These houses were in Marsh-street, and
most of them were then kept by Irishmen. The scenes witnessed in these
houses were truly distressing to me; and yet, if I wished to know
practically what I had purposed, I could not avoid them. Music, dancing,
rioting, drunkenness, and profane swearing, were kept up from night to
night. The young mariner, if a stranger to the port, and unacquainted
with the nature of the Slave Trade, was sure to be picked up. The
novelty of the voyages, the superiority of the wages in this over any
other trades, and the privileges of various kinds, were set before him.
Gulled in this manner, he was frequently enticed to the boat, which was
waiting to carry him away. If these prospects did not attract him, he
was plied with liquor till he became intoxicated, when a bargain was
made over him between the landlord and the mate. After this his senses
were kept in such a constant state of stupefaction by the liquor, that
in time the former might do with him what he pleased. Seamen, also, were
boarded in these houses, who, when the slave-ships were going out, but
at no other time, were encouraged to spend more than they had money to
pay for; and to these, when they had thus exceeded, but one alternative
was given, namely, a slave-vessel or a gaol.
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