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Bestseller
BestsellerE-book
Author Smith, Billy G. (Billy Gordon)

Title Ship of death : a voyage that changed the Atlantic world / Billy G. Smith.

Publication Info. New Haven : Yale University Press, 2013.

Item Status

Description 1 online resource (page cm)
Physical Medium polychrome
Description text file
Summary "It is no exaggeration to say that the Hankey, a small British ship that circled the Atlantic in 1792 and 1793, transformed the history of the Atlantic world. This extraordinary book uncovers the long-forgotten story of the Hankey, from its altruistic beginnings to its disastrous end, and describes the ship's fateful impact upon people from West Africa to Philadelphia, Haiti to London. Billy G. Smith chased the story of the Hankey from archive to archive across several continents, and he now brings back to light a saga that continues to haunt the modern world. It began with a group of high-minded British colonists who planned to establish a colony free of slavery in West Africa. With the colony failing, the ship set sail for the Caribbean and then North America, carrying, as it turned out, mosquitoes infected with yellow fever. The resulting pandemic as the Hankey traveled from one port to the next was catastrophic. In the United States, tens of thousands died in Philadelphia, New York, Boston, and Charleston. The few survivors on the Hankey eventually limped back to London, hopes dashed and numbers decimated. Smith links the voyage and its deadly cargo to some of the most significant events of the era-the success of the Haitian slave revolution, Napoleon's decision to sell the Louisiana Territory, a change in the geopolitical situation of the new United States-and spins a riveting tale of unintended consequences and the legacy of slavery that will not die"-- Provided by publisher.
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index.
Local Note eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America
Subject Bolama Association.
Bolama Association.
Hankey (Ship : 1784)
Yellow fever -- Guinea-Bissau -- Bolama Island -- History -- 18th century.
Yellow fever.
Guinea-Bissau -- Bolama Island.
History.
Chronological Term 18th century
Subject Epidemics -- History -- 18th century.
Epidemics.
Yellow fever -- Caribbean Area -- History -- 18th century.
Caribbean Area.
Yellow fever -- United States -- History -- 18th century.
United States.
Bolama Island (Guinea-Bissau) -- Colonization.
Antislavery movements -- Great Britain -- History -- 18th century.
Antislavery movements.
Great Britain.
Abolitionists -- Great Britain -- Biography.
Abolitionists.
Genre/Form Biographies.
Subject Bolama Island (Guinea-Bissau) -- History -- 18th century.
Genre/Form Electronic books.
Electronic books.
Biographies.
Other Form: Print version: Smith, Billy G. (Billy Gordon). Ship of death. New Haven : Yale University Press, 2013 9780300194524 (DLC) 2013018243 (OCoLC)844073982
ISBN 9780300199239 (electronic book)
0300199236 (electronic book)
9780300194524
0300194528