When Was The Gruesome Account Of Olaudah Equiano

The gruesome account of Mittelberger aboard one of these ships was similar to the account of Olaudah Equiano, a freed slave. The journey across the Atlantic during the 17th century was one plagued with disease, hunger, and death. The perils of the journey were not restricted to those with white skin or those with black skin. Equiano’s account is filled with confusion since, like many other slaves, he did not know where he was going or why he was going there. As he entered the ship Equiano’s thoughts painted an imagine of a frightened and confused slave. “I was now persuaded that I had gotten into a world of bad spirits, and that they were going to kill me…I asked them if we were not to be eaten by those white men with horrible looks…” (Equiano).

He stated that he would’ve preferred death to what he was experiencing. Consequently, he refused to eat and was flogged for his protest. In fact, the brutality did not end here. Equiano stated that he saw a man “flogged so unmercifully with a large rope near the foremast, that he died in consequence of it” (Equiano). The point of such barbarous acts on these slave ships was to strike fear into the hearts of the captives so that the slaves would obey the crew members. In Equiano’s case, this seems to have worked since he stated, “This made me fear these people the more…” (Equiano). Additionally, the horrors of these slave ships did not end with the brutality of the crew. “The closeness of the place, and the heat of the climate, added to the number in the ship, which was so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself…the air soon became unfit for respiration…and brought on a sickness among the slaves, of which many died” (Equiano). For these slaves, death came at the hands of their captors and through disease. The perilous journey that led Equiano to a new land was similar to the journey of many slaves and servants across the