BlackMarket: 1796 AnneReynolds

AnneReynolds

CaptainRobertsonsetsailfromHell boundforeverlastingdamnation. Saplessbonesmakemusic;distantdrumsecho,

decompositionfreedslavesinchmeal fromthemanacledembrace; livingcargobreathingdownbelow. Currency’sdemiseascoldwaterfloods thestrainingnostril’sflareofhope. Twicefivescoreyearsthewhispersswelled tohowlsofoutrage,shameandgrief. Ebonyfleshdecaystowhiteivoryas, accusing,sightlessskullsconfront thepersistenceoftheimpartialtides;

RappareeCove,themakeshiftgrave forsixtyheathensoulsthatnight. Silverandgoldinshiftingsands survivedOctober’sduskychill, the‘London’ dashedagainsttherocks spewingoutitstreasuresasthegreed diedinthecaptain’seyes.

Sixty slaves died, fetteredto the ship’s timbers, aboardthe ‘London’ in the charge ofCaptain Robertson

on 9 October1796. They were part ofthe prize money won from the French in the Caribbean Campaign. The blackslaves were not given a Christian burial in consecratedgroundbut were buriedin the sands like a guilty secret.