International Journal of Naval History

C. Herbert Gilliland.  Voyage to a Thousand Cares, Master’s Mate Lawrence with the African Squadron, 1844-1846. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2004. Hardback, 329 pages, illustrated.

Reviewed by Regina T. Akers,

U.S. Naval Historical Center

Washington D.C.

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            Herbert Gilliland, an English Professor at the United States Naval Academy, has captured a significant chapter in the history of American slavery and the U.S. Navy’s role in halting the slave trade system.  John C. Lawrence served on YORKTOWN, one of the ships assigned to the African Squadron which began in August 1843 as one of the outcomes of the Treaty of Washington. British and American ships with a minimum of 80 guns sailed from America to the African coast searching for ships engaged in the sale of slaves. 

            Lawrence’s journal and Gilliland’s explanatory notes and illustrations provide a compelling account of how the squadron operated and the hardships and dangers the crew experienced.  The authors show how the evolution of the Navy, the complexity of the slave trade system, the coordinates of the rendezvous location, the weather, and both American and international politics limited the effectiveness the squadron. The reader also learns about the rich and diverse cultures encountered, the “quality” of shipboard life, and why the British ships were more successful than America’s.  The reader relives how the slaves that he helped liberate saw Sierra Leone and Liberia.  Interesting contrasts are drawn between Liberia and the port cities along the African coast. 

            The reader walks through Lawrence’s day as he makes his port visits, interacts with other cultures and crewman, entertains visitors, combats loneliness, disease and boredom, finds creative ways to keep the ship supplied, and works with the kroomen.   We witness the detailed events involved in YORKTOWN’s capture of two slave trading ships, PATUXENT and PONS.  Lawrence provides a vivid account of the inhumane conditions under which slaves were stowed aboard PONS:

                        The vessel has no slave deck, and upwards of

                        eight hundred and fifty men piled mostly in bulk,

                        on the water casks below; there were males, about

                        fifty females were confined to one half of the round

                        house cabin on deck.  The other half of the cabin

                        remaining for the use of officers  .   .   .   The stench

                        from below was so great that it was impossible

                        to stand, more than a few moments, near the

                        hatchways (page 274).

            A cross-index card for this edited journal would include American history, the slave trade in the Diaspora with emphasis on the United States, naval service in the 1840s, the African Squadron, and the Middle Passage.  Graduate and undergraduate students taking courses about slavery, nineteenth century African history, and the antebellum Navy should be required to read this text.  The journal entries will also engage the general reader desiring to enhance his or her understanding of how slaves were sold, packaged, and delivered.  Specialists and laypersons alike will be intrigued by Lawrence’s commentary on the best and worst of humanity and the American and African cultures during the 1844 to 1846 period.  We are indebted to Lawrence for recording the journal and to Gilliland for having  it published.