Slaves were transported via ship for the long voyage from Africa to the New World. Slavers frequently chose to “tight-pack” their slave ships, often “layering” their cargo one over the other in a “spoon-style” fashion. As the voyage continued, and slaves were allowed to be brought on deck for short periods of time, some would jump overboard to drown or be eaten by sharks rather than suffer any further in the horrible conditions “tween decks”. More than 20% of the slaves captured in Africa died from disease, maltreatment, or injury as the ships made their way across the Atlantic.

Slaves en route in the Middle Passage would generally be fed only two meals per day, and the type of food that they would receive would generally depend on the supplies that slavers were able to forage from the region the slaves were captured in. Water rations usually averaged about a half pint per day. Slaves were infrequently brought on deck and “danced” for exercise. They were forced to jump up and down to the beat of a kettle drum, sometimes until the shackles on their legs caused the skin to chafe and they would actually bleed. On some ships, crew members would clean the slave decks with hot vinegar to eliminate the smell of human waste and vomit, but frequently, they would simply let the stench grow until they arrived at port. In some instances, ports would not allow slave ships to dock due to the smell and possibility of spread of disease, such as smallpox, which could easily kill most of a slave ship’s cargo and crew. In some instances, ophthalmia, a highly contagious disease which quickly caused blindness, would sweep through a ship.

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