This is a most shocking and enlightening account of life on a slave ship. One of the most powerful and moving books that I have ever read.

The Lone Star Book Review

This book will appeal to a broad audience and the readable style makes it appropriate for undergraduates as well as graduate students interested in life aboard a slave ship.

The Northern Mariner

Newton's recollections are an authentic, first-hand, seaman's account of this vile trade and make interesting if challenging and compulsive reading.

Marine News

The book is divided into two sections, part one is 'Thoughts on the African Slave Trade' and part two 'An authentic narrative. In the first section, Newton as a minister gives his objections to buying and selling of slaves and their treatment while on passage from the African coast to the Americas.

It is a remarkable story, at times brutal and hard, but sympathetic to the surroundings. A thought provoking book and highly recommended.

The Nautical Magazine

Many will know the name John Newton best for writing the hymn Amazing Grace; much less known is the fact that much of his earlier life was spent as a seaman, occupied in the Atlantic slave trade. This modest account, part of the Seafarer's Voices series, is edited by former merchant marine and BBC editor Vincent McInerney, and through his abridgement for modern readership (these accounts being mid-18th century) the reader is able to gain insight into a time that one could have thought only to imagine. Newton's story is certainly a fascinating one, despite its notably truthful and sober nature; beginning with his desertion of the Royal Navy to be with his loved one, Mary Catlett, Newton was recaptured and endured public flogging before being 'sold' to a ship in Africa, effectively becoming another trader's slave. Newton's journey is then remarkable as he himself makes the transition from slave to slaver, eventually captaining three ships before retiring to be ordained into the Church of England ministry. It is his years on the sea however which are the focus of this recollection, which is complete with copies of many letters written by Newton during the period. It was only later in his life that Newton even recounted these earlier travails, but he did so in an explicit and brutally honest way which offer modern readers a rare first-hand insight of what must have been a harrowing and horrifying trade.

Carl (customer review)