Aurore (slave ship)

History
France
Name: Aurore
Owner: Delacour Vieux, Compagnie d'Occident
General characteristics
Class and type: Fregat
Tons burthen: 305 (bm)

Aurore (along with the Duc du Maine), was a slave ship that brought the first African slaves to Louisiana on 6 June 1719, from Senegambia.[1][2]

Voyage

Captain Herpin sailed Aurore from Saint-Malo in July 1718, bound for the Bight of Benin. She arrived off the coast of Africa on 28 August. Herpin gathered slaves at first at Whydah (Ouidah) and then Cape Lahou. He sailed from Africa on 30 November, and arrived at Louisiana on 6 June 1719. Herpin had embarked 201 slaves and despite the length of the voyage, disembarked 200 slaves, having lost only one slave. By contrast, 11 crew members died on the journey. Aurore arrived back in France, at Lorient, on 4 October.[3]

Fiche de Desarmement of the first two African slave-trade ships to Louisiana, dated October 4, 1719

Information

Sketches from a later Aurore illustrate some aspects of the practices of the slave trade. The slaves on slave ships such as Aurore (1719), were packed in a tight spoon-like position in order to be able to carry as many slaves as possible.[4] The slaves wore leg shackles to reduce the risk of an uprising.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Hall, Gwendolyn Midlo, Africans in Colonial Louisiana, p. 61.
  2. ↑ theusgenweb.org "Immigrants to Colonial Louisiana". Archived 2009-01-31 at the Wayback Machine.
  3. ↑ Trans-Atlantic Salve Trade Database.
  4. ↑ "Body Positions of Slaves in Hold of French Slave Ship Aurore, 1784" (PDF). hofstra. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  5. ↑ "Leg Shackles Used Onboard Slave Ship Aurore, 1784". The Mariners' Museum. Retrieved 1 January 2013.

See also

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.