Coreen Harris
HST 300 Essay Five
The
stories configured during the age of sail were riveting in their presentation of one’s
struggle for hope, faith and liberty. Jeffery Bolster’s written work, Black Jacks, and the memoir of Ouladah
Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of
Ouladah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, the African comprises the pursuit of
freedom as one struggles with the subjectivity of their hope, faith and liberty
aboard ship. Were these two texts
similar or different to each pursuit of freedom?
Jeffery
Bolster’s Black Jacks argues that the
hardship for most coloured men aboard ship were runaway slaves that were
voluntarily and involuntarily taken into the Royal Navy during the War of
1812. Bolster prolifically attempts to
tell the tale of the coloured sailors. The tale of most slaves had ran away from a mean
slave-owner were easily confiscated by a British troops. Those that were
involuntarily grabbed up in this manner were called impressed into the Royal
Navy. Did these runaway slaves become the property of the United Kingdom? Yes, they were the confiscated property of
the British realm during wartime. Were these impressed sailors, citizens of the
new, young nation- America or British citizens? They
fought decisively as kinsmen, and maintained those allegiances even in the
confines of Dartmoor Prison No. 4. At
the Dartmoor Prison, the cruelties were atrocious, but the coloured men
survived and thrived. Many of the men
were not only surviving dysentery and physical punishment as a condemned
prisoner of war, but they survived to speak of spiritual matters. Coloured and white men of the age of sail
were meeting to hear the testimonies, preaching and singing of songs of
worship. It was at this time, at the prison, which produced the fervent faith
of religious zeal in these men. These men that were deemed as another man’s
property intended to toil the planter’s field under the hot sun.
Impressed,
coloured sailors were needed to fight during the war. They had a keen
intelligence of how to sail through rough waters and adapt to an ever-changing
environment of the open seas. Men, such as Ouladah Equiano, aka Gustuvus Vassa,
was one of these men that could adapt to an ever-changing environment. He was just child when he was forced to become
a slave. He tells his tale on enslavement not as a “saint, a hero or
tyrant,”(Equiano, pg. 2) His project encompasses the African experience on the
open seas during the age of sail. He
portrays the harsh reality of slave labour on aboard ship. The life of a slave was harsh, and Equiano
sharpened his own skills but given opportunities in the role of education
(reading and writing) by a benevolent, Christian master, he explains “when I
compare my lot with that of my countrymen, I regard myself as a particular
favorite of Heaven, and acknowledge the mercies of Providence, in every occurrence
of my life”(pg.2) Hence, Equiano’s account, here relates his present situation
with his faith in the divine will of his own life.
His account of enslavement aboard ship can
be compared to the coloured prisoners of Dartmoor Prison No. 4. Similarly both
groups grieved the exploitation of other slaves. Equiano grieves, “thus at the moment expected
my toils to end, was I plunged, as I was supposed, in a new slavery… my service
had been perfect freedom… I wept very bitterly for some time, and began to
think what I must have done.”(pg.117) Equiano’s servitude to his master began
to change. Concern for his own, personal state of freedom transfers into a
conscious decision to help others out of enslavement. This transfer of concern
for oneself into the greater good of other’s freedom can be viewed in Bolster’s
Black Jacks under the testimony of
William Godfrey to the Congress of the United States of America. Godfrey’s testimony
incorporates the conditions for the coloured prisoners of the British realm
would become property of American planters again and no longer men, as he
explains, “neither have I, knowing myself to be an American as well for what
reason, I do not wish to serve them.” (Bolster,Pg. 117). Thus coloured prisoners of war,
those were once sailors of the open seas, which were once deemed as another
man’s property-, were to become seekers of freedom. Their freedom was a refusal
to serve the enemy that enslaved their bodies to physical bondage. But these
few that could break the shackles of human bondage were free in their concept
of liberty to the role of education and spiritual enlightenment.
Conclusively,
Jeffery Bolster’s Black Jacks and the
memoir of Ouladah Equiano, expresses freedom of physical, human bondage as a
real possibility for all people- men, women and children that were enslaved.
Their freedom may be a mental freedom- they cannot imprison their minds and
souls. The hope, faith and liberty of these few would begin a new society,
which began around the time of the age of sail. Most historians concluded that
most escaped slaves were capitalistic profit-seeking peoples, but these two
texts disagree with this presumption. Yes, Equaino would be taken to a better
societal position during the mid 18th Century, as a published
author, but he would gain freedom for himself and others by impressing a new
mindset upon those that were not able to read or write. His example of a person
that was once the property of another to be a real man would inspire many
others to do the same. In comparison, the coloured prisoners of Dartmoor Prison
No.4 during the beginning of the 19th Century were able to adapt to
their situation as sailors abroad ship, prisoners of war and pursuers of
freedom of their activities that were incorporated with spiritual worship that
did not segregate whites and coloured shipmates. They fought side by side and
died that way too. When tempted with financial gain over their white
contemporaries they fought beside, many coloured sailors refuse to take the
Royal Navy muster, which made involuntary sailors. Why was this done? These men
may have heard the stories of Ouladah Equiano, a man that gain his freedom from
the compassion of others. But these
prisoners of war may have not gained their freedom the way Equiano had. They
decided maintain a kinship with their fellow prisoners. They gained their
freedom with the hope and faith of brotherhood. The real difference between
Bolster’s text and Equiano’s memoirs was an attempt of freedom as a brotherhood
and Equiano’s as a prior individual that desired a spiritual brotherhood of all
those that were still enslaved.
Works Cited
Bolster , Jeffery Black Jacks. Pages 117.
Equiano, Ouladah ( Gustavus Vassa), The Interesting Narrative of Ouladah Equiano, the African.
Equiano, Olaudah. The interesting narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African. Written by himself. ... Vol. Volume 2.Second edition. London, [1789]. Eighteenth Century Collections Online. Gale. Arizona State University AULC. 14 Apr. 2012
<http://find.galegroup.com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/ecco/infomark.do?
<http://find.galegroup.com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/ecco/infomark.do?
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