All persons were
obliged to sign articles, that, in case they should die or be discharged
during the voyage, the wages then due to them should be paid in the
currency where the vessel carried her slaves, and that half of the wages
due to them on their arrival there should be paid in the same manner, and
that they were never permitted to read over the articles they had signed.
By means of this iniquitous practice the wages in the Slave-trade, though
nominally higher in order to induce seamen to engage in it, were actually
lower than in other trades. All these usages I ascertained in such a
manner, that no person could doubt the truth of them. I actually obtained
possession of articles of agreement belonging to these vessels, which had
been signed and executed in former voyages. I made the merchants
themselves, by sending those seamen, who had claims upon them, to ask for
their accounts current with their respective ships, furnish me with such
documents as would have been evidence against them in any court of law. On
whatever branch of the system I turned my eyes, I found it equally
barbarous.
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