Disease

Slaves captured or purchased in the African interior were often held in confinement for months before they finally arrived at the coast. Some of these people had been wounded in battles, and others like the European sailors, often caught these ailments. John Taylor, the captain of the Henrietta Marie's second voyage, was not spared the threat of disease and was ill or dying before the ship left Africa, re-exposed to smallpox, yellow fever, and other deadly diseases.The mortality rate during the Middle Passage was high for slaves and crew alike, averaging between thirteen and thirtythree percent. The likelihood of contagion, however was strongest for the Africans.

Common hazards of the voyage, stemming from no other source than poor diet and close confinement, included scurvy and gangrene. Dehydration, caused by lack of drinking water and high loss of bodily fluids from fevers or dysentery, was a primary killer aboard the slaving vessels. Symptoms included melancholy and a loss of appetite, but were not understood by early ship's physicians, and often went untreated until it was too late. In Addition, contaminated water supplies produced a variety of gastrointestinal disorders which increased fatalities.