“African Chief Jingua” (lithograph), 164f
African rebels: collective-action planning process, 122, 123, 129–30; conflicts between cultural groups, 132–33; creation of group identity through resistance, 122–23; cruelty of the captains in the face of resistance to food, 120–21, 123, 124; dangers from jumping overboard, 126; depictions as heroes, 138–39, 149, 157; dialectic of discipline and resistance on slave ships, 121–22; divisions between slaves, 133; escaping slavery as basis of revolts, 137–38, 139; insurrections’ effect on trade, 138; joy expressed by captives who jump overboard to escape, 127, 212n16; jumping overboard as a spontaneous resistance to mistreatment, 125, 126–27, 212n16; kinship expanded to include fellow “shipmates,” 142, 143–44; knowledge needed to execute insurrection, 122, 123, 130–32, 134–36; mass suicides by captive slaves, 121, 125, 128, 141; means of self-destruction, 127–28; new bonds of community, 144–45; newspaper reports of uprisings, 138–39; officers’ and crews’ fear of insurrection, 124–25, 126, 129; official accounting of causes of death, 128–29, 211–12nn15–16; post-insurrection hunger strikes, 125; probable outcomes of insurrections, 136–37; purpose of hunger strikes, 123–24; reuniting of kin aboard slave ships, 142–43; ships’ crews’ purposeful retaliation against suicide, 140–41; slave protests in Charleston, 89–90; statistics on insurrections, 138; tale of a hunger strike leading to a revolt, 120–21; West African spiritual beliefs and role in resistance, 139–41; women’s role in uprisings, 126, 130, 133
Africans: in America (see African Americans); Chamba people, 133; conflicts between cultural groups, 132–33; Coromantee people, 133, 137; divisions between groups, 133; facilitation of slavery by ships, 6; Fante of the Gold Coast, 132, 133; Ibau people, 140; Ibibio of the Bight of Biafra, 133; Igbo people, 133; kinships developed while on ships, 142, 143–44; Kru of the Windward Coast, 132; Mandinka people, 163; Mende people, 163; participation in uprisings as members of “motley crews” (see motley crews); pirate visits to Africa, 65; resistance to captivity (see African rebels; Amistad rebellion); a sailor’s sentiments about slaves, 43; West African spiritual beliefs and role in resistance to captivity, 139–41
Afro-Christianity, 104–5
agave (curatoe), 58
Agreement of the Free People of England (1649), 112
Aitken, James “Jack the Painter,” 99
Akan religion, 101
Aldridge, Ira, 157
Algerine War, 151
Allen, John, 105, 107, 111
Allen, Richard, 78
American Museum, 148
American Revolution: challenge to slavery, 118; circulation of revolutionary ideas in port cities, 105; co-existence of a revolutionary spirit in England and America, 90, 99–100; generation of radical ideas at sea, 8, 92, 93–94, 96–97, 105, 107, 108–10; ideology of “the people” and, 94–95; impact of motley crews’ resistance to the Stamp Act, 107–8; inauguration of an age of revolution worldwide, 117–19; incorporation of arguments for human freedom into observations of uprisings, 105–6; intimidation of British officials by motley crews, 108–9; motley crews’ disconnect with intellectuals’ vision for obtaining independence, 112–16; motley crews’ exclusion from the new republic, 115–16, 119; motley crews’ role in, 90–91, 107, 110–12; and propagation of the antinomian notion of moral conscience, 111–12; slaves’ place in, 105–6, 114–15; worldwide reverberation of, 90–91
