My father came from Bristol, but his family was 'upper-working-class', not from the slave-owning levels.
Although a person of considerable intellect, he had a blank area where the slave trade was concerned. When I tried in youth to discuss Bristol's role in the triangular trade, he denied that Bristol had ever been involved in slaving. But there was a sort of evasive twinkle in his eye that gave him away.
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To quote Sir Harry Paget Flashman VC:
But I saw the Coast with my own eyes, you see, which the Holy Henriettas didn't, and I know that this old wives' tale of a handful of white pirates mastering the country and kidnapping as they chose, is all my eye. We couldn't have stayed there five minutes if the n*** kings and warrior tribes hadn't been all for it, and traded their captured enemies — aye, and their own folk, too — for guns and booze and Brummagem rubbish.
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>> guns and booze and Brummagem rubbish
The guns were usually rubbish too. Ever seen a 'Dane gun', Ian? Horrible things they are.
Wouldn't be surprised either if the booze was pretty lethal, lots of methyl in it...
It's quite true though that the Africans were pretty insouciant about slavery, which they were well used to.
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Well, that's Harry Flashman for you!
I shot a five-to-a-pounder muzzle loader. Once.
But let us, again, listen to Mr Fraser...
The Lee Enfield, cased in wood from butt to muzzle, could stand up to any rough treatment, and it never jammed. “She's your wife,†as the musketry instructors used to say. “Treat her right and she'll give you full satisfaction.†And she did, thirty years old as she was; treating her right consisted of keeping her “clean, bright, and slightly oiled†with the pullthrough and oil bottle in her butt trap, and boiling her out after heavy firing. She's a museum piece now, but I see her still on T.V. newsreels, in the hands of hairy, outlandish men like the Mujahedeen of Afghanistan and capable-looking gentry in North Africa, and I have a feeling that she will be loosing off her ten rounds rapid when the Kalashnikovs and Armalites are forgotten. That's the old reactionary talking: no doubt Agincourt die-hards said the same of the long bow.
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Lee Enfield is a very fine weapon, but too cumbersome and unnecessarily accurate for the modern style of warfare.
Armalite is a sprayer, but Kalashnikov is a sort of half-way house, capable of accuracy but without the range of a Lee Enfield. I'd like to have a Kalash, very useful tool. Heavy ammo though.
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The AK-74 is pretty good, Armel.
Much lighter round. Still has the spray-and-pray approach.
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I believe after London, Bristol and Liverpool engaged in the trade, both Whitehaven and Lancaster were next in line to begin trading. Whitehaven just up the coast from here still hold an annual Rum- Trail festival which celebrates part of Whitehaven's Heritage. It is also rumored that Fletcher Christian of "Mutiny on the Bounty" fame was born in Whitehaven.
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Devonite, I quoted above from 'Flash for Freedom'. If you haven't read it, please do.
Shows the hypocrisy of the post-Wilberforce UK slave trade.
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No I haven't read that (but will do) I was trying to decipher what exactly he was describing, my Olde English is a bit rusty!
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>> No I haven't read that (but will do) I was trying to decipher what exactly
>> he was describing, my Olde English is a bit rusty!
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Fraser wrote a series from the point of view of the arch cad Flashman from 'Tom Brown'.
Put a very interesting, and pretty well-researched, spin on Britain's wars and conquests in the 19th century. A warts-and-all reportage.
apropos to nothing whatsoever, go to bookzz.org and type in 'Flashman'. Just saying.
Last edited by: Ian (Cape Town) on Tue 19 Jul 16 at 15:22
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Thanks for that! will bookmark it and have a read later!
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>> Thanks for that! will bookmark it and have a read later!
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Grab the series!
Arch-cad puts a lovely spin on history.
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Bristol - Ian (Cape Town)
