In his own analysis of what Paul Gilroy termed the Black Atlantic, Philip Morgan considers the extent to which the British transatlantic slave trade involved more than a simple three-cornered trading cycle, the infamous ‘Triangular Trade’. Following the arrival in the Caribbean of newly enslaved Africans, Morgan sees the early black experience as a two-step shipboard migration, with 200,000 Africans departing the British Caribbean for colonies belonging to other European powers such as Spanish, Dutch and French territories. Within the British Empire at least 100,000 Africans moved from the British Caribbean to North America or to other Caribbean islands.

Morgan gives a figure of approximately 15 per cent of Africans arriving in British America only to board other ships for distribution to various parts of the continent. He states that many African captives destined for America made more than one voyage before their final arrival at what was to become their new home. During the process of buying and selling, the likelihood of their having companions with linguistic and cultural affinities decreased as they were sorted and divided at slave auctions.

Not all further migration was under the sort of duress that characterized the slave trade, however. The increase in the employment of black sailors, both free and un-free, meant that those surviving the rigours of the voyage would sometimes disembark in Britain's ports after having been laid off and await another voyage or a return journey home. Some, however, never did return to their previous home.

AFRICAN SEAFARERS’ NAMES

Britain has had a black presence for at least 500 years, black Britons having been born in what was to become the United Kingdom since 1505. As early as the late eighteenth century, black sailors were a component of black settlement in the ports, providing a ready pool of able-bodied and frequently well-trained recruits, a resource that was to be exploited and later developed by owners of shipping companies, particularly in the age of steam. Early African seamen would be discharged from slave ships in Liverpool or London, later to join other slaving vessels in order either to return home or make another circuit. Identifying how many black sailors were in British ports at this time is difficult, owing to the fact that, unlike in North America, on British ships there was no obligation for captains to note the racial origin of their men on the ship's muster.