa-bound ship owned by Simeon Potter, a leading Rhode Island slave trader. In this letter, dated August 4, 1764, Joseph Wanton, a Newport merchant and ship's captain, offers his services. Being "well acquainted and well experienced in the Ginea Trade all Down the Coasts," Wanton was confident that he could give the Browns satisfaction. In the event, the Browns offered the ship to the inexperienced Esek Hopkins, a decision that Wanton predicted they would regret
Access Conditions
- Rights
- No Copyright - United States
- Restrictions on Use
- Collection is open for research.
Citation
Wanton, Joseph,
"Wanton, Joseph to Nicholas Brown & Co.:
August 4, 1764
"
(1764).
Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice, Voyage of the Sally.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://repository.library.brown.edu/studio/item/bdr:303401/
Relations
Has Parts:
-
Wanton, Joseph to Nicholas Brown & Co.: August 4, 1764
- Type: Page-Image
- Order: 1
Collections:
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Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice
An archive of a wide array of historical documents, from the records of slaving voyages to student commencement orations, digitized in support of the work of the University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice. The collection contains over one hundred …... -
Voyage of the Sally
...Documentary evidence of the first slave trading voyage sponsored by the Brown brothers of Providence, RI. This project arose from the work of the Brown University Committee on Slavery and Justice, led by James Campbell. The committee investigated the contributions …