William Boats (1716-1794) was a Liverpool slave trader. [1] Boats was responsible for 157 slave voyages, over half of his slaves were sent from the Bight of Biafra to Jamaica. [2]
Boats had shares in at least 156 Guineaman. [3] In the book History of the Liverpool Privateers the author wrote that Boats was a waif found in a boat and enrolled in a Blue Coat School. It claims that he was apprenticed to the sea and rose to be a commander of a slave ship, becoming "one of the leading merchants and shipowners of Liverpool". Continuing, it says he married Ms. Brideson and captured a Spanish ship rich in gold and treasure. A Liverpool paper[ vague ] which announced his death at the age of 78, called him a "most useful member of society". [4]
Boats was the first slaver to have his ships sheathed in copper to prevent infestations of wood-boring parasites. [5]
Thomas Parke was a Liverpool slave trader, merchant, banker and privateer. He was part of the complex network of business interests and finance behind the African and Atlantic slave trade of the later 18th century.
Will was a ship launched at Liverpool in 1797 for Aspinal & Co., who were one of Liverpool's leading slave-trading companies. She made numerous voyages between West Africa and the Caribbean in the triangular trade in enslaved people, during which she several times successfully repelled attacks by French privateers. Will apparently foundered in a squall in July 1806, shortly before the passage of the Slave Trade Act 1807 abolished the slave trade for British subjects.
George Case (1747–1836) was a British slave trader who was responsible for at least 109 slave voyages. Case was the co-owner of the slave ship Zong, whose crew perpetrated the Zong massacre. After the massacre, the ship owners went to court in an attempt to secure an insurance payout of £30 for each enslaved person murdered. A public outcry ensued and strengthened the abolition movement in the United Kingdom. In 1781, he became Mayor of Liverpool. After he died, the wealth generated by his slavery was bequeathed to the Case Fund by his grandson.
John Dawson was a Liverpool slave trader.
Peter Baker (1731–1796) was a privateer, shipbuilder, Lord Mayor of Liverpool, and notable English slave trader. He formed the Liverpool shipbuilding company Baker and Dawson with his son-in-law John Dawson. Baker was a figure of political importance in Liverpool history at a time when Liverpool was the foremost slave trading hub of the UK. Baker was part of the Corporation of Liverpool, one of the UK's largest slave trading enterprises, at a time when the corporation was opposing the first meaningful actions taken by the UK House of Lords to abolish slavery. Baker and Dawson were most active between 1783-1792 as two of the largest slave trading figures in the Corporation of Liverpool, enslaving many thousands of people. In 1795, Baker became Lord Mayor of Liverpool, before passing away the next year.
William Gregson was a British slave trader. He was responsible for at least 152 slave voyages, and his slave ships are recorded as having carried 58,201 Africans, of whom 9,148 died. Gregson was the co-owner of a ship called the Zong, whose crew perpetrated the Zong massacre.
Thomas Leyland was an English slave trader. In 1776, he won a lottery and with his share of the winnings, he set himself up in the slave trade. Leyland bought at least 22,365 enslaved Africans and took them on his slave ships to the Americas.
Ralph Fisher (1746–1803) was an English slave trader based in Liverpool who was responsible for over 100 slave voyages. He is said to have been the seventh-biggest slave trader in Liverpool.
Francis Ingram (1739–1815) was an English slave trader and privateer.
Liverpool, a port city in north-west England, was involved in the transatlantic slave trade. The trade developed in the eighteenth century, as Liverpool slave traders were able to supply fabric from Manchester to the Caribbean islands at very competitive prices.
William James (1735–1798) was an English slave trader, plantation owner and slave owner.
John Knight (1708–1774) was an English slave trader. He was responsible for at least 114 slave voyages in the period 1750–1775 and he transported over 26,000 Africans to the Americas. Knight traded enslaved Africans with the American politician and slave owner Henry Laurens.
Samuel Shaw was an English slave trader. He was responsible for at least 119 slave voyages between 1750 and 1778.
Thomas Foxcroft (1733–1809) was an English slave trader. He was responsible for at least 91 slave voyages in the years between 1759 and 1792. A contemporary set of financial accounts for one slave voyage by his slave-ship Bloom has been preserved. Captain Robert Bostock, Bloom's master, bought 349 enslaved people in Africa; 42 captives died and 307 captives were sold in the West Indies for £9858. The net profit on the voyage to the owners amounted to £8,123 7s 2d, or £26 9s 2d per captive sold.
William Whaley was an English slave trader. He was involved in at least 22 slave voyages from the Port of Liverpool, and was one of the biggest slave traders in British America. He employed two of the biggest slave traders, William Davenport and William Earle, before they became slave traders.
Edward Parr was an English slave trader, apothecary and merchant of Liverpool. He was involved in 51 slave voyages, operating out of the Port of Liverpool between 1750 and 1768. Parr owned a slave ship called Briton, whose captain employed an African pirate called Captain Lemma Lemma to capture and enslave people with his war canoes. Parr was a member of the African Company of Merchants.
Captain Hugh Crow was an English (Manx) sea voyager, privateer, and slaver. He was captain of several merchant vessels in the African trade; and his Memoirs, posthumously published, are notable for their descriptions of the west coast of Africa.
Lucy was a Spanish vessel built in 1789, probably under another name. She came into British ownership in 1799. As Lucy, she proceeded to make three complete voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. On the second of these she rather unusually assisted the British commander at Gorée in an operation to destroy a Spanish vessel at Senegal before the French could arm it as a privateer. However, a few days later a slave revolt resulted in the death of Lucy's captain. The French captured Lucy in 1806 on her fourth enslaving voyage as she was approaching the West Indies after she had embarked her captives. The capture involved a single ship action that left most of Lucy's crew dead or wounded. Her captors took Lucy into Guadeloupe, together with her captives.
King Grey, first appeared in online British records in 1786. She made five enslaving voyages between 1786 and 1793. On her last enslaving voyage the French captured her but the Royal Navy quickly recaptured her. She was sold at Kingston, Jamaica. She became a privateer but in December 1795 fire from French Republican shore artillery sank her at Tiburon where she was supporting French Royalist forces as an armed ship.
Bud was launched at Liverpool in 1783. Between 1783 and 1800 she made 12 complete voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. In 1796 she repelled an attack by a faster, better armed, and more heavily crewed French privateer in a single ship action. Then in 1798, a French privateer captured her in another single ship action after Bud's short but sanguinary resistance. The Royal Navy quickly captured her, and her captor. On her 13th enslaving voyage she was condemned at Kingston, Jamaica after she had arrived with her captives.