Scope and Content
This document is the 1730 testimony of George Scott of Newport, master of the slaving sloop Little George, which was just beginning on the long voyage back to Rhode Island from Africa when a slave revolt broke out. This was one of the earliest known revolts on a Rhode Island slave ship, and one of the very few successful ones. Two sailors and the ship's doctor, John Harris, were killed, as well as several of the slaves. The captain, first mate, cabin boy and two other crew members were barricaded in the cabin. Their attempt to construct a bomb was unsuccessful and "burnt the man that had the fuze in his hand almost to death" and destroyed most of their gunpowder, as well as their clothes. The slaves' continuous efforts to storm the cabin failed, and they managed to pilot the ship back to shore with the crew still trapped in the cabin. After the Africans has beached the half-burned vessel and liberated themselves on the shore, the ships' crew managed to row away on the lifeboat for five or six leagues before being picked up by another ship. At the time of their rescue, the crew of the Little George were "in a weak and miserable condition, having had nothing to subsist upon during the nine days we were under this affliction but raw rice." This testimony is signed "per John Kilton", who apparently wrote it out. A nearly identical version of this account was published in the Boston News Letter on May 6, 1731. The Harris family may have obtained a transcript of the newspaper account, or perhaps received an alternate copy from court testimony. It would not be unusual for versions of such grisly story to be circulating freely throughout New England. The Harris family would have been particularly interested if they were related to the ship's doctor, John Harris, who was killed in the revolt. This document is part of the Harris Family Papers, but has no apparent relation to the rest of the papers. This branch of the Harris family was in Cranston, Rhode Island at the time. There are a few shipping papers for the West Indies trade kept by Joseph Harris (1713-1786) from the 1750s, but the bulk of this large collection consists of personal papers, deeds, correspondence and household accounts.Context
MSS 17 Subgroup 1 Box 2 Folder 8Name/Title
Testimony of George Scott
