A voyage to Guinea, Brasil and the West Indies

In Short

This narrative records a naval voyage aboard HMS Swallow and HMS Weymouth along the West African coast, across to Brazil, and into the West Indies. Written by a surgeon accustomed to rigorous observation, it blends nautical navigation with detailed natural history and social commentary. Atkins records the winds, tides, diet, and customs of the places he touches, but the book endures primarily for his candid documentation of the Atlantic slave trade and his unsparing critique of the moral and economic arguments used to justify human bondage.

The Story

The journey begins on February 5, 1720/1, as the naval vessels set sail from Spithead. Passing the western extremity of England, the narrator reflects on how coastlines shift over time and meditates on the uncertainty of life on the sea. The fleet makes its way south and east, charting the great rivers of the windward coast of Africa, including the Gambia and Senegal, while noting the local flora, fauna, and trading conditions.

Along the African coast, the voyage moves from trade settlements to naval stations like Cabo Corso and Whydah. The narrator examines the mechanics of European commerce, detailing how factories are maintained, how stock companies collapse under financial strain, and how local African leaders navigate international trade. He observes native customs, social hierarchies, and religious practices—termed "fetishes"—while noting the severe disruptions caused by the presence of European merchants. Crucially, he details the mechanics of the slave trade, describing how captives are brought to the coast through war, debt, or fraud, and exposes the brutal realities of shipboard life, including violent captive revolts and summary punishments.

Leaving the African coast behind in May 1722, the ships proceed toward the Americas, stopping at Portuguese island settlements like St. Thomas and Cape Lopez to wood, water, and repair. Crossing the Atlantic, the narrative shifts toward oceanography and meteorology, offering systematic explanations of the global trade winds, localized tornadoes, and the unique current of the Gulf of Mexico.

Upon reaching the West Indies, the focus turns to the British colonial plantations in Barbados and Jamaica. The narrative captures an environment strained by economic hardship, hurricane devastation, and steep social inequalities. The surgeon catalog-books the region’s natural phenomena, from the anatomy of the pelican to the cultivation of sugar cane and tropical fruits. Throughout these observations, the author maintains a consistent thread of critical inquiry, weighing the promises of empire against the raw, impoverishing realities he witnesses before the naval deployment reaches its conclusion.

How It Unfolds

The voyage begins The naval vessels depart Spithead in February 1720/1, leaving behind the English coast as the author contemplates the precarious nature of sea travel and the changing geology of the earth.

Observations of the African coast Reaching the windward coast of Africa, the crew surveys major rivers like the Gambia and Niger, recording local animal life, food customs, and the initial trading posts handling gold, ivory, and enslaved people.

Encounters with local leaders The author travels inland to visit figures such as Seignior Joseph, a Christianized African trader living in European fashion, examining how European trade and religious conversion interact with native village life.

Exposing the slave trade At settlements like Cabo Corso and Whydah, the narrative turns to the mechanics of the slave trade, detailing captive rebellions on merchant vessels and dismantling the moral arguments used by Europeans to rationalize human trafficking.

Crossing to the Americas After reprovisioning at Cape Lopez and St. Thomas, the ships cross the Atlantic, prompting an extended analysis of trade winds, oceanic currents, and atmospheric phenomena in the Bay of Mexico.

Life in the West Indies Arriving in Barbados and Jamaica, the author surveys plantation economies, local wildlife, native fruits like the pineapple, and the social distress caused by agricultural failure and natural disasters.

The People

John Atkins The Royal Navy surgeon serving aboard HMS Swallow and HMS Weymouth. He seeks to document the physical, natural, and human environments encountered on his voyage with medical precision. Disillusioned by commercial corruption, he stands out for his willingness to question imperial hypocrisies and the morality of the slave trade, ultimately accepting a reassignment as ship's purser despite his lack of accounting experience.

Seignior Joseph A communicative African trader living nine miles upriver from the coast. Having traveled to England and Portugal, where he was baptized, he seeks to introduce Christian education and European customs to his town. He lives in European dress, maintains a clean home, and entertains the naval visitors with local hunts while balancing the frequent political disputes among neighboring groups.

Captain Tomba A stout African captive purchased by a Bristol trading vessel. Seeking freedom while still within sight of land, he organizes an armed night revolt aboard ship with the help of a female captive. Though most of his accomplices falter at the crucial moment, his desperate attempt for liberty highlights the violent resistance of the enslaved.

John Conny A powerful local chief on the Gold Coast who engrosses the trade of his region through wealth and political leverage. He aggressively limits the profits of European merchants by underselling competitors and demanding payment on his own terms, demonstrating the complex economic maneuvering along the coast.

In Its Own Voice

"Whether when we have shut up this Life we shall remain resolved into our Elements; revive again in some Plant or Animal; or thirdly, be reinstated Soul and Body into Glory, is an Enquiry worthy our utmost Concern and Diligence..."

(Reflecting on human mortality while watching the rocks of the English coast recede at the start of the voyage.)

"To remove Negroes then from their Homes and Friends, where they are at ease, to a strange Country, People, and Language, must be highly offending against the Laws of natural Justice and Humanity..."

(Critiquing the moral justifications put forward by European merchants to defend the Atlantic slave trade.)

"Their chief Diet is Indian Corn, Rice, Palm-nuts, Bananas, Yamms, Pine-apples, and now and then a little Fish, or a Fowl; all which thro’ Ignorance, and want of Necessaries, are very slovenly cooked by them."

(Describing the everyday living conditions and culinary habits of the inhabitants along the Guinea coast.)

What It's Really About

Beneath its surface as a practical travelogue, the book is an inquiry into the ethics of global commerce and the true cost of empire. Atkins constantly measures European claims of civility and Christian charity against the actual practices of colonial traders, finding that financial greed consistently corrupts both colonizer and colonized. He examines the nature of human contentment, arguing that non-European societies living simply are neither poor nor in need of forceful "salvation." At its core, the text challenges the reader to look past economic convenience and recognize the universal claims of natural justice, while systematically demystifying the physical geography, weather patterns, and biological diversity of the Atlantic world.

Why Read It Today

This volume appeals to readers of maritime history, early modern travel literature, and the history of transatlantic slavery. Unlike many standard eighteenth-century accounts that unthinkingly accept the commercial status quo, this narrative offers a rare, clear-eyed critique from inside the Royal Navy. The reading experience is immersive and observational, placing you directly on the deck of a sailing warship as it navigates uncharted currents or stops at remote coastal factories.

The prose reflects its era, featuring archaic spellings, long sentence structures, and the straightforward, occasionally blunt period attitudes of an eighteenth-century Englishman. Modern readers will need to navigate dense descriptions of navigation routes and early scientific theories. Yet what stays with you is the author's intellectual honesty: his refusal to accept convenient rationalizations for human exploitation, his vivid portraits of coastal life, and his quiet insistence that human dignity does not depend on European approval.