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The paged version of this document contained the following header content in the margin: Loss among such as are discharged or desert in the West Indies—horrid state of them there.
deplorable objects, are applied to them. They are mentioned again to be destitute, and starving, and without the means of support, no merchantmen taking them in because they are unable to work, and men of war refusing them for fear of infection. Many of them are also described to be lying about in a dying stat; and others have been actually found dead, and the bodies of others have been seen carrying by the negroes to be interred.
As a farther proof, and that an undeniable one, that the above description of persons is notorious in the islands, it appears by the evidence, that they are marked by a peculiar and cant-name, according to the sort of place which they usually haunt. When they are seen lying about the cranes and wharfs, they are termed wharfingers, when on the beach, and where there are no wharfs. Beach-Horners, and they are known by the appellation of Scowbankers at Dominique.
It may be remarked here, that this diseased and forlorn state of the seamen is so inseparable from the slave trade, that the different evidences have not only witnessed it at Jamaica, Antigua, and Barbadoes, (the places mentioned by Captain Hall) but wherever they have seen Guinea-men arrive, namely at St. Vincents, Grenada, Dominique, and in North America also. [1]
Having now traced the bad effects of the slave trade as visible among the seamen, while employed in it, and among those also who leave it at the port of delivery, it may be proper to add, that they are perceptible among many of them, even after their return to their native country: for Mr. Falconbridge says, that he was a pupil
- ↑ The reasons why such immense numbers are left behind in the West Indies, as are found in this deplorable state, are the following. The seamen leave their ships from ill usage, says Ellison. It is usual for Captains, say Clappeson and Young, to treat them ill, that they may desert and forfeit their wages. Three others state, they are left behind purposely by their Captains; and Mr. H. Ross adds, in these emphat cal words, "that it was no uncommon thing for the Captains to send on shore, a few hours before they sail, their lame, emaciated, and sick seamen, leaving them to perish."
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