Captain Canot

The career of the Franco-Italian slave trader Theodore Canot (1804–60) was long and eventful. This intimate and sometimes graphic insight into the slave trade, first published in 1854, was edited by the American historian and author Brantz Mayer (1809–79), who compiled it in close collaboration with Canot. Brantz considered his subject to be a man of unquestionable integrity whose story needed to be heard. Beginning with Canot's introduction to seafaring, the book is enriched by vivid anecdotes and occasional illustrations. From an encounter with Lord Byron to shocking descriptions of massacres, the narrative describes multiple aspects of the slave trade: purchasing slaves; storing human cargo; the suppression of slave revolts; the establishment of the slave trade in new regions; and the legal, financial and practical requirements of running a slave ship. A counterpoint to accounts by slaves themselves, this work reflects the attitudes of its time.