Uncover objects from the Titanic, find out about life at sea and learn about the port of Liverpool.
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Uncover objects from the Titanic, find out about life at sea and learn about the port of Liverpool.
Maritime Archive and Library
Archive reference D/DAV/3/4
William Davenport (1725-1797) was an important Liverpool merchant and shipowner involved in the slave trade, as well as a trader in beads, ivory, sugar, coffee and tobacco.
The Davenport collection at the Maritime Archive and Library comprises of 13 volumes and 21 bundles of correspondence and documents relating to William Davenport's involvement in the transatlantic slave trade. The collection was purchased in 2001 with the aid of a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, after being saved from a bonfire over 50 years ago.
The collection contains previously unseen documents, including a 20-year record of African ivory bought and sold, and bills and receipts relating to the fitting out of the ships in Liverpool. Perhaps the most notable discovery has been the names of Fante tribesmen listed as crew on return voyages to Liverpool.
This page illustrated above is from the wage book of the ship Hawk, for the voyage from Liverpool to Africa. It includes names of natives taken on board as crew at the coast for the return voyage to Liverpool, including Liverpool and Joe Dick, both Fante men, (24 Nov 1780 -21 Oct 1781.)