16. The Vile Conditions in the Holds of Slave Ships
The journey of slaves from Africa to the New World was often described as hellish, and for once, the word was not used as literary hyperbole. Few things were darker, grimmer, and more macabre than the hold of a slave ship during the Middle Passage. To save space, slaves were chained by their ankles in pairs, and shackled to a post. Some ships allowed the slaves to move about during the day, but most kept them shackled in place for the entire journey. They were fed one meal a day with water, if at all.
Bodily functions had to be performed in place, and the chained Africans often spent the entire journey soiled in urine, vomit, and excrement. Diseases in the slave holds were rife, and mortality rates were high. Crews avoided entry into the dark and fetid human cargo holds, and slaves sometimes spent days shackled to rotting corpses. The stench was horrific, and sailors in other vessels frequently stated that they were able to smell slave ships from miles away, long before they hove into view.
