Fitting Out the Sally

While a few Rhode Island families made substantial fortunes in the African slave trade, the real story of the Rhode Island slave trade is not of a few great fortunes but of extremely broad patterns of participation and profit. Even with the inevitable gaps in the historical record, it is possible to identify some seven hundred eighteenth-century Rhode Islanders who owned or captained slave ships. Some merchants even sold shares in slaving voyages, much as we today buy and sell stocks.

Even those who did not invest directly in the slave trade often depended on it for their livelihoods. Preparing and equipping a slave ship for the long trip to Africa took weeks and consumed the energies of an entire community. Local sail lofts and ropewalks prepared canvas and rigging. [1] Caulkers and smiths sealed and sheathed hulls. [2] [3] Distilleries churned out the high-proof New England rum for which Rhode Island ships were famous on the African coast. [4] Farmers supplied flour, beef, tobacco, and onions. Bakers supplied bread. [5] Even the local apothecary contributed, supplying a variety of ointments and elixirs for the ship's medicine chest. [6]

By early September, 1764, the fitting out was finished. Esek Hopkins, the Sally's captain, produced a detailed inventory of everything aboard the ship, down to the exact number of gallons in each hogshead of rum. [7] According to the ship's bill of lading, the Sally carried 17,274 gallons of rum when she sailed, as well as 1,800 bunches of onions, thirty boxes of spermaceti candles (whale oil candles manufactured at the Brown family's Providence candle works), and other supplies and trade goods. [8] It also carried seven swivel guns, an assortment of small arms, "40 hand Cufs & 40 Shakels," chains, cutlasses, and other items needed to control the intended cargo. [9]