Also known as: slave ships, slaving vessels, négriers, middle passage vessels
Last updated: April 23, 2026
The French term négrier (slaver) captured the brutal commercial logic of these vessels, which were fundamentally modern capitalist institutions that "did not just enrich but had been themselves formed" the French and British bourgeoisie, as C.L.R. James argued in The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution.
Rediker uses Equiano as a central witness for the slave ship as a total institution; his child's-eye view of trying to comprehend the vessel and its crew is a key document of shipboard experience.
The slave ship was the instrument of the Atlantic slave trade.
The slave ship was the primary vessel of the Middle Passage.
Slave Ship
Slave Ship
Slave Ship
Slave Ship
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"Slave Ship." Rasin.ai, 2026. https://rasin.ai/connections/concepts/slave-ship. Accessed 2026-05-05.