The Hannibal: 320 of 700 Enslaved Africans Die During Middle Passage (1693)

Captain Thomas Phillips of the Royal African Company vessel Hannibal recorded in his journal that of approximately 700 enslaved Africans loaded on the ship in 1693, roughly 320 died during the Middle Passage crossing, a mortality rate of over 45%. Phillips documented deaths from dysentery, smallpox, and what he called 'fixed melancholy' — enslaved people who refused to eat and died. The Hannibal's log is one of the most detailed first-person accounts of Middle Passage conditions and mortality, documenting the scale of death as a routine business matter.