August 26, 2012 - Underwater Sculpture

[smillie]

There was a period of time where transporting slaves was illegal and if caught the ship was confiscated and the captain and crew went to prison. A ship with no slaves on board was safe. So the slavers would chain all the slaves together and to an anchor so when they were they thought they were going to be boarded by the navy they would cut loose the anchor and all legal evidence when overboard. The ship would still be stinking of slaves but with no slaves aboard the slavers couldn't be prosecuted.

[Adak]

Originally Posted by smillie

There was a period of time where transporting slaves was illegal and if caught the ship was confiscated and the captain and crew went to prison. A ship with no slaves on board was safe. So the slavers would chain all the slaves together and to an anchor so when they were they thought they were going to be boarded by the navy they would cut loose the anchor and all legal evidence when overboard. The ship would still be stinking of slaves but with no slaves aboard the slavers couldn't be prosecuted.

This is clearly a a drunken sailor's sea story.

Any captain would know that the chained together slaves would immediately sink beneath the surface, since the slaves were burdened by the considerable weight of their chains, wrist, and leg irons.

No captain would risk losing a very valuable anchor, when it wasn't needed.

[xoxoxoBruce]

You're probably right about not wasting a valuable iron ship's anchor. But smillie said, "an anchor", which could have been nothing but a fishnet full of rocks, designated to sink jettisoned slaves. Come to think of it, those shackles and chains were pretty pricey too. They probably removed as many as they could and still insure the cargo could be jettisoned safely.