Narrative Accounts, 1680–1806

On the Water - Theme: Life at Sea

Narrative Accounts, 1680–1806

English Sea Captain, 1680

The Maner of the Ship Sampson in stress of Wether on the 25 day of Aprill, 1694, in South Lattitude 29 degreis & 50 minutes.

Drawing by Edward Barlow from his journal

Courtesy of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.

Hurricane winds and high seas

Edward Barlow describes conditions in the Caribbean during a voyage from Jamaica to England in 1680.

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Enslaved African Man, 1756

Olaudah Equiano, engraving by Daniel Orme, after W. Denton, 1789

Courtesy National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, NPG.78.82

The Middle Passage

Olaudah Equiano describes his sickness and terror as an 11-year-old captive aboard a slave ship from Africa to Barbados in 1756.

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American Woman Passenger, 1778

“Dominia Anglorum in America Septentrionali,” 1759.

Courtesy of Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress.

Seasickness, a “frolick,” and storms

Louisa Susannah Wells describes conditions in the North Atlantic during a voyage from New York to London in 1778.

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English Sailor, 1787

Map of Philadelphia and Parts Adjacent, by N. Scull and G. Heap, 1752.

Courtesy of Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress.

Rats aboard ship

Samuel Kelly describes his encounters with shipboard vermin on a voyage to Philadelphia in 1787.

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American Officer on Slaver, 1795

Joseph Hawkins, 1797.

Reproduced from A History of a Voyage to the Coast of Africa...

Slave ship

Joseph Hawkins describes bringing slaves to a ship and preparing to sail from Africa to the West Indies in 1795.

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American Sailor (Former Slave), 1806

John Jea.

Reproduced from The Life, History, and Unparalleled Sufferings of John Jea, the African Preacher.

Learning the way of a ship

John Jea describes his confusion and fright on his first voyage from Boston to Liverpool in about 1806.

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