I read a lot of threads on rootschat, but don’t recall any which mention ancestors involved in the slave trade. (That doesn’t mean there’s aren’t any of course )
Ruskie, I discovered during first lockdown that my 5g grandfather was captain of a slave ship. He only did two runs before his ship must have gone down, as I have my 5g grandmother proving his Will in Nov 1775, and no burial, although he must have been on previous voyages as crew.
He captained a ship called the Nancy, registered in Liverpool, whose owners included Bryan Blundell, the founder of the Liverpool Bluecoat School. He did one trip to Nigeria and Jamaica in 1772 - 1773, and another trip Nigeria - Dominica 1774 - 1775. In total he shipped over 700 slaves in those two voyages.
Not sure what I feel about it. He was trying to feed his own wife and three children. Judging from the lists of ship owners, slavery was embedded in Liverpool, at all levels of society. They clearly saw nothing wrong with it, however shocking that is to us today. So it depends whether we look at this with 21st century eyes, or 18th century. When I put it alongside the privations my coal miner ancestors will have endured down the mines from a very young age, that again depends on what eyes we view it with. Both were shocking, both were wrong as we see it today. Both exploited human beings to the max.
GoldRimmedLamp, I will send you my email address if you want it, but I'm not sure I can tell you any more