General Conditions

Most ships took 60 to 90 days to cross the Atlantic, but it could take longer depending on the weather. The conditions the slaves where forced to endure while on this never-ending voyages where horrific. They were treated like cattle, even branded with their owner's marks under their breast on or their arms at times. They were forced to lay between the decks, often so close that they touched one another, and lay beside each other in a spoon like fashion. The slaves were so close together that they sometimes laid in each other's feces, urine, or even blood. There was very little air that was allowed to these lower decks. The lack of airflow combined with the scorching hot temperatures at these lower decks to create a horrible stench. This also allowed diseases such as smallpox and yellow fever to spread rampantly among the slaves.

While aboard the ships women were often sexually abused. On one ship, captained by John Newton, a female slave who was visibly pregnant was seduced into a room and raped with brutelike force. To ensure that man were well behaved, they were shackled together at their wrists and ankles. If anyone did misbehave they were punished with whips and iron muzzles.

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/slaveship.htm
http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/ism/slavery/newton_aboard.asp
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1narr4.html