James Irving (15 December 1759 – 24 December 1791) was a Scottish slave trader, sea captain and surgeon. In 1789, Irving was captured and enslaved himself. After he was freed, Irving returned to slave trading as a career and died on his next slaving voyage.

Early life

James Irving was the third child of John Irving (–1787), a blacksmith and innkeeper in the Scottish border town

Langholm Langholm , also known colloquially as the "Muckle Toon", is a burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, southern Scotland. Langholm lies between four hills in the valley of the River Esk in the Southern Uplands. Location and geography Langholm sits no ...

, by his wife, Isobel, (–1791).Schwarz 2008. He was born at Langholm on 15 December 1759.Schwarz 2004. In the 1780s he moved to Liverpool with his cousin.

Surgeon

In January 1782, Irving was working as a surgeon on ''Prosperity'', a British

slave ship Slave ships were large cargo ships specially built or converted from the 17th to the 19th century for transporting slaves. Such ships were also known as "Guineamen" because the trade involved human trafficking to and from the Guinea coast i ...

owned by John Dawson.

Captain

Dawson went on to give Irving his first captaincy on , a slave ship that was registered in

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

in April 1789.

Enslavement

In 1789, ''Anna'' became shipwrecked off the coast of Africa while travelling to collect captives. Irving and its crew were themselves captured and enslaved. He wrote to a British vice-consul, John Hutchinson, pleading for his release. He said we are "in the hands of Arabs and Moors in a Condition miserable beyond Conception’. And later in his correspondence "rescue us speedily from the most intollerable Slavery". He also wrote: After 14 months of enslavement Irving was released, the exact circumstances of the release are unknown. Irving along with 10 other crew from ''Anna'' were handed over to Hutchinson and set sail to return to England.

Death

Irving arrived back in England in October 1790. In December 1790, he had become the captain of another of Dawson's slave ships, ''Ellen'', which set sail for Africa on 3 January 1801 from Liverpool.Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – ''Ellen'' voyage #881242.
/ref> She started acquiring captives on 4 April, first at

Cape Coast Castle Cape Coast Castle ( sv, Carolusborg) is one of about forty "slave castles", or large commercial forts, built on the Gold Coast of West Africa (now Ghana) by European traders. It was originally a Portuguese "feitoria" or trading post, establish ...

, and then at

Anomabu Anomabu, also spelled Anomabo and formerly as Annamaboe, is a town on the coast of the Mfantsiman Municipal District of the Central Region of South Ghana. Anomabu has a settlement population of 14,389 people. Anomabu is located 12 km east ...

. She sailed from Africa on 16 September. The ship's log records Irving's death on 24 December 1791 but does not indicate how he died. James Baillie, her third mate, but by then the ranking officer, replaced Irving as master, and ''Ellen'' arrived at Trinidad and Tobago on 11 January 1792. She had embarked 253 enslaved people and she arrived with 206. The loss of 47 captives represented a 19% mortality rate. ''Ellen'' sailed for Liverpool on 30 March and arrived home on 15 May. She had left Liverpool with 16 crew members and had suffered six crew deaths (including Irving), on her voyage. Schwarz writes that Irving had likely been too sickly after his own enslavement to survive the rigors of the trip.

Letters of Irving

Irving sent a series of letters to his wife Mary that have been recorded. The letters, intended only for private consumption, offer a unique account of life aboard slave ships in the 18th century.

Notes

Citations

References

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