All quotations are taken from Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, The African. Written by Himself. (London: 1789).

Equiano and his sister were doing housework while their parents were "out to their works as usual", when three people entered their village, seized them both, "stopped [their] ... mouths, and ran off with [them] ... into the nearest wood." The next day, the kidnappers seperated Equiano and his sister. Equiano "cried and grieved continually" and "did not eat any thing but what they [the kidnappers] forced into [his] ... mouth."

The kidnappers then took Equiano "by land [and] ... by water, through different countries and various nations," until they reached the coast, where he was "filled ... with astonishment, which was soon converted into terror" when he was brought aboard a slave ship and thrown around by the slavers. Equiano's description of his forced travels after being kidnapped as taking "six or seven months" might suggest that he embarked on a slave ship in one of the West Central African slaving ports; I have chosen to depict that embarkment here, in the Bight of Biafra, simply because we cannot be sure as to where Equiano was taken, and the Bight is closest to his home in Eboe.

Once brought below decks, Equiano writes the stench and misery there smothered made him hope "for the last friend, death, to relieve me; but soon, to my grief, two of the white men offered me eatables; and, on my refusing to eat, one of them ... tied my feet, while the other flogged me severely." He admits that had there been no "nettings, [he] ... would have jumped over the side." Equiano was imprisoned in the Bridge Town slave pens, on the Caribbean island of Barbados, before being put on a sloop bound for Virginia. After arriving in Virginia, Equiano was sold to a Mr. Campbell's plantation, where he worked "weeding grass, and gathering stones." He was then purchased by Lt. Michael Henry Pascal for somewhere between 30 and 40 pounds sterling. Lt. Pascal took him by ship to England. In Falmouth, Equiano lodged with Lt. Pascal's mate. Equiano spent spent 2-3 years as a sailor on an English naval vessel. His ship took several other ships, but never saw combative action. In 1759, Equiano was taken back to England, where he became a servant of one Miss Guerins, who allowed him to attend school. He got himself baptized in that year at St. Margaret’s church, Westminster, for he knew that Christians could not lawfully be enslaved.

He sailed to Deptford in December 1759, and then to Gravesend. There he was sold by his master to captain of a ship bound for the Caribbean, the Charming Sally, Captain James Doran. On learning of his sale, Equiano protested, saying that he had served his master "many years, and he has taken all my wages and prize-money, for I only got one sixpence during the war" and that "besides this I have been baptized; and by the laws of the land no man has a right to sell me." But then, Equiano writes, "Captain Doran said I talked too much English; and if I did not ... be quiet, he had a method on board to make me." Thus plunged back into slavery, Equiano "wept very bitterly for some time" and began to think that he "must have done something to displease the Lord" to be "punished ... so severely." Despite his best efforst, Equiano was taken to the Caribbean island of Montserrat on Charming Sally. He was sold there to the quaker Mr. Robert King. Equiano served for 4 years under the captain of a Bermudas sloop, Thomas Farmer, who worked for Mr. King. Equiano sailed to "Guadeloupe, Grenada, and the rest of the French islands." Throughout these voyages, he earned money which he saved in the hope of buying his freedom. Equiano sailed his master's new sloop the Nancy to Philadelphia, where he traded "large a cargo as ... could" be laded on the Nancy. From this voyage, Equiano finally made enough to purchase his freedom, and he hastened back to Montserrat to buy it from his master. When he returned to Montserrat, Equiano writes: "I ... made my obeisance to my master, and with my money in my hand, and many fears in my heart, I prayed him to be as good as his offer to me, when he was pleased to promise me my freedom as soon as I could purchase it."

His master said that "he would not be worse than his promise," and Equiano writes that "[t]hese words of my master were like a voice from heaven to me: in an instant all my trepidation was turned into unutterable bliss" and that "All within my breast was tumult, wildness, and delirium! My feet scarcely touched the ground, for they were winged with joy, and, like Elijah, as he rose to Heaven; they were with lightning sped as I 'went on.' Every one I met I told of my happiness."

On July 10th, 1766, Equiano finally achieved his freedom, and on July 26th, 1766, he left Montserrat for England on a ship of John Hamer. After "a most prosperous voyage, and ... seven weeks, [Equiano] arrived at Cherry-Garden stairs" in London. Click here to view Equiano's journey as a single huge image (using your browser's zoom-in function will likely be necessary to view individual locations; beware large loading times) with lines indicating where he traveled based on his own accounts and information about port locations and ocean currents.

On this image, follow the red line from Eboe to Falmouth, where Equiano works aboard a ship sailing around the highlighted rectangle before making port in London; then follow the yellow line from London to Montserrat, where Equiano again sails throughout the highlighted area; continue following the yellow line to Philadelphia, and then take the orange line back to London via Montserrat.


Approximate Word Count: 877