![BritonHammon](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/BritonHammon.png)
Briton Hammon was an
enslaved person of African descent who lived in British North America during the middle of the 18th century. On December 25, 1747, by leave of his master, Hammon left his home in
Marshfield,
to board a ship in neighboring
Plymouth
Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west.
Plymouth ...
to work on a sailing ship headed for
Jamaica
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
. On June 15, 1748, the ship wrecked and he and the crew were cast away off the coast of Florida, beginning a series of hardships and adventures he chronicled in an autobiographical account, ''A Narrative of the Uncommon Sufferings, and Deliverance of Briton Hammon, A Negro Man,'' first published in 1760. His experiences after the shipwreck included being held captive by Florida Indians, spending four years in a Spanish prison in Cuba, rescue by a British lieutenant who smuggles him on board a British man-o-war, and then serving several years in the British navy before suffering wounds during a skirmish with a French warship. Hammon was honorably discharged from the Royal Navy, and recounts being reunited with his old master in London. The narrative concludes with his master taking him back to New England.
[Hammon, Briton]
''A Narrative of the Uncommon Sufferings, and Surprizing Deliverance of Briton Hammon'' (1760)
Library of Congress Digital Collections.[Hutchins, Zachary. "Summary" o]
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Documenting the American South.
Encounter with Florida Indians
On December 25, 1747, Briton Hammon left
Marshfield in Boston on his first expedition with the permission of his master,
General Winslow. He intended to go to
Plymouth
Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west.
Plymouth ...
and from there
Jamaica
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
. However, on June 15, 1748, the ship Hammon was aboard floundered not far from the shore of
Cape Florida
Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Recreation Area occupies approximately the southern third of the island of Key Biscayne, at coordinates . This park includes the Cape Florida Light, the oldest standing structure in Greater Miami. In 2005, it was ra ...
. The captain ordered the ship's crew to, in small groups, make for the shore in a boat. When half of the crew was ashore, they were attacked by a group of 60 Indians, who captured and bound them. Then after burning the ship and killing those still aboard, they returned and started killing those who were bound. Seeing his eminent death, Hammon attempted to escape by swimming away. Though this was unsuccessful, he was the only survivor of the crew. He was held captive by the Indians and fed well.
Then a
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
ship arrived from
St. Augustine. Its captain made a deal with the Indians, giving them 10 dollars for Hammon and persuading the Indians to not hereafter kill any other persons but capture as many as they could and sell them to him for 10 dollars each.
Life and incarceration in Cuba
After this venture, Hammon lived with
Francisco Cajigal de la Vega
Francisco Cajigal de la Vega (sometimes spelled ''Francisco Caxigal de la Vega'') (February 6, 1691, Ribamontán al Monte, Cantabria – 1777) was a Spanish military officer, governor of Cuba from 1747 to 1760, and interim viceroy of New ...
, the
governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
of Cuba, in the castle. After about 12 months, he (and others) was accosted in the street by a "Press-Gang" and taken to jail. He spent a night in jail, then refused to work aboard a Spanish ship and was put in a
dungeon
A dungeon is a room or cell in which prisoners are held, especially underground. Dungeons are generally associated with medieval castles, though their association with torture probably belongs more to the Renaissance period. An oubliette (from ...
, where he remained for almost five years. He petitioned prison visitors to communicate with the governor. This was unsuccessful until a Mrs. Betty Howard pleaded his case to a visiting Boston ship's captain who visited Hammon in his "deplorable Condition" and secured his release through the governor. Hammon returned to live with him in the castle for about a year.
Attempts to escape
During his second period with the governor, Hammon attempted to escape three times. In his first try, he boarded a ship and spent the night concealed. When it departed, he revealed himself, but the captain turned the ship around and returned him to shore. He made his second attempt to escape, again trying to board a ship, this time bound for Jamaica. He was, again, almost immediately sent back. Hammon was employed for seven months, along with quite a few other slaves, carrying Roman Catholic
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
Pedro Augustín Morell de Santa Cruz on a
litter
Litter consists of waste products that have been discarded incorrectly, without consent, at an unsuitable location. Litter can also be used as a verb; to litter means to drop and leave objects, often man-made, such as aluminum cans, paper cups, ...
through the country. He was then imprisoned for over four years for refusing to serve aboard a Spanish man-of-war.
[
Finally, in 1758, he and others were snuck aboard a British man-of-war by an English lieutenant.][
]
Reunited with his enslaver
On his way to London, the ship he served aboard encountered and fought a French man-o-war. The French killed 70 of the British crew and Hammon was wounded in the head and arm. Hammon stayed in Greenwich Hospital to recover from his wounds and was then discharged from the Royal Navy. After working again for a short time, he became sick with fever and was confined in London for six weeks. While ill, he exhausted his money and was left in a very poor state. As fortune would have it, Hammon was reunited with his old master, who happened to be in London, after nearly 13 years. According to the narrative, both were very delighted to be brought back together.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hammon
18th-century American slaves
People from Marshfield, Massachusetts
People of colonial Massachusetts
People who wrote slave narratives