The British like to pretend that slavery is a sordid chapter
in human history whose cross we Americans must alone bear. The truth is they
were complicit in its enterprise. British aristocracy became enamored by the
West Indies. They enlisted and financed ships to come to these islands amongst which
we now sail. Their directive was to
procure the coveted tea and spices that are abundant here. English and American
schoolchildren hear of slave ships bringing the scourge of slavery to the American south, but little about the routes
many British ships made before embarking on their transatlantic passage to the Caribbean. These ships
would first head south, where they would capture, enslave and transport, in
horrific conditions, the people of West Africa. These people would be put to work on the sugar plantations
and in the tea and spice fields of places like Antigua, and serve their
indentured lives under feudal lords, many of them Dutch, in plantations such as
Bettys Hope.
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| archeological remnants of the slave quarters at Bettys Hope Plantation |
The conditions
were so horrid so that many slaves chose to run away and cast themselves into
the nightmarish, crashing waters off a small outpost on the northeast corner of
Antigua, rather than further endure their plight. This place has come to be
known as the Devil’s Bridge. If you listen closely, the air blown through the
holes in the rocks by the water sounds like screams. It is truly one of the
most haunting, and most reverent, places of our journey.
