Dying on their own terms: suicides aboard slave ships

The transatlantic slave trade witnessed the forced migration of millions of people to the Americas. Portuguese, British, French, Spanish and Dutch ships loaded enslaved men and women in Africa before crossing the Atlantic. Thousands attempted to commit suicide during these horrific voyages, which reached their peak during the 1700s. 

 

 

Enslaved men and women killed themselves for a number of different reasons. Many were unable to cope with the long and traumatic journey, which regularly involved beatings, murder and rape. Some hoped that death would take them back home to Africa. William Snelgrave, an unapologetic English slave trader, claimed that Africans believed ‘if they are put to death […] they shall return again to their own Country’.

 

Committing suicide was also an act of rebellion. The crews of slave ships were always anxious to prevent enslaved people from killing themselves because each person who managed to take their own life reduced the voyage’s profits.

 

 

Some enslaved men and women refused to eat, hoping to starve themselves to death. This might involve holding food in their mouths and then spitting it out when the crew weren’t looking although this could lead to floggings and force-feedings as punishment. 

 

Leaping overboard to drown was another means of escape. There are moving descriptions of enslaved Africans jumping into the sea together, holding hands or embracing until the end. This tactic was not as easy as it might seem since many slave ships had netting to stop people jumping overboard. ‘Could I have got over the nettings,’ wrote one man who managed to escape from slavery, ‘I would have jumped over the side but I could not’. Even if a person could make it into the sea, the crew might send a boat out to ‘rescue’ them.