the research microsite

Return to Explore the Rockefeller Library Collections page

Abstract of a cargoe for the Windward Coast, Africa(1756)

  • MS 2008.17
  • 1 item

An abstract listing the cargo of an unknown slave trader bound for the Windward Coast of Africa, modern Côte d’Ivoire. The trader was most likely from Liverpool as some of the cargo is from Manchester. The cargo consists chiefly of manufactured goods including cloth, beads, muskets and spirits. Much of the cloth is Indian in origin, chiloes, brawles, niccanees, and bijudipauts. There are some raw materials including lead and iron listed in the cargo. The mention of cloth from Benin “if to be gott” implies trading en route. The cargo was to be traded for 250 slaves.

There is a notation in pencil which may suggest 40 of the slaves were lost during the voyage. Slavevoyages.org shows one voyage in 1756 that left Africa with 250 slaves and reached America with 210 (see entry 24046). That voyage was undertaken by the Bromley commanded by Captain Collins. There is a brief notice of the Bromley’s arrival at Barbados in Read’s Weekly Journal, or British Gazeteer dated May 15, 1756.