The Commodore (novel) - References To Actual History

References To Actual History

The book makes reference to the West African slave trade. The Bellona stops the Nancy, a slave trading vessel, and O'Brian gives a graphic description of the conditions on board. They see the bodies of two dead small girls being tossed overboard to be eaten by sharks. Once aboard, they discover the slaves only have two feet six inches headroom, and the ones who are sick from dysentery are found lying near the hawseholes, covered in their own excrement. Stephen has their iron manacles removed and the slaver's men are forced to swab out the holds. Once on deck, they count about five hundred in total and, after feeding them, the slaves are landed a couple of days later in Sierra Leone and given their freedom.

Mr Whewell, who has worked previously on slave ships, tells Stephen that the ship is relatively healthy for one fourteen days out of Whydah. He also mentions that it is common for a slaver to lose at least a third of its human cargo on the passage across to the West Indies.