"The slaves lie in two rows, one above the other, on each side of the ship, close to each other like books upon a shelf. I have known them so close that the shelf would not easily contain one more. The poor creatures are in irons for the most part which makes it difficult for them to turn or move or attempt to rise, and this causes wounds and sores which you would not credit... I frequently went down among them till at last I became so overcome with the heat, stench, and foul air, that I nearly fainted."

Dr Alexander Falconbridge, Account of the Slave Trade on the Coast of Africa, published 1788. Falconbridge had served as a surgeon on four slave voyages. He gave evidence to the Parliamentary inquiry into the slave trade and later became an abolitionist.