1773 SLAVE SHIPWRECK & MUTINY. The Voyage, by Thomas Boulton, Slave Ship Surgeon.

A very scarce work issued in America and written by slave ship's surgeon, Thomas Boulton* upon his return from Africa on board a ship sailing to acquire gold and slaves. On the way home, the slaves revolted and, according to our author "all on board was killed, excepting himself and two others, who were in a most miraculous manner preserved, after having been exposed to the shot of not only the Negroes, but also the shot of Captain Fisher, for several hours." After which is printed a brief historical note, "The Voyage is Dangerous. And the Trade's Unjust.

This was almost certainly Boulton's recorded voyage on The Squirrel with Captain Thomas Fisher, which experienced a particularly deadly slave revolt.

It is worthy of note that the work was published concurrently with some of the very first poems regarding slave travel by Phillis Wheatley, including her On Being Brought from Africa to America, also published in 1773*. 

Though our author is clearly anti-slavery, he is equally severe of whites and of the mulatto and black seamen and slavers who were also a part of the slavery transport, mentioning Captain Tittle of Liverpool [a mulatto], and a female African Captain Tittle was seduced by who he made Second Captain of the ship, who was apparently worse than he was to sailors and slaves alike. 

Boulton seems to feel deeply conflicted about his participation and spends the first entire section praising his wife, Laura, and wishing he were home with her rather than working on board. 

A few extracts relevant to the slave trade, etc.

From The Calm. 

"Even so the most secure, whose peaceful breast,
May seem to promise many years of rest;
But let the breath of malice o'er them blow,
Their promis'd bliss is turned to scenes of woe.

That this is true, experience daily shews,
By turns, all living, the sad trial knows;
The crowned head, the reverend, and the brave,
The happiest mortal or the wretched'st slave." 

From The Moderate Breeze.

"Their constant topic's still upon the fair,
Whom they've seduced, they tell how, when and where; 
I mean some few, who dead to common sense, 
No virtue prize, but sport with innocence. 
Amphibious wretches, monsters of the sea,
Whose only study is for to betray;
Think you my sentiments too severe,
I appeal for justice to the injur'd fair;
In their behalf I'll use my faithful pen,
To brand the vices of degen'rate men,
Such men there are, nor will they cease to be,
Whilst men O Tittle* copy after thee;
To blush with shame, is foreign to thy race,
No crimson e'er was in an Ethiop's face,
And none so stupid, or so dimly blind,
But from thy looks may trace a vicious mind"

*A mulatto captain who sails out of Liverpool. No friend to God, a foe to all mankind.

But here I'd not be thought to censure all,
Or let the lash upon the guiltless fall;
Many there are, who do such crimes detest,
And these my muse [Captain Tittle] would never from the rest.
I know the wretch whom this my cap doth fit,
Will damn my genius, and condemn my wit.
I value not his censure, or his praise,
I'd shun alike, his colour and his ways.
Of such I'd speak, to warn succeeding times,
To shun the mischiefs of his hateful crimes;
To warn them from a Dizia's rule to fly,*
Dizia who did my peace of mind destroy.

*Dizia an African lady, whose sooty charms he [Captain Tittle] was so wrapt in,
He strait ordain'd her second captain;
So strict was she in ev'ry manner,
She even lock'd the jar of water:
And whil'st in that high station plac'd,
No thirsty soul a drop must taste."

From The Shipwreck

"Fly from each wretch, who dare such freedoms take,
and shun their presence, as you'd shun a snake;
Whose spotted outside, or whose gilded skin,
Serves but to hide the venom that's within."

The context of the approaching American Revolution is fascinating as well. In his dedication to Joseph Wanton, Governor of Rhode Island, Boulton says, "Nothing is more common, than to see dedications and prefaces stuffed with flattery, and dissimulation; private interest is now too frequently made use of under the disguise of public good; and false patriots in these days are as numerous as false prophets were in the days of Jeremiah; making use of the word LIBERTY as a disguise to screen the worst of vices; which is in reality hypocrisy." 

Fascinatingly, Boulton seems to have misread the Governor entirely, or perhaps Boulton and the Governor are simply opposed to the more radical pro-American patriots. For while Walton was not a vocal supporter of the Revolution, time and time again, when afforded opportunity to aid the revolution, he accepted, and afforded opportunity to aid the Crown, he resisted. 

And Boulton's meaning is further obscured in the following paragraph where he says, "I would not, may it please your honor, be understood to mean such patriotic worthies as the PENSYLVANIA FARMER, by no means! He is an honor to his country; and his writings not only display his Genius, but his rational faculties." This can hardly be referring to anyone other than John Dickinson [1732-1808], known as the Penman of the American Revolution after publishing his Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania in 1767 and 1768. He was later an active, authorial member of both Continental Congresses, etc., They didn't get much more pro-American Independence than him. Worth some further investigation. 

Boulton, Thomas. The Voyage, A Poem in Seven Parts: Containing, Reflections Upon A Farewell. Calm. Moderate Breeze. Hard Gale. Shipwreck. Deliverance. And, Return. Dedicated to the Honorable Joseph Wanton, Esq. Governor of Rhode Island.  Boston. N.E. Printed for the Author. 1773. 47pp.

Very scarce. No copies traced in the UK via COPAC or on WorldCat. We note a digitized version, with original of unclear origins, though it too contains only the 47pp. A similar copy, with only 47pp as well, was offered at Sotheby's at $3,000-$5,000, textually identical to the present offering.

SEE ALSO:

*The Doctor and the Devil: The Literary Writings of Salve-Ship Surgeons. Journal for Eighteenth Century Studies. 2023.

*Also see Sailors and Slaves by Rhae Lynn Barnes;

*Two Prospects by Deirdre Coleman in Liverpool Scholarship [which also discusses the mulatto captain mentioned, John Tittle.

*Also The Slave Ship by Mark Rediker [which includes the most detailed account of this slave rebellion we could trace and extensive content on Boulton]. 

*Basker, James G. Amazing Grace. An Anthology of Poems about Slavery, 1660-1810, #190 where the present work is listed.