CHAPTER IV
THE SLAVER AND HER OUTFIT
There were Tiny Ships in the Trade — One Vessel had a Capacity of 5,000 Gallons of Molasses Only, and Even Open Row-Boats were used in the Nineteenth Century — Dimensions of a Slaver's Timbers — The Famous Venus, a Forerunner of the Yankee Clippers — Steamers that were in the Trade — The Blubber Kettles of Whalers used for Boiling Rice and Yams — Rum, Guns, and Coin were the Favorite Articles of Traffic, but Silks, Laces, Parasols and Other Goods for the Use of Women of Education and Delicate Tastes were Wanted — A Naval Officer's Estimate for a Slaver's Outfit.
The Desire, built at Marblehead, in 1636, was the earliest American slaver of which we have the size, and she, as already noted, was "a vessel of 120 tons." Another slaver of those days was the Oak Tree, "Jansen Eykenboom, from Hoorn, master under God." In a charter-party dated "in the year of the birth of our Lord and Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ, 1659, the 25th of January," under which the Oak Tree was to "sail, with the first favourable wind and weather which God may vouchsafe, from the harbor [New York] direct toward the coast of Africa," the size of the ship is given: “In length 120 ft, in width 2512 ft, draft 11 ft, above the waterline 5 to 6 ft, with a poop deck."
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