On the Water: Life at Sea—1680 to 1806
Overview These activities highlight different first person narratives available from the Life at Sea—1680 to 1806 Web site (http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/oral_histories/life_at_sea/). Each activity asks students to take on the role of a historian by challenging them to analyze first person narratives and related primary sources (such as documents and artifacts) in order to answer historical questions. The words spoken in the narratives are taken directly from journals, memoirs, letters, or other documents written by each historical figure.
The activities can be used in a variety of ways: to engage students in a new unit, to reinforce key points of instruction, as small group work, or homework. Some of the narratives pair well with others and can be used in combination as compare/contrast exercises. See the complete list of activities below.
The Life at Sea—1680 to 1806 Web site is part of a larger online resource called On the Water (http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/) which contains many more primary sources, images, and historical information spanning from 1450 to the early twenty-first century.
The Price of Doing Business: Joseph Hawkins, American Officer on a Slave Ship, 1795
Lesson Plan: http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/oral_histories/life_at_ sea/pdf/lesson_hawkins.pdf
Length: 2:45 minutes
Topics: Slavery & the slave trade, African-American history, Middle Passage
Pairs With: Middle Passage (Olaudah Equiano) to look at the different perspectives of the slave trader and the slave
Discomforts of Travel: Samuel Kelly, English Sailor, 1787
Lesson Plan: http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/oral_histories/life_at_ sea/pdf/lesson_kelly.pdf
Length: 2:43 minutes
Topics: Travel, life at sea, vermin
Pairs With: Price of Doing Business (Joseph Hawkins) or Banished (Louisa Susannah Wells) to compare the experiences of passengers or laborers on ships
Life at Sea Page 1 of 2 Middle Passage: Olaudah Equiano, Enslaved African Man, 1756
Lesson Plan: http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/oral_histories/life_at_ sea/pdf/lesson_equiano.pdf
Length: 4:00 minutes
Topics: Slavery, Middle passage, slave tradex, African American experience
Pairs With: Price of Doing Business(Joseph Hawkins) to look at the different perspectives of the slave trader and the slave or Greenhorn Sailor (John Jea) to look at the experience of free and enslaved African Americans
Banished: Louisa Susannah Wells, Loyalist Woman, 1778
Lesson Plan: http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/oral_histories/life_at_ sea/pdf/lesson_wells.pdf
Length: 3:56 minutes
Topics: Trans-atlantic travel, life at sea, women onboard
Pairs With: Discomforts of Travel (Samuel Kelly) to compare journey of man with that of a woman
Greenhorn Sailor: John Jea, African American Preacher and Sailor, 1806
Lesson Plan: http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/oral_histories/life_at_ sea/pdf/lesson_jea.pdf
Length: 4:34 minutes
Topics: Life at sea, African American experience
Pairs With: Middle Passage (Olaudah Equiano ) to compare the experiences of free and enslaved African Americans
Life at Sea Page 2 of 2