An advertisement for the slaver ship Metis, dated July 25, 1805, has been discovered in Liverpool, pinpointing a significant historical context in the transatlantic slave trade. Liverpool Black History Research Group found the ad during research on the River Mersey’s Canning Dock. Liverpool’s dry docks historically facilitated the quick repair of slavers’ ships. A waterfront transformation project aims to acknowledge this period, including creating a contemplation space at No 2 dry dock, in collaboration with local community groups.
The 220-year-old ad, which was placed in Gore's Liverpool General Advertiser, reads: Apply to Lake and Brown: We have on sale by private contract, the remarkably fast sailing ship Metis, Liverpool built, about nine years old, copper fastened on the stocks, is very well found and will carry by the present act, about 185 slaves.
A graving dock, or dry dock, is a basin large enough to contain a ship, which can be flooded to allow a vessel to enter, or drained to allow for a ship to be repaired.
For 200 years, Liverpool's dry docks maximised merchants' profits by allowing for the quick and efficient maintenance of vessels, including those used to traffic people captured in Africa to the Americas during the era of transatlantic slavery.
The human toll of the dry docks' history is being acknowledged for the first time in a 58m transformation of the waterfront, which includes plans to convert No 2 dry dock into a contemplation space for the public.
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