History: During the Middle Passage.

By 1654, some 8,000 to10,000 Africans each year were undergoing the Middle Passage. During the next hundred years, this number grew steadily, reaching its peak sometime around 1750, when the annual number stabilized at 60,000 to70,000. Estimates on the total number of Africans who were forced to undergo the Middle Passage generally ranged from nine to fifteen million. Out of this number, some 3 to 5 million perished before they even reached the Americas.

By the end of January, 1700, the Henrietta Marie took some twelve hundred enslaved Africans aboard the Middle Passage to the New World. The men, women and children were shackled and confined to the stifling cargo holds below deck. After securing her cargo, the Henrietta Marie would have brought food and water aboard for the long voyage to the West Indies known as the Middle Passage.