Slaves captured or purchased in the African interior were often held in confinement for months before they finally arrived at the coast. Some of these people had been wounded in battles, and others like the European sailors, often caught these ailments. John Taylor, the captain of the Henrietta Marie's second voyage, was not spared the threat of disease and was ill or dying before the ship left Africa, re-exposed to smallpox, yellow fever, and other deadly diseases.The mortality rate during the Middle Passage was high for slaves and crew alike, averaging between thirteen and thirtythree percent. The likelihood of contagion, however was strongest for the Africans.
Common hazards of the voyage, stemming from no other source than poor diet and close confinement, included scurvy and gangrene. Dehydration, caused by lack of drinking water and high loss of bodily fluids from fevers or dysentery, was a primary killer aboard the slaving vessels. Symptoms included melancholy and a loss of appetite, but were not understood by early ship's physicians, and often went untreated until it was too late. In Addition, contaminated water supplies produced a variety of gastrointestinal disorders which increased fatalities.
Common hazards of the voyage, stemming from no other source than poor diet and close confinement, included scurvy and gangrene. Dehydration, caused by lack of drinking water and high loss of bodily fluids from fevers or dysentery, was a primary killer aboard the slaving vessels. Symptoms included melancholy and a loss of appetite, but were not understood by early ship's physicians, and often went untreated until it was too late. In Addition, contaminated water supplies produced a variety of gastrointestinal disorders which increased fatalities.
By 1654, some 8,000 to10,000 Africans each year were undergoing the Middle Passage. During the next hundred years, this number grew steadily, reaching its peak sometime around 1750, when the annual number stabilized at 60,000 to70,000. Estimates on the total number of Africans who were forced to undergo the Middle Passage generally ranged from nine to fifteen million. Out of this number, some 3 to 5 million perished before they even reached the Americas.
By the end of January, 1700, the Henrietta Marie took some twelve hundred enslaved Africans aboard the Middle Passage to the New World. The men, women and children were shackled and confined to the stifling cargo holds below deck. After securing her cargo, the Henrietta Marie would have brought food and water aboard for the long voyage to the West Indies known as the Middle Passage.
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