The Abolitionist Who Infiltrated a Slave Ship: James Field Stanfield

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the little-known story of James Field Stanfield — a former sailor turned abolitionist who published the first detailed eyewitness account of the Middle Passage from the perspective of a crew member. Stanfield served on slave ships in the 1770s, including the voyage of the Zong, and later wrote 'Observations on a Guinea Voyage' (1788), a searing indictment of the trade that influenced Thomas Clarkson and William Wilberforce. We discuss the brutal conditions documented by Stanfield, the controversy over his claims, how his graphic descriptions of slave suffering were weaponized in Parliament, and why he has been overshadowed by Olaudah Equiano and Granville Sharp. We also compare Stanfield's account with the official logs of slave ship captains to reveal the gap between record-keeping and reality. This episode offers a unique working-class white voice in the abolitionist movement, showing how firsthand testimony from both enslaved and crew members dismantled the slave trade's defenders. #JamesFieldStanfield #MiddlePassage #SlaveShip #Abolition #Zong #ThomasClarkson #WilliamWilberforce #ObservationsOnAGuineaVoyage #RoyalAfricanCompany #Liverpool #BritishSlaveTrade #AbolitionMovement #EyewitnessAccount #WorkingClassHistory #MaritimeHistory #History #FexingoHistory #TransatlanticSlaveTrade Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo