Human Cargo

Stories that need telling

Today, smartphones can take us right into migrant boats. But how do we put a face on those trafficked or transported in the past? And how might their experience help us attend to those today in terrified transit?

Human Cargo includes personal testimony from those within the emigrant boats, the convict ships and the vessels of enslavement.

You can read Olaudah Equiano’s rare description of the Middle Passage from the perspective of an enslaved African; Peter Williamson’s account of being kidnapped as a child in Aberdeen and sold into servitude in colonial America; James M’Lean’s life as an American sailor pressed into the Royal Navy; and Robert Whyte’s passage on an Irish coffin ship.

You’ll hear from Scottish families cleared to make way for sheep, petty criminals transported to Australia, Pacific islanders enslaved for Asian plantations, Welsh emigrants to Patagonia, and many more.

Folk songs give voice to the silent

Only the rich or lettered leave record of their lives. But what of the masses? To hear their voices, Human Cargo turns to traditional folk songs – the anonymous and authentic record of popular feeling.

The lyrics of 25 folk songs appear within the book; some well-known, many obscure. Each song is a survivor, because people kept choosing to sing it. Together, they provide distinct windows into collective experience.

Modern testimony too

Alongside the old story and songs, the book features snapshots of human cargo in the 21st century – words from people trafficked, transported, enslaved or impressed in modern times. In their similarity to the past, for cruelty remains constant, they help bring that past alive.