Description of a slave ship.

Unknown artist

1789

1 sheet : ill. ; 64 cm.

Princeton Digital PUL

This is a diagram illustrating the layout and dimensions of a slave ship, showing the arrangement of decks and the capacity for enslaved people. This is a diagram illustrating the layout and dimensions of a slave ship, showing the arrangement of decks and the capacity for enslaved people. Two variants are known, one illustrated by wood cuts and the other illustrated with a copper plate engraving. The broadside was first published between 21 and 28 April 1789. According to minutes of the London Committee of the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade, the printing orders are recorded on 28 July 1789 as follows: '1,700 Description of a Slave Ship with copper plate; 7,000 ditto with wood cuts.' Cf. Cheryl Finley, Committed to memory : the slave ship icon in the b