Key details
- The ship in question is the Brooks (sometimes “Brookes”), a British slave ship based at Liverpool.
- The plan was published around 1788-1789 (after the Regulated Slave Trade Act 1788) by abolitionists to illustrate how enslaved people were packed aboard.
- The diagram shows how people were stowed in extremely crowded conditions — illustrating both a side view and overhead deck plans.
Why this plan is significant
- It became a powerful tool for the British abolition movement because the graphic layout helped expose the inhumanity of the trade.
- It provides concrete visual evidence of how ship design was adapted for human cargo, which is historically important for understanding the mechanics of the trans-Atlantic slave trade