Amistad rebellion: abolitionists’ rally around the rebels, 148–49, 165–67, 215n6; antislavery content in depictions of, 171–72, 222n57, 222n60; and “black pirates,” 149–50; as a connection between antislavery rebels and intellectuals, 172–73, 222n62; connection with the history of piracy, 153; depictions of Cinqué (see Cinqué, Joseph); first reports of black pirates, 146–47, 154, 215n3; framing of slave resistance as entertainment, 147–48; impact of, on black Americans, 174–75; impact of the pirate fantasy on legal decisions, 169–70, 222n54; legal battle over piracy, 165–67; legal declaration that the rebels are free, 167; misunderstandings about the origin of the rebels, 162–64, 220n40; newspapers’ framing of, 154, 161, 168; notable lack of violence directed against the rebels, 173, 222n63; options available to Americans for framing of, 168–69, 221n51, 221n54; play about (see Long, Low, Black Schooner); popularity of view of rebels as pirates, 150, 151, 153, 154; proslavery newspapers’ position on, 161–62; rebels’ depictions as heroes, 149, 157, 158–61, 171; rebels’ resistance to capture, 175; seen as impetus for a more radical abolitionism, 173–75; timeline of, 148, 175, 215n6
Amistad Rebellion, The (Rediker), xi
“Anarchiad, The” (poem), 115
Ann (ship), 135
Antonio (cabin boy), 163
Aponga (rebel), 101
Archer, John, 76
Armory Hall, Boston, 148
Ashton, Philip, 80
Atkins, Jeremiah, 53
Atkins, John, 136
Atlantic Ocean: global impact of ships crossing, 1; Middle Passage, 2, 139, 144, 171, 172
Attucks, Crispus, 109, 112, 116
Aubrey, T., 124–25
Austin, Thomas, 52, 53
Bagwell, Peter, 53
Bahamas, 59, 64–65
Balcarres, Lord, 118
Baldwin, Roger, 166, 167
Barbados, 49–50
Barbary Coast, 151, 153
Barlow, Edward: absence of belief in “the dignity of labor,” 44, 45; on being separated from family, 32–33; condemnation of materialism, 41–42; criticism of the wealthy, 38–39; cultural effects of being a seaman, 36; dangers in a seaman’s life, 33; dislike of his situation, 34, 36, 188n11; doubts about English colonialism, 43–44; early life, 31–32; food and wage struggles, 33–34; inability to leave the sea, 36, 188n13; living conditions on ships, 33; pride in his global seafaring, 37; rants against impressment, 39; references to “the poor,” 39–40; timeframe of career, 30–31; values of equality and justice, 40–41; view on authority figures, 37–38; views on politics and religion, 42–43; volume of work, 30; work experience’s effect on worldview, 45
Barlow, Joel, 115
Barrington, George, 19, 110
Bau (rebel), 172
Beach, Moses Yale, 161
Becker, Carl, 113
Bell, Phillip, 174
Bellamy, Samuel, 151
Benezet, Anthony, 103, 105, 111
Benjamin, Walter, 10–11, 12
Bennet, Benjamin, 66
Bennett, James Gordon, 161
Betty (ship), 49
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (Rediker), x
Bight of Biafra, 139
Bishop, Robert, 50–51
Blackbeard (1835), 150
Blackbeard (Teach, Edward), 63, 72, 74, 79, 151
Black Joke (ship), 124
black pirates. See Amistad rebellion
Black Schooner, The. See Long, Low, Black Schooner
“Bloody Assizes,” 48
Bobstay, Ben, 152
Bold Buccaneer, The (play), 157
Bonnet, Stede, 74, 77
Book of Pirates (Brooke), 153
Book of Pirates (Steele), 172, 222n60
Boston Massacre, 109, 110, 112, 116
Boston Newsletter (newspaper), 151
Boston Tea Party, 99
Bowen, James, 143, 144
Bowen, Richard, 130, 133
Bowery Theatre, 154–55, 171, 173
Bow Street Runners, 99
Brand, Phillip, 22
Brandon, William, 23
Brecht, Bertolt, 1
British customs service, 106, 108
Brooke, Henry K., 153
Brooks (ship), 6
Brown, John, 174
Brown, Thomas, 79
buccaneers, 57, 58, 151, 163
Bull, William, 90
Bullinger, Henry, 175
Butterworth, William, 131, 144
Byron, Lord, 150, 174
Cabrero (play character), 155
Caesar (slave), 178–79
Calderón,
Angel, 165
Cane, Constantine, 74
capitalism: collective nature of, 62; dependence on working class, 5–7; impact of the demobilization of the Royal Navy on, 83–84; insurrections’ effect on trade, 138; modes of production essential to, 61–62; origin of the first strike, 8; sailing ships’ impact on world economy, 1–5
Captain Kyd (Ingraham), 157
Carey, Thomas, 217n17
cartographers, 20
Celestino (slave-sailor), 155, 165
Chalmers, Joseph, 110
