A. D. 1788. 



^51 



cfuel treatment in the middle paflage, for the purpofe, as was alleged, 

 of provoking the feamen to defert from their velTels in the Weft-Indies, 

 that their wages might be forfeited to the owners. They were, more- 

 over, curtailed of part of their wages by a cuftom of paying them 

 money on account in the Weft-Indies, where they gave them the colo- 

 nial currency inftead of fterling money. And it was alleged that the 

 captains took many fmifter courfes to get rid of their men in the Weft- 

 Indies, efpecially thofe who were fickly. The lofs of feamen by this 

 trade may be judged of from the following 



Summary of the mujler-rolls of SS flave veffds, that j-eturned to Liverpool 

 in the year 1786, and to September in 1787. 



Slave veflels. 

 88 



Men fhipped. 

 3,170 



Men died, or 



were loft. 



642 



Deferted, or dif- 



charged. 



1,100 



Brought home ia 



the veffels. 



1/123 



if we fuppofe the lofs confined to the men reported as dead or loft, it 

 amounts to about 7^ on each veflel on the average, or about 20^^ per 

 cent ; above one fifth of the feamen, who fail in that trade loft to the 

 nation almoft annually. But the lofs is in reality much greater, as will 

 prefently appear from 



A comparative view of the lofs of feamen in fever al trades. 



Brought home 

 in the veffela, 

 455 



For a fair comparifon of the mortality in the above fix lots of 24 vef- 

 fels, they muft be equalized as to number of men and duration of 



• the conduiS of another captain under the like cir- 

 ' cumftanccs — From the dread of wanting water he 



• threw part of his negroes overboard — This llory 



• is a (lain in the annals of a nation that has pro- 



• duced a Lind and a Cook.' 



Mr. Dalsell, who, hke Mr. GuIIan, was former- 

 ly a furgeon, and afterwards a captain, of a flave 

 vefiel, and is at prefcnt governor in chief of the forts 

 on the eoaft of Africa under the diredlion of the 

 African committee, ftrongly recommended, that 

 every veffel ftiould carry a ftill-head, adapted to 

 her boiler, with a worm, for the diftillation of 

 fea water, ss is now pra£tifed onboard the India- 



men and many other fliips ; and alfo a book con- 

 taining in a concife manner the obfervations of 

 Doftor Lind, Captain Cook, and other ingenious 

 men, on the diftillation of fea water, and the bed 

 methods of prefcrving the health of feamen. He 

 alfo advifed, that the provifions of feamen fhould 

 be regulated by law, and that they fhould be en- 

 titled to (hort-allowance money in the merchants' 

 fervice, as well as in the navy. This later part of 

 his advice has fince been adopted in the laws for 

 regulating the (lave trade. 



" The lirft five lots are of veffcis fitted out fron-' 

 Briftol. 



