A rough road to emancipation

The four years the House of Assembly spent in its persecution of the other departments of the local government meant four years delay in the establishment of the system of registration for the slaves.

During the struggle, a bill had been passed which, however, did not meet the approval of the home government. It did not provide for the forfeiture of nonregistered slaves, nor did it provide for an accurate description of the slaves, such that they could be identified, as was desirable to the British Ministry.

Other minor objections were laid before the Assembly, with an urgent recommendation that an improved bill be passed. The Bahamas had always prided themselves on their loyalty to the British Crown. In his appeal to the House to pass a suitable bill for registration, Governor Grant urged that they should not pass a bill that would have to be disallowed, thus appearing to justify the imputation against them that the Bahamas were disregarding the wishes of the King.

The House finally yielded and passed a bill, granting certain of the more important points that had been urged in the recommendations. It provided sufficient regulations for the removal of slaves from one colony to another. But there were defects in other parts that called for supplementary legislation, to make the registration system satisfactory, to those who were demanding it.

Although important concessions were made in this, for the sake of compliance with the recommendations of the Ministry, still there were legitimate objections to the imposition of this regulation upon the Bahamas, if the interests of this Colony alone were to be considered.

Registration was designed to work towards the suppression of the slave trade. The foreign slave trade had not been carried on in the Bahamas since about the year 1810, or perhaps before the British Parliament had abolished the slave-trade in British territory.

The slave population, 10,808, according to the registration of 1833, was distributed over seventeen islands and groups of islands, which extended over a distance of 600 miles of ocean. Most of the other West Indian colonies consisted, each, of a single island, or compact group of islands. No other colony formed such a chain as the Bahamas. Easy access to the seat of government, where the registration books were to be kept, was an essential condition to the successful operation of the system, but one colony, however small, would have served for the introduction of slaves into all the colonies, at a great profit to the carriers. communication between the different islands of this government was so infrequent, and so difficult, as to render it practically impossible for the same system to be applied here, as in the other colonies. Other features of this system were difficult to adapt to this Colony, owing to the varied occupations of the slaves.

The plan of the Ministry was to recommend to all the colonies the same system, and to insist on its adoption, and the enforcement of its regulations, until the introduction of slaves from the outside should be entirely cut off.

Such a plan would allow no part of the British Empire to be free from this registration system. The larger interests of the Empire demanded that the rules and regulations, for the destruction of the slave-trade, should be enforced in all portions of the domain, even if the particular evils, against which efforts were directed, did not prevail there. In this view it was altogether desirable to include the Bahamas.

When Smyth received a message that the Assembly would conduct no further business with him, he dissolved the House on May 31, 1831.

Influential public opinion was building up against Smyth, but he had some supporters among some slave owners.

In June 1831, 26 large slave owners petitioned in Smyth’s favour, praising him as a great humanitarian. Additionally, 376 persons of colour also petitioned and congratulated Smyth for advancing their freedom so far.

Britain was taking the lead of the world in giving effect to her abolition laws. Her West Indian colonies were compelled to submit to the imposition of this regulation, as one measure for this purpose. Not one of them could be excepted from it, for no door must be left unclosed, by which slaves could be brought into the British possessions. The exception of

In 1829, Sir James Carmichael-Smyth was appointed Governor of the Bahamas. He lasted until 1833.

It was a time when the heated question of the abolition of slavery was being debated, in both the Imperial and in local colonial circles and Smith, a sincere sympathiser with the cause of the slaves, was a keen abolitionist, and bucked the members of the Bahamian Legislature and influential whites, more than once.

Especially keen to abolish corporal punishment for female slaves, Smyth tried without success to persuade the House of Assembly to legislate against it. His actions caused an uproar among the influential whites and the Assembly, resenting Smyth’s interference, requested his removal as Governor.

Among influential whites, Smith evoked yet more hostility against himself, over the punishment of female slaves and, despite growing opposition towards him in the House, Smyth urged its members to grant further privileges to the black and free coloured population.

When the Amelioration Bill was introduced, the House of Assembly was in a truculent mood, and refused to consider any bill concerned with the matter, while Smyth was Governor.

The Colonial Office warned Smyth to tread carefully but, not to be deterred, in January 1833, Smyth expressed his intention not to call the House of Assembly, until a year had elapsed.

By this time, the Colonial Office was becoming worried about Governor Smyth. Who was unable to avoid conflict and confrontation, for long. Finally, in January 1833, he was transferred to the Lieutenant Governorship of British Guiana, in reality, a promotion.

His successor, Blayney Townley Balfour, served from 1833 through 1835, when slavery was abolished.

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Animal matters Kim Aranha

Great white sharks in the Bahamas?

If you google ‘great white sharks in the Bahamas’, you find a message that states that there are no great white sharks in the Bahamas because the water is too cold.

A couple of lines later the same message says that there may be great whites from time to time in the Bahamas, but they are believed to be going to or leaving the Gulf of Mexico. This little release made me chuckle, because if you’re are a shark swimming in the Bahama Islands with a view to visit the Gulf of Mexico you are still a great white shark in Bahamian waters.

It is safe to say that the great white shark is not prolific in the Bahamas as are the bull shark, the tiger shark, the hammerhead shark or the black tip reef shark or their rather benign cousin the nurse shark.

However, I think it is quite safe to say that many of us have been surprised since the practice of tagging great white sharks started and OCEARCH has tracked them travelling through our waters.

I know that I signed up several years ago and thoroughly enjoy checking in on the locations of any of these amazing creatures as they move around free of boundaries.

One of the tagged great white sharks is called Ironbound. He was tagged in 2019 and at the time measured 12ft long and weighed 1,189 pounds. His movements have been tracked by OCEARCH since 2019, and his last radar “ping” was on April 11 at 8.56pm just off the Little Bahama Bank. Prior to that, he last “pinged” on January 14th relatively near to Fort Lauderdale.

According to the website, it appears that he has a travelling buddy called Maple who is a little smaller at 11ft