Chamba people, 133
Charles, James, 128
Charleston, South Carolina, 89–90, 105
Charleston Courier (newspaper), 147
“Chase, The” (Bobstay), 152
Checkley, Thomas, 72
Child, Josiah, 38
Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage (Byron), 174
Christophe, Henri, 117
Cinqué, Joseph: criticisms of positive depictions of, 170; depictions of, in drawings, 147, 149, 158–60, 159f, 160f, 171, 215n6, 219nn32–34; influence of Muslim pirates on depictions of, 163–64, 220n40, 220n43; newspapers’ framing of the rebellion and, 161; noble persona of, 157; proslavery newspapers’ position on, 161–62; symbolism of, 174
City of London (ship), 124
Clare (ship), 136
Clark, Peter, 66
Clarkson, Thomas, 26, 118, 138, 140, 141
class dimension of sailors’ stories, 11
Cocklyn, Thomas, 75, 78
Cohen, Margaret, 2, 24, 184n3
Colden, Cadwallader, 107
Cole, John, 74
Collingwood, Luke, 118, 127
Colored American (newspaper), 174
Columbus, Christopher, 1
Colvill, Alexander, 96
Common Sense (Paine), 113–14
“Common Wind, The” (Scott), 27
Connecticut Courant (newspaper), 152
Connecticut Wits, 115
Conrad, Joseph, 3, 184n4
Constitution, US, 116
Cook, James, 18
Cooke, John, 53
Cooper, James Fenimore, 26, 150, 187n29
Corbett, Michael, 107
Cornish, Samuel, 174
Coromantee people, 133, 137
Corsair, The (Byron), 150, 157
Covey, James, 163
Cremer, “Ramblin’” Jack, 19
Creole (ship), 173
Crow, Hugh, 126, 133, 141
Crusoe, Robinson, 24, 62
Cubah (slave), 101
curatoe (agave), 58
Dampier, William, 16–17, 22–23, 24
Dana, Richard Henry, 150
Davis, Edward, 71
Davis, Howell, 75, 76, 78
Davis, Ralph, 84
Dean, John, 26, 118
Declaration of Independence, 92, 95, 111, 112, 116, 178
Defoe, Daniel, 24, 62, 185n1
Diggers, Bryant, 96
Diogenes (slave), 119
Discourse Concerning Unlimited Submission and Non-Resistance to the Higher Powers, A (Mayhew), 96
Dolben Act (1788), 128
Douglass, Frederick, 174
Drew, John Glover, 157
Dudingston, William, 109
Dunmore, Lord, 114
“East Indiaman Sceptre” (lithograph), 35f
East India Tea Company, 38
Edwards, Phillip, 22
Elizabeth (ship), 127
Ellison, Henry, 129, 144
Ellms, Charles, 152
Engels, Friedrich, 11, 150
English Revolution: challenge to slavery, 118; equality argument during, 95, 112; inspiration for the motley crew, 111–12; radicals’ ideas during, 42–43, 46; tradition of resistance to impressment during, 93; treatment of prisoners, 48–49
Equiano, Olaudah, 98, 118, 142
“escape by sea,” 178–79
Ethiopian Regiment, 114
European deep-sailing ships: architecture of, 4; capitalism’s dependence on working class, 7; creation of world market by, 5; facilitation of slavery by ships, 6; growth of working class in shipping industry, 41; impact on world economy, 1–2; ship life conditions, 33, 65, 66 (see also Barlow, Edward); technological sophistication of, 3–5; terracentric view of, 3, 184n4
Evans, John, 96
Falconbridge, Alexander, 133, 144
Fante of the Gold Coast, 132, 133
Fentiman, Edward, 124
Ferrer, Ramón, 147, 165, 166
Ferrers Galley (ship), 125
Fielding, John, 99
Firth, Raymond, 198n76
Florida (ship), 126
Fly, William, 72, 77
“Flying Dutchman” (ship), 19, 146
Forrest, Edwin, 157
Fort George, New York, 108
Fort Wilson Riot, 114
Foucault, Michel, 3, 18, 184n4
Fox, Thomas, 79
France, 90, 117
Franklin, Wayne, 26
Frykman, Niklas, 27, 28
Gabriel (revolutionary leader), 171
Gage, Thomas, 110
Garnet, Henry Highland, 174, 175
Gaspee (ship), 106, 109, 111
General History of the Pyrates, A (Johnson), 153, 185n1
George, David, 104
Gilbert, Pedro, 152, 217n15
Gilpin, Henry D., 167
Gladiator, The (play), 157, 171
Gold Coast, 126, 132, 133, 136, 138, 139
Golden Age of Piracy, 151, 153
Golden Hill riot, 109
Gordon, Nathaniel, 166
Gosse, Philip, 70
Grabeau (rebel), 172
Great Fear, The (Lefebvre), 27
Grimké, Sarah, 173
Gulliver’s Travels (Swift), 25
Haitian Revolution, 118, 168
