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Devon's position near the South West tip of England made it well placed to exploit the transatlantic slave trade.

The trade involved shipping goods from England to the Guinea Coast of West Africa.

Once there, the traders would transport black captivesΜύto the Americas and West Indies, where they were sold into slavery.

The slave ships would return to England mostly laden with raw materials, supposedly making profits with each passage.

Directly or indirectly, Devon people were involved from the beginning in each of these elements in the trade.

Sir John Hawkins. Photo: NMM

European vessels first reached the Guinea coast in the 1460s. The involvement of traders from Devon began with the Hawkins family of Plymouth.

William Hawkins first went to Guinea in the Pole of Plymouth in 1527, in search of gold. It was during this visit that he saw Africans being packed off to Brazil.

The first Plymouth ship known to carry Africans was that of Captain William Towerson in 1557; he brought back gold from Guinea, but also Africans - as exhibits rather than captives.

William Hawkins' son John became a merchant in the 1550s. He organised three ships to Guinea in 1562 with the help of merchants in the Canary Islands. Francis Drake was aboard one of ships, at least as far as the Canaries.

John Hawkins went on to trade slaves in Spanish ports in the Americas.

His most ambitious voyage, in 1567, comprised a fleet of up to 10 ships, including the Jesus of Lubeck, loaned by the Queen, and the Judith, captained by Drake.

The ship Jesus of Lubeck

Hawkins pitted one Guinea coast king against another and captured around 500 Africans, of whom some 120 died on the transatlantic passage. After battling with the Spanish and hurricanes, Drake and Hawkins each limped home separately.

English interest in pursuing the slave trade was interrupted after this period for about 100 years.

It was revived following the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, with the establishment of the Company of Royal Companies into Africa in that year, reformed as the Royal Africa Company in 1672.

Devon's involvement at this time was indirect, mostly in supplying goods to maintain plantations in the Americas. It's known that Devon merchants supplied wool to the company.

Later in the 17th century merchants from the county were more directly involved in financing Guinea voyages.

Exeter men working out of Topsham and Dartmouth, such as Butcher, Jeffry, Prowse, as well as John Burridge of Lyme and Robert Corker of Falmouth, all put their resources into developing the trade.

Dartmouth quay has changed little

English colonies had been established in the early 17th century in Virginia and Maryland. Later in the century, Exeter merchants such as Daniel Ivy and Henry Arthur made their fortune in trading in tobacco.

Others, like George Barons, made their base in Rotterdam. Nigel Tattersfield's account of the Daniel & Henry, financed by Ivy and Arthur and sailing out of Dartmouth in 1700, is graphic and harrowing.

He charts in great detail the misfortunes of the voyage; a paltry five tons of muscovado sugar brought back, plus an estimated debt of Β£1,500. But this was nothing compared to the fate of the 452 West Africans sold into slavery on remote shores, almost half of whom died in transit.

Plymouth was irregularly involved in the trade in the 18th century. One ship was the Pindar, which had called in at Plymouth in 1706 on its way to the Gold Coast.

Ships from Bideford were mostly concerned with servicing plantations in Carolina and Virginia, returning with tobacco.

However, several Barnstaple and Bideford merchants were sucked into the Bristol trade.

John Parminter helped finance the Elizabeth to the Guinea coast in 1700. She reached Calabar, but having taken captives on board, foundered on the shoals outside the port and was lost with the whole of her 'cargo'.

Safer profit was made from investing in or importing the 'fruits' of slavery, especially sugar and tobacco produced by plantations in the West Indies.

The Devon Records Office contains accounts relating to the Swete family of Modbury, who leased an estate in Antigua in 1699.

Other possible connections remain to be researched, such as those suggested by a cluster of baptisms of black people in Hatherleigh in the early 17th Century.

The Trading Links exhibition, curated by Len Pole, will open at Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery in the autumn of 2007.

Portrait of Sir John Hawkins (1532–95)
16th century oil by unknown artist
Copyright National Maritime Museum