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Historical Document Alexander Falconbridge's account of the slave trade 1788 |
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Click here for the text of this historical document. "The following sheets are intended to lay before the public the present state of a branch of the British commerce, which, ever since its existence, has been held in detestation by all good men, but at this time more particularly engages the attention of the nation, and is become the object of general reprobation."
Thus begins Alexander Falconbridge's book, An Account of the Slave Trade on the Coast of Africa. Employed as a surgeon aboard various slave ships, Falconbridge had first-hand knowledge of many aspects of the slave trade, which he related in detail in his popular narrative. The book covered the trade from when the ships first acquired African captives along the African coast, through the treatment of these people during the Middle Passage, to the time they were sold into hereditary bondage in the West Indies.
Popular with England's abolitionists, Falconbridge later became governor of a new colony established for freed slaves at Africa's Sierra Leone. This appointment was short-lived, however. Falconbridge was fired and died shortly thereafter.
Related Entries:
• Efforts to end the slave trade
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