The transatlantic slave trade was built on extreme violence, but it was never without resistance. From the moment of capture to the brutal conditions aboard slave ships, enslaved Africans fought back in every way they could. Revolts were frequent, and when open rebellion failed, captives often resorted to self-destruction—jumping overboard, hunger strikes, or, in rare cases, taking down an entire ship. The 1773 revolt aboard the New Britannia stands out as one of the most dramatic and tragic examples of this last resort, when the enslaved Africans, recognizing that they would not win, chose death over enslavement.
The journey from Africa to the Americas—known as the Middle Passage—was a time of unimaginable suffering. Chained in the filthy, airless holds of slave ships, captives endured disease, malnutrition, and constant abuse. Yet, despite these conditions, many resisted. Slave ship revolts were common; according to some estimates, about one in ten voyages experienced some form of rebellion.
These revolts took different forms. Some involved direct attacks on the crew, while others included subtler acts of rebellion, such as hunger strikes or self-starvation. But in rare and extraordinary cases, captives went even further, choosing to take down the entire ship rather than allow their oppressors to profit from their bodies.
The Revolt on the New Britannia
On January 24, 1773, the New Britannia, a British slave ship, was anchored on the Gambian River in Senegambia, preparing for its horrific journey across the Atlantic. But before it could leave, the people imprisoned below its decks declared war. Using tools secretly slipped to them by enslaved children, the men broke out of their chains, stormed the gun room, and launched a fierce battle against the crew.
For more than an hour, the freed captives fought fiercely against the ship’s crew. The battle was brutal, with losses on both sides. Outnumbered and facing inevitable defeat, the captives made a fateful decision: they would not allow themselves to be re-enslaved. Instead, they ignited the ship’s gunpowder magazine. The resulting explosion tore through the wooden body of the New Britannia, killing nearly everyone on board.
A total of 222 enslaved Africans, 90 free natives, and 13 crew members perished in the explosion. The New Britannia was completely destroyed, leaving little evidence of the extraordinary act of resistance that had taken place.
To modern readers, the idea of mass suicide as a path to freedom may seem difficult to understand. Yet, for many enslaved Africans, it was a final assertion of control over their fate. If they could not live as free people, they would at least choose how they died. The New Britannia revolt was not the only case of captives sinking a slave ship, but it was one of the deadliest.
This act of resistance echoes other moments in history, like the Igbo Landing in 1803, when captured Igbo people walked into the sea rather than submit to slavery. In both cases, the enslaved chose to die on their own terms rather than live in bondage.
Source:
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015010961665&view=1up&seq=328
https://www.bu.edu/historic/conference08/Eltis.pdf
