Olaudah Equiano (c.1745-1797): The Former
Slave, Seaman & Writer
Olaudah Equiano, was a former slave, seaman and merchant who wrote an
autobiography depicting the horrors of slavery and lobbied parliament for its
abolition.
In his biography he records he was born in what is now Nigeria, kidnapped
and sold into slavery as a child. He then endured the middle passage on a
slave ship bound for the New World. After a short period of time in
Barbados, Equiano was shipped to Virginia and put to work weeding grass
and gathering stones.
In 1757 he was bought by a naval captain (Captain Pascal) for about £40,
who named him Gustavas Vassa. Equiano was about 12 when he first arrived
in England. For part of that time he stayed at Blackheath in London with the
Guerin family (relatives of Pascal). It is here that Equiano learnt how to
read and write and to do arithmetic. However, Equiano spent much of his
time at sea, both on warships and trading vessels.
He served Pascal during naval campaigns in Canada and then in the
Mediterranean. In 1763 Captain Pascal sold Equiano to Captain James Doran.
He was taken to Montserrat and sold to the island's leading merchant Robert
King. During the next three years by trading and saving hard, Equiano was
able to save enough money to buy his freedom for £40.
He came to London before returning to sea working as an able seaman,
steward and once as acting captain. He travelled widely, including the
Mediterranean, the Atlantic and the Arctic (in an attempt to reach the North
Pole, under the command of John Phipps). Returning to London he came
into contact with Granville Sharp when his friend, John Annis, was
kidnapped by his former owner. Between them they tried to save Annis
but were unsuccessful.
Equiano went to the Caribbean, in 1775. He also became involved in setting
up a new plantation colony on the Caribbean coast of Central America. At
this time Equiano was not yet an abolitionist, but did everything to comfort
and 'render easy' the condition of slaves brought to work on the plantation.
Equiano himself was badly mistreated. A slave trader named Hughes tried to
enslave him and strung him up with ropes for several hours, but Equiano
managed to escape in a canoe.
He returned to London and worked as a servant before getting involved with
the Sierra Leone resettlement project for freed Slaves. Equiano, formed the
Sons of Africa, a group which campaigned for abolition through public
speaking and letter writing and lobbying parliament. In 1789 he printed a
strongly abolitionist autobiography: The Interesting Narrative of the Life of
Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa the African. The book became a
bestseller.
Equiano worked hard to promote the book. He went on lecture tours around
Britain and Ireland arranged and spent much of the 1790s campaigning
against slavery. In April 1792 he married Susanna Cullen at Soham.
Equiano died in March 1797. The slave trade in Britain was not to end until
nearly a decade later. It would be forty years before slavery itself was
abolished in British colonies.