The Taking of the Slaver Meermin 1766 - Dan Sleigh & Piet Westra

Condition: Very good
Format: Large softcover
Published: 2013 (Africana Publishers)
Pages: 159
ISBN: 9780620581417

In February 1766 while the slaver Meermin was returning to Cape Town from Madagascar with 140 slaves, some male slaves got hold of a number of their native spears, killed most of the officers and crew on deck and trapped the remainder, some of them badly wounded, in a cabin in the stern of the ship.

The fight raged for days, while the ship was carried helplessly along by wind, current and tide, until it ran aground near Cape Agulhas. This first complete account of the violent uprising on the hooker Meermin, entirely based on archival records, describes a desperate struggle on the open sea for freedom and survival.

The dramatic tale of courage, bloodshed, endurance, death, deceit and betrayal, also sheds light on the economic and social conditions at the Cape at the time. Details are given about the origins of Cape slaves, why and under what circumstances they became slaves, with what they were bought, how they were transported, treated and employed by the Cape government, and how they were punished when they transgressed its laws.

Quotes from reviews of the Dutch & Afrikaans editions:

Expectations are high when Sleigh and Westra join forces in a book about a forgotten chapter of the Dutch East India Companys history in South Africa. Both live up to their reputations in this book about the Meermin. Now for the movie, a blockbuster starring Johnny Depp. Leeuwarder Courant