Voyage of Despair - Bristol Radical History Group

The brutality of the slave trade.

In 1693, Captain Thomas Phillips embarked on a voyage from London to Guinea, where he purchased enslaved Africans on behalf of the Royal African Company. The subsequent journey across the Atlantic witnessed a tragic toll, with hundreds of the enslaved captives, and many of the crew, losing their lives before the ship reached the shores of Barbados.

Three centuries later, in 2010, Brecon Town Council made a startling and controversial decision—to honour Captain Phillips with a plaque without reference to his slave-trading activities.

In this engaging and original narrative, Rosemary Caldicott analyses the pages of Phillips’s journal to reveal the day-to-day brutality that defined the triangular trade, uncovering the forgotten stories of the victims in this dark chapter in history. She also reveals the compelling story of the campaign to remove the plaque, a campaign that finally bore fruit amid the world-wide ‘Black Lives Matter’ protests that reached the heart of Brecon.

Reviews

Brecon Town Council honoured a slave ship captain with a memorial plaque in 2010! Rosemary L. Caldicott’s book Voyage of Despair looks both at Phillips journal and other sources to reveal the absolute horrors of the trade in general and the Hannibal’s journey in particular. It also examines the campaign and arguments around the plagues removal. It’s an issue that Caldicott makes clear… the business of enslaving people, and the profits made on the back of it, reach deep into the U.K.

Bristol Post

Read the full review.

‘However, my early online research led me to an article by Rosemary Caldicott of the Bristol Radical History Group. In it, I read about the slave trader Captain Thomas Phillips. In 2010, during Black History month, Brecon County Council honoured this man with a blue plaque. My sestina ‘Triptych’ was born.’ As cited in “Welsh Plural – essays on the future of Wales” an essay “On Writing a Modern Welsh Horror”

Welsh poet Marvin Thompson

In a remarkably thorough and illuminating work of research, Rosemary L Caldicott follows the voyage of the slave ship ‘The Hannibal’ in 1693-1695 using the journal of its captain, Thomas Phillips, as her guide. But many other sources have been consulted along the way and combined with a close familiarity with modern scholarship. These fill the silences and evasions in Phillips’s narrative and give a harrowing account of almost two years of hardship, cruelty, suffering and resistance. It is like the script of a horror film which no director would be able to make; the agony is unrelieved and too real. The triangular trade was always devastating for the lives of those engaged in it, especially for the enslaved, but also for the sailors involved. This was an exceptionally deadly voyage from which Phillips emerged unable to go to sea again and deaf. This led to his retirement to his native Brecon. The book is profusely illustrated with contemporary images.

Neil Evans, Honorary Research Fellow, Cardiff School of History, Archaeology and Religion, Cardiff University

In this amazing book Rosemary Caldicott shares the complex layers of the challenges faces in 2020 in Brecon, and then takes us back to around 1694 to gain some appreciation of the complexities of the trading done by sea captains with their funders, the Royal Africa Company and others, and with the local West African rulers and merchants.

Rosemary also uncovers stories about the victims, those African subjected to unimaginable abuse and terror not only by the God fearing European traders and sailors, but the treatment inflicted by their African captors.

But yet is a very readable book, a book for the times we are in, it is also extraordinarily complex, but Rosemary shares and explains the commonplace and everyday activities occurring more than 330 years ago, while remembering that we are reading this initially in 2024, and it records a story of the Black Lives Matter times.

At only £12, plus P&P this is a must read, really very timely and accessible, and although not perhaps your first choice of holiday reading, it’s worth having a copy to dip into as you start to face the grim realities of the times back then, or just to reflect and increase your understanding.

Liz Millman, LearningLiz Millman: Links International C.I.C. (Black History Wales)

Voyage of Despair is a remarkable achievement, tackling challenging material with skill and presenting it in a way that is both accessible and deeply engaging. The narrative takes readers on the harrowing journey of the Hannibal slave ship, a voyage that is as compelling as it is sobering. To say I “enjoyed” the journey feels like the wrong word, given the subject matter, but the book captivates in a way that few historical accounts manage.

What stands out is the careful pacing of the narrative. Questions naturally arise as you read—What happened to John Browne when left behind? Why does an image feature a tiger in a cage during events in Africa?—but rather than leaving readers in the dark, the author skilfully answers these queries in later chapters. This structure encourages thoughtful engagement and reflection throughout.

Beyond its readability, the book is academically rigorous, offering thorough references that firmly establish its place as an important contribution to the field. It balances scholarly depth with a compelling narrative style, a rare feat in historical writing.

The author’s voice is confident and assured, guiding the reader with the expertise of someone deeply immersed in the subject. There are moments where the passion and anger are palpable—particularly in the vivid descriptions of the ships’ appalling conditions by the time they reached Barbados. These passages are powerful and unforgettable.

Voyage of Despair is a masterful work—both a gripping read and a significant academic contribution. For anyone interested in the complexities of history and the human stories within, this book is not to be missed.

Mr Alan Canty FRCS DDS

1 Comment

Liz Millman (link to here)

July 16, 2024 at 10:58 pm

In this amazing book Rosemary Caldecott shares the complex layers of the challenges faces in 2020 in Brecon, and then takes us back to around 1694 to gain some appreciation of the complexities of the trading done by sea captains with their funders, the Royal Africa Company and others, and with the local West African rulers and merchants.

Rosemary also uncovers stories about the victims, those African subjected to unimaginable abuse and terror not only by the God fearing European traders and sailors, but the treatment inflicted by their African captors.

But yet is a very readable book, a book for the times we are in, it is also extraordinarily complex, but Rosemary shares and explains the commonplace and everyday activities occurring more than 330 years ago, while remembering that we are reading this initially in 2024, and it records a story of the Black Lives Matter times.

At only £12, plus P&P this is a must read, really very timely and accessible, and although not perhaps your first choice of holiday reading, it’s worth having a copy to dip into as you start to face the grim realities of the times back then, or just to reflect and increase your understanding.