Analogies Between Penal Transportation And Slavery

As Emma Christopher notes in “The Slave Trade is Merciful Compared to [This],” analogies between the transatlantic slave trade and penal transportation often served as rhetorical tropes in 18th Century Britain. Per se forms of unfree labor underlie each practice, and so, the analogy is valid on its face. However, this analogy is subject to scrutiny when one analyzes both practices from the experiences of the enslaved and transported, as well as the financial, economic, and social considerations underlying the slave trade and transportation efforts. African slaves and transports assumed their status in different ways. A convict was not a passive agent; transportation was a result of their criminal activity or unfortunate circumstance. The
Slave traders had a financial interest in ensuring that slaves arrived at their destination in relatively good condition. This means that excessive murder or injury might harm a slave trader’s financial position. In contrast, some convict transporters had a financial interest in convict deaths. Christopher notes that “the food of the deceased [convicts] was saved and could be sold [by slave traders] once the ships reached their destination.” Financial incentives perform work in distinguishing convicts from slaves. Slave traders sought to preserve their “investments” by any means necessary, thereby rendering the slave a commodity: “[captains darkened] slaves’ gray hair, [polished] their skin…and even [blocked] the anuses of those who had dysentery.” Convict transporters, absent a financial incentive, had no reason to commodify transports. Gender also plays an important role in this comparison. On ships, enslaved women and female convicts were sometimes sexually abused by sailors and ship officers. Yet, unlike their enslaved counterparts, “some [female convicts] did have enough agency to calculate…that forming a relationship with a sailor would bring them some protection and better