Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations, Maps and Tables
- Preface to the Second Edition
- The Documents and Editorial Conventions
- List of Abbreviations
- Part One James Irving's Career
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Early Career in the Liverpool Slave Trade
- 3 Irving's Voyages in the Transatlantic Slave Trade
- 4 Shipwreck and Enslavement
- 5 Freedom and Return to England
- 6 Conclusion
- Part Two James Irving's Correspondence, 1786–1791
- Part Three Journal of James Irving's Shipwreck and Enslavement, May 1789–October 1790
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
5 - Freedom and Return to England
from Part One - James Irving's Career
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations, Maps and Tables
- Preface to the Second Edition
- The Documents and Editorial Conventions
- List of Abbreviations
- Part One James Irving's Career
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Early Career in the Liverpool Slave Trade
- 3 Irving's Voyages in the Transatlantic Slave Trade
- 4 Shipwreck and Enslavement
- 5 Freedom and Return to England
- 6 Conclusion
- Part Two James Irving's Correspondence, 1786–1791
- Part Three Journal of James Irving's Shipwreck and Enslavement, May 1789–October 1790
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The removal of the sentries guarding their lodgings in Mogador at the end of July 1790 finally signalled their freedom. Irving described how they were all summoned before the Governor of Mogador and ‘delivered up to the Vice Consul as British subjects, to his disposal’. The exact reasons that led Mawlay al-Yazid to free the crew of the Anna after 14 months in captivity are not clear, but the persistence of diplomatic endeavour undoubtedly played a part. Hutchison, who had played such a central role in negotiations for their release, arranged a celebration. As Irving pointed out in his journal ‘Our good vice Consul bountifully enabled us to make merry and the evening was spent conviviably’.
After months of reassuring his wife that he would soon be with her, Irving was at last able to say with some certainty that ‘I and my Crew have at last obtained our final discharge from this Country’. On 9 August 1790 he joyously reported the ‘termination of my bondage, which I have weathered with ten Thousand difficultys’. Quite a touching aspect of this letter is the way in which Irving listed his clothes on a folded down part of the manuscript, giving the impression of preparing for home. Included in the list are black satin breeches, black silk stockings, eight silk handkerchiefs and a number of the items that Hutchison had sent to Irving on his arrival in Marrakesh. He informed his wife that they expected to leave Mogador ‘in a month or 5 Weeks in the Brigg Bacchus Captain Prouting’ (Letter 32). On 24 September 1790 they finally sailed from Mogador Bay ‘with a cordial prayer, that we might never again visit those Barbarious regions in a similar predicament’.
The journal adds some detail to the account provided in his letter to Mary, as it indicates that the ten surviving members of the crew were distributed on board three ships. Captain Irving, the surgeon, chief mate and the second mate went on board the Bacchus as passengers, whilst two ‘were shipped on board as seamen’. The remaining four seamen were split between the sloop Charlotte in the command of Captain William Davis and the Tryal in the command of Captain Plumb Baldry.
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- Slave CaptainThe Career of James Irving in the Liverpool Slave Trade, pp. 65 - 69Publisher: Liverpool University PressPrint publication year: 2008