Rum Payments and Cargo “Sorting” by American Slave Vessels on the Gold Coast
| Voyages ID # | Vessel | Source | Year | Rum as Percent of Total Payments | Percent Transactions “Sorted” | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unidentified | NHS | 1733 | 86.5 | 85.7 | ||
| Unidentified | NHS | 1734 | 78.8 | 72.7 | ||
| Unidentified | NHS | 1736 | 54.6 | 90.2 | Sorted rum with textiles rec’d from other vessels | |
| 24944 | Rhode Island | NYHS | 1749 | 46.4 | 100.0 | Only purchased 5 captives on Gold Coast. Also traded in Upper Guinea—see Table 2 on page 18. |
| 36207 | Venus | NYHS | 1756 | 95.6 | 22.1 | |
| 36232 | Marigold | NYHS | 1759 | 99.0 | Percent Sorted cannot be calculated from record. | |
| 36260 | Royal Charlotte | NYHS | 1762 | 96.5 | 51.5 | Value of rum varied and was computed here using the mean value in the trade book of 1.32 gals. per acky |
| 36336 | Sally | RIHS | 1767 | 88.1 | 13.8 | Also traded in Upper Guinea—see Table 2 on page 18. |
| 36370 | Active | NYHS | 1769 | 43.3 | 57.1 | Incomplete—based on only 7 purchases |
| 36371 | Othello | NYHS | 1769 | 90.3 | 10.3 | Many gold expenditures for provisions and other goods and services |
| 36404 | Othello | NYHS | 1770 | 93.9 | 11.9 | Approximate: accounting for other commodities paid is imprecise |
| 36474 | Adventure | Crane | 1774 | 99.0 | 4.0 |
Note: The column “Rum as Pct. Total of Payments” tells how much of the total captive purchase price was paid in rum. The column “Pct. Transactions ‘Sorted’ gives the proportion of individual purchases that involved trade goods in addition to rum.
Sources: Crane, A Rhode Island Slaver; NYHS, Newport Historical Society, Rhode Island Historical Society. Due to irregularities in the sources, all figures should be regarded as approximations rather than precise measurements. A small number of transactions for which it was impossible to determine the proportion of rum given were omitted from these calculations.