Assembling a Crew

In addition to being brutal and inhumane, slave trading was also a complex, competitive business, which put a premium on experience and knowledge of local conditions on the African coast. Having decided to send the Sally, the Brown brothers first offered the ship to William Earle, who had commanded their previous African venture, the Wheel of Fortune, in 1759. But Earle declined, having already accepted the command of another Africa-bound ship. Joseph Wanton, a Newport merchant and experienced slave ship captain, offered his services, but the Browns instead offered command to their friend Esek Hopkins. [1] Hopkins had commanded privateers during the recent war with France, but he had no experience in the slave trade. This lack of experience would prove a substantial liability, as Wanton warned. [2]

Hopkins assembled a crew of fifteen men, each of whom signed the ship's "Articles," specifying his duties, wages, and "privilege," or commission. [3] The standard privilege for a slave ship captain was "four on a hundred and four" – for every hundred and four slaves delivered alive, the captain could sell four on his own account. Hopkins was offered a more liberal privilege: ten barrels of rum on the outbound journey, and ten slaves on the return. The Sally's crew included one "Negro boy" – Edward Abbey, Hopkins's slave.

With cargo and crew aboard, the Browns supplied Hopkins with a standard letter of instructions, ordering him to sail to the Windward Coast of Africa, to trade his cargo for slaves, and to proceed to Barbados or any other American port where the slaves could be sold to best advantage. [4] The letter also instructed Hopkins to return to Providence with "four likely young slaves," boys of about fifteen years, for the family's own use.