The Unlivable Life

Walsh, Robert. "Aboard a Slave Ship." Notices of Brazil in 1828 and 1829 (1831). EyeWitness to History. http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/slaveship.htm (Date accessed 1/27/2014)

Robert Walsh is an Irish writer, clergyman, historian, writer, and physician. He attended Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland; once he graduated he was ordained a clergyman of the Church of Ireland. Walsh had become a Reverend and he went on to becoming chaplain to the British Embassy in St. Petersburg and then in Constantinople in 1820. He was appointed chaplain to the British Embassy in Rio de Janeiro in 1828. Walsh was a respected Reverend among his peers, and was given many responsibility. He went on to serve and work in many different areas of the world. But during his time in Brazil, Walsh spent 200 days travelling through the country investigating the conditions of slaves. Rev. Walsh had a goal in mind to abolish slavery; he tried everything in his power to prevent the transportation of slavery. When Walsh was returning back to Ireland the captain of Walsh's ship spotted a slave ship. For thirty hours or so they chased down the slave ship, and were finally able to force it to heave. Once Walsh boarded the ship he was able to encounter the cruelties of slavery first hand. Walsh vividly captures what he had seen in his book Notices of Brazil in 1828 and 1829. The book was published only a year after the event occurred, so it can be assumed that Walsh remembered many of the detail of the event. This particular passage goes in-depth on the events in which he encountered. Walsh wanted to share this horrid image that was in front of his, in order to persuade others to take action against slavery. The way Walsh convey's his message and his experience is by using many descriptive words that make that feel as though he/she is there. It constantly points out the unimaginable things that he saw and even more things that he heard people discuss. He begins by describing what he sees, and then states that his friends have seen even worse conditions. He goes on to describe those conditions, which create an even more horrid image in the readers mind. Walsh writes this because he wants people to see how terrible things really are for slaves, he knows that telling people isn't enough; he uses his writing to draw a picture and try to let his readers imagine the unimaginable.