Hakluyt, Richard, 24
Hall, N. A. T., 47
Halladay, William, 74
Hamblin, Thomas, 154
“Hanging of pirate captain Stede Bonnet” (lithograph), 85f
Hanover Parish, Jamaica, 117
Harpers Ferry, 174
Harris, Charles, 80
Harrold, Stanley, 173–74
Hawkins, Joseph, 140
Hawkins, Richard, 74
hemp rope, 13–14
Henry, Patrick, 171
Hermione (ship), 28
Hewins, Amasa, 147
Hill, Christopher, 44
Histoire Naturelle Générale et Particulière des Mollusques (Montfort), 20
History of the Pirates, The (Carey), 217n17
HMS Bedford (ship), 6, 7f
HMS Lark (ship), 94
HMS Maidstone (ship), 97
HMS Shirley (ship), 93
Hobsbawm, Eric, x, 5, 72, 82
Hogg, James, 126
holy-stoning the deck, 13–14
Hope, Charles, 80, 198n73
Hopkins, Lemuel, 115
Hornigold, Benjamin, 72
Horsmanden, Daniel, 109
Howard, Martin, Jr., 108
Hudibras (ship), 133
Humphreys, David, 115
hunger strikes on slave ships: creation of group identity through resistance, 122; cruelty of captains in the face of, 120–21, 124; officers’ attempts to force-feed captives, 123; post-insurrection, 125; purpose of, among the enslaved, 123; tale of a hunger strike leading to a revolt, 120–21
Hutchinson, Thomas, 93, 97, 108, 109, 112
hydrarchy, 92, 97, 108, 110
hydrophasis, 184n3
Ibau people, 140
Ibibio of the Bight of Biafra, 133
Igbo people, 133
impressment: African Americans’ fight against, 107; antinomian basis of opposition to, 112; half-hearted participation of impressed seamen in Tacky’s Revolt, 101–2; likened to slavery by sailors, 107; of merchant seamen by Royal Navy, 39, 65, 191n7; mutinies inspired by battles against press gangs, 117; post-1763 deserting sailors’ fight against, 96–97; rants against, by Barlow, 39; seamen’s tradition of resistance to, 93�
�94
indentured servants, xi, 2, 49–50, 99. See also Pitman, Henry
Independent Advertiser (newspaper), 95
Inez (play character), 155
Ingraham, J. H., 157
“Insurrection on a slave ship” (lithograph), 131f
Intolerable Acts (1774), 106
Jack Sheppard (play), 158
Jack Tar, xi, 96, 109. See also sailors
Jamaica, 101–2
James, C. L. R., 7
James, Jesse and Frank, ix–x
Jefferson, Thomas, 92, 112, 178
Jefferson (ship), 152
Jeffreys, George, 48
Jeremiah, Thomas, 105
Johnson, Charles, 9, 153, 185n1
Johnson, Samuel, 65
Jolly Roger, 16, 64, 81–83, 198–99n76
Jones, Howard, 148
Jones, Simon, 76
Joseph Cinquez, Leader of the Gang of Negroes (lithograph), 158–60, 159f, 219nn32–34
Joseph Cinquez, the Brave Congolese Chief (lithograph), 159–60, 160f, 219n34
Judson, Andrew, 167, 169
jumping overboard by slaves: dangers of, 126; joy expressed by jumpers, 127, 212n16; measures taken by crews to prevent, 126; as spontaneous resistance to mistreatment, 125, 126–27, 212n16
Kennedy, Francis, 68
Kennedy, Walter, 15
Kettle, James, 124
Kincaid, Jamaica, 176
King, Boston, 104
King, Thomas, 145
King Street riot, 109
Kinna (Amistad African), 175
Kipling, Rudyard, 23
Klein, Bernhard, 184n4
Knott, Luke, 198n73
Knowles, Charles, 93, 94
Knowles Riot (1747), 94–95, 102
Konoma (Amistad African), 155
Kraken (sea monster), 20, 21f
Kru of the Windward Coast, 132
La Bouche, Oliver, 75, 151
Lad, John, 120–21
Lapsansky, Phillip, 222n62
Laurens, Henry, 89, 92
Lazarillo (play character), 155
Lefebvre, George, 27
Lemisch, Jesse, 107, 177
Levellers’ Agreement of the People, 95, 112
Lewis, William, 151
Liberty riot, 107, 123
Liele, George, 104–5
Linebaugh, Peter, xi
Linnaeus, Carl, 20
Lives and Bloody Exploits of the Most Noted Pirates (Strong), 152
“Lives of Anne Bonny and Mary Read,” 150
Long, Edward, 101–2
Long, Low, Black Schooner (play): actors in, 155; advertisements about, 154; boldness of its depiction of a rescue, 156; political anxieties reflected in, 171; popularity of main themes, 156–58; setting and plot, 155–56, 219n27; total attendance over play’s run, 155, 218n23
Outlaws of the Atlantic Page 26