Wendy Malkin

• BA (Hons) Archaeology
• Lost British slave ships 1680-1807: historic newspapers and the location of wreck sites.

From 1680-1807, Britain was one of the world’s leading slave trading nations, transporting 3.5 million Africans into slavery in the Caribbean. Newcastle archaeologists have pioneered new methodologies for identifying the location of inbound and outbound slave ships wrecked in British and Irish waters. Local newspapers routinely reported eighteenth-century wrecking incidents, but surprisingly little use has been made of these reports by scholars. Using the British Newspapers 1600-1900 online database (via the Robinson Library), this project aims to assess the potential value of wreck reports in narrowing down the locations of British slave ships wrecked between 1680 and 1807.

Funding Source: Newcastle University