Answer all this question below after read this article.!!

SLAVE SHIP DOCTOR
Modified for better comprehension

Alexander Falconbridge served as a doctor (known as the
surgeon on ships) on British slave ships during the 1780s.
He later wrote a book, An Account of the Slave Trade on the
Coast of Africa, about his experiences. The book became
popular among abolitionists and he later worked with the AntiSlavery Society. These are excerpts from his book.
The men negroes, on being brought aboard the ship, are
immediately fastened together, two and two, by hand-cuffs
on their wrists, and by irons riveted on their legs. They are
then sent down between the decks...They are frequently
stowed so close, they can only lie on their sides...
In each of the apartments are placed three or four large
buckets [for human waste]...It often happens, that those
who are placed at a distance from the buckets...tumble
over their companions because they are shackled...In this
distressed situation...they give up and relieve themselves
as they lie...
Their food is served up to them in tubs, about the size
of a small water bucket. They are placed around these
tubs in companies often...If negroes refused to take
sustenance, I have seen coals of fire, glowing hot,
put on a shovel, and placed so near their lips, as to scorch
and burn them...
The hardships and inconveniences suffered by the negroes
during the passage are hard to describe...The exclusion of the
fresh air is among the least tolerable...The floor of their
rooms was so covered with blood and mucus because of the
flux, that it resembled a slaughter-house. It is not in
the power of the human imagination to picture to itself
a situation more dreadful or disgusting.
The surgeons employed in the Guinea trade, are
generally driven to engage in so disagreeable a job
by their financial situations.

Source:
Alexander Falconbridge, An Account of the Slave Trade
on the Coast of Africa, 1788.

VOCABULARY
Riveted – metal bolted together
Stowed – put in a particular place
Shackled – chained
Take sustenance – eat
Flux – intestinal infection that caused intense diarrhea
Guinea trade – slave trade

Questionnaire:

1) Title of the account:

2) What was this person doing on the slave ship?

3) Did the account describe slave ships positively or negatively? Cite evidence in your answer.

4) Choose one line from the reading that stands out to you. Copy and paste the line/quote here:

Explain why this quote stands out to you?

5) What was the author’s intent in writing this personal account?