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Whydah (Ouidah)

The open slaving road and kingdom on the Guinea coast that sold off as many enslaved people as all the rest of that coast together, forty or fifty ships a year working their cargoes through its double bar, with an absolute king six miles inland at Sabbee, and overrun by the king of Dahomey in 1727.

The coast ran in a straight line, with no gulfs or bays, wooded the whole way, and the surf broke rough along the beach everywhere. Two bars lay before the landing place and the seas over them were heavy, so goods went ashore by canoe, and one canoe coming in from a merchantman overset in the attempt. When the winds changed the double bar could be impassable for a fortnight together, and only the canoemen of the country knew how to paddle it.1,2,3

French, Dutch and English each kept a house well back from the water, three miles inland, a house or mud fort with tents on the beach to take in the cargo as it came off the ships.4

For the pirate ship Whydah, see the Whydah Gally.

The greatest trade on the coast

Forty or fifty sail of French, English, Portuguese and Dutch ships freighted from Whydah in a year, and it sold off as many people as all the rest of the Guinea coast together. The captives came down from a populous country inland, full of towns, whose own people dared not buy or sell without licence and paid a custom both ways, and they were handed over naked. Twenty thousand were said to be carried off in some years.5,6,7

The king took his share from every ship: the refusal of all goods, the value of twenty slaves as a duty from each, small or great, and his own captives forced on the traders at a price above the market. He lived six miles from the sea, at a town called Sabbee, absolute, in a bamboo palace a mile or two round. White men were seldom or never admitted to him, and then only when they paid their customs, which were considerable from the Europeans, who drove there the greatest slave trade on the whole continent.8,9,10

Roberts in the road, January 1722

Bartholomew Roberts found eleven sail at anchor, English, French and Portuguese, three of the French ships of thirty guns and upwards of a hundred men, and every one of them struck as soon as he fired. Their commanders were ashore with a good part of their men, receiving cargoes and returning slaves as the custom of the place required, work the sea allowed only in its seasons. The ten ships Captain Chaloner Ogle found still in the road had all ransomed at eight pounds weight of gold each, the bargains settled that January in letters passing to and from the shore.11,12,13,14

The Porcupine did not ransom. She lay in the road with her lading of captives almost made up, and her commander was ashore settling his accounts; sent to for the money, he answered that he had no orders from his owners. For that refusal she was burnt, with a considerable number of enslaved Africans aboard. Eighty of them were chained two and two in her, under the choice of burning or drowning, and sharks took some of those who went over the side.15,16,17

The pirates had intercepted a letter from General Phips to Mr Baldwin, the Royal African Company's agent at Whydah, telling him that Roberts had been seen to windward of Cape Three Points so that he might the better guard the Company's ships. Of the ten ships Ogle found there, two were English, three French and five Portuguese.18,19

The two pirate ships, one of forty guns and one of twenty-four, had sailed about twenty-six hours before he came in, as he was told on arriving. Atkins, who sailed in the chase and reckoned Whydah the best place on that coast for plunder, put the miss at twenty-four hours; his own journal has the ship come in on 15 January with the pirates two days gone and eleven sail ransomed behind them. Johnson gives their sailing as the 13th and the arrival as the 17th.20,21,22,23

A French ship from the road, formerly a privateer of St Malo, was carried away to be fitted for the pirates' service in place of their twenty-four gun ship, and she became their Ranger. Frenchmen brought before the court at Cape Coast Castle said the pirates had seized their ship at Whydah in January and forced them aboard; the trial of Roberts's company belongs to another page.24,25

The conquest of 1727

The king of Dahomey came down on the country in 1727. The conquest overturned everything and destroyed the slave trade the English drove out of the road. At Sabbee thousands ran from two hundred of his men. The conquerors plundered the European merchants at Jaqueen, and the little of the trade still doing was at Appah, beyond the bounds of the conquest.26,27,28

How many ships and how many people passed through the road in a season is a question for the Royal African Company's accounts in series T70 at The National Archives and for the ships' own muster books; the count of twenty thousand a year is one man's report of what he was told. Nothing above comes from the African side: the king at Sabbee is described by the men who paid him his customs, the conquest of 1727 by the traders it ruined.

What the evidence does not settle

Officials of the three forts

  • Golden age officials and factors of the three forts are largely unnamed

Casualties and crew at the Whydah wreck

  • About 144 men drowned when the Whydah wrecked
  • Only two of the crew survived the wreckVery likely

Hueda kings

  • Hueda kings' reign dates and names rest on tradition

Each line is one question with its own grade, taken from the register where a claim carries it. Nothing here is graded as a whole.

Sources for this record

Every statement above that rests on a checked claim carries a small number; the numbers lead here. Each entry gives what is claimed, how far the record supports it, and where it comes from.

  1. The coast at Whydah runs in a straight line, with no gulfs or bays, is wooded the whole way, and the surf breaks rough along the beach everywhere. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period printed description of the coast: John Atkins, A Voyage to Guinea, Brasil, and the West-Indies; in His Majesty's Ships, the Swallow and Weymouth (London, 1735), by John Atkins, Surgeon in the Royal Navy (library file gut72102_atkins_voyage_to_guinea.txt, line 6219)
  2. Whydah was a very dangerous coast to land at, having two bars before it and great seas, and a canoe carrying goods ashore there from a merchant ship overset in the attempt. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period printed description of the coast: John Atkins, A Voyage to Guinea, Brasil, and the West-Indies; in His Majesty's Ships, the Swallow and Weymouth (London, 1735), by John Atkins, Surgeon in the Royal Navy (library file gut72102_atkins_voyage_to_guinea.txt, line 1206)
  3. The dangerous double bar on the coast at Whydah was sometimes made impassable for a fortnight together by the alteration of the winds, and only the canoemen of the country knew how to paddle through it. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period printed description of the coast: John Atkins, A Voyage to Guinea, Brasil, and the West-Indies; in His Majesty's Ships, the Swallow and Weymouth (London, 1735), by John Atkins, Surgeon in the Royal Navy (library file gut72102_atkins_voyage_to_guinea.txt, line 4147)
  4. The French, the Dutch and the English each kept a house, or mud fort, about three miles from the sea at Whydah, with tents at the beach for receiving and securing their cargoes as they came from the ship. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period printed description of the coast: John Atkins, A Voyage to Guinea, Brasil, and the West-Indies; in His Majesty's Ships, the Swallow and Weymouth (London, 1735), by John Atkins, Surgeon in the Royal Navy (library file gut72102_atkins_voyage_to_guinea.txt, line 4143)
  5. Whydah was the greatest trading place on the coast of Guinea, selling off as many enslaved people as all the rest of that coast together, with forty or fifty sail of French, English, Portuguese and Dutch ships freighting from it every year. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period printed description of the coast: John Atkins, A Voyage to Guinea, Brasil, and the West-Indies; in His Majesty's Ships, the Swallow and Weymouth (London, 1735), by John Atkins, Surgeon in the Royal Navy (library file gut72102_atkins_voyage_to_guinea.txt, line 4127)
  6. The captives sold at Whydah were brought down from a populous country inland, full of towns, whose people dared not sell or buy anything without licence and paid a custom both ways, and they were sold to the Europeans naked. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period printed description of the coast: John Atkins, A Voyage to Guinea, Brasil, and the West-Indies; in His Majesty's Ships, the Swallow and Weymouth (London, 1735), by John Atkins, Surgeon in the Royal Navy (library file gut72102_atkins_voyage_to_guinea.txt, line 2680)
  7. Europeans were said in some years to have carried twenty thousand people off from Whydah. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period printed description of the coast: John Atkins, A Voyage to Guinea, Brasil, and the West-Indies; in His Majesty's Ships, the Swallow and Weymouth (London, 1735), by John Atkins, Surgeon in the Royal Navy (library file gut72102_atkins_voyage_to_guinea.txt, line 3737)
  8. The king of Whydah laid three impositions on the ships in the road: the refusal of all goods, the value of twenty slaves from every ship, small or great, as a duty, and the forcing of his own captives on the traders at an advanced price. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period printed description of the coast: John Atkins, A Voyage to Guinea, Brasil, and the West-Indies; in His Majesty's Ships, the Swallow and Weymouth (London, 1735), by John Atkins, Surgeon in the Royal Navy (library file gut72102_atkins_voyage_to_guinea.txt, line 4138)
  9. Whydah was governed by an absolute king who lived at a town called Sabbee, six miles from the sea, in a large bamboo palace of a mile or two round. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period printed description of the coast: John Atkins, A Voyage to Guinea, