Slave Captain: The Career of James Irving in the Liverpool Slave Trade

doi:10.5949/UPO9781846314070

As few accounts written by slave ship captains are known to have survived, the personal papers of James Irving are of tremendous interest and academic significance. Irving built a successful career in the slave trade of eighteenth-century Liverpool, first as a ships surgeon and then as a captain. Remarkably he was himself enslaved when his ship was wrecked off the coast of Morocco and he was captured by people described as wild Arabs and savages. This edition of forty letters and his journal reveals the reaction of the slaver to the experience of slavery, as well as throwing light on the complex and, to modern eyes, repugnant features of the transatlantic slave trade. The result is both a compelling narrative and a valuable reference text. This thoroughly revised edition of Suzanne Schwarzs best-selling book includes recently discovered archive material.

Schwarz's scholarship is without flaw... this is not only a fascinating read, but it should prove very useful in teaching students about slavery and its contradictions.

Paul Lovejoy Source: York University Canada

This revised second edition makes a very worthwhile contribution to the literature on the British slave trade. While the primary source material is arranged according to a sensible, professional editing scheme, it is rendered meaningful by Suzanne Schwarz's excellent introductory chapters, references and annotations. Slave Captain therefore reveals much about Liverpool's role in the transatlantic slave trade as well as the life, career and attitudes of one of its many practitioners.

Source: International Journal of Maritime History, Vol XX, No. 2

Schwarz has also made effective and extensive use of the transatlantic slave trade data base to fill out details about the slave ship journeys in which Irving participated. The result is an exemplary edition that will be useful for scholars, students and not least, for people interested in the history of Liverpool and its interactions with the wider world.

Source: Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire Volume 157

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Slave Captain

The Career of James Irving in the Liverpool Slave Trade

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Contents

Frontmatter
pp i-vi

Contents
pp vii-vii

List of Illustrations, Maps and Tables
pp viii-viii

Preface to the Second Edition
pp ix-xii

The Documents and Editorial Conventions
pp xiii-xiv

List of Abbreviations
pp xv-xvi

Part One - James Irving's Career
pp 1-2

1 - Introduction
pp 3-6

2 - Early Career in the Liverpool Slave Trade
pp 7-19

3 - Irving's Voyages in the Transatlantic Slave Trade
pp 20-38

4 - Shipwreck and Enslavement
pp 39-64

5 - Freedom and Return to England
pp 65-69

6 - Conclusion
pp 70-80

Part Two - James Irving's Correspondence, 1786–1791
pp 81-82

Letter 1–40
pp 83-124

Part Three - Journal of James Irving's Shipwreck and Enslavement, May 1789–October 1790
pp 125-126

Narrative of the Shipwreck of the Ann Captain Irving
pp 127-148

A ‘Short Account’ by James Irving II, June–October 1789
pp 149-152

Notes
pp 153-194

Bibliography
pp 195-204

Index
pp 205-212

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The Career of James Irving in the Liverpool Slave Trade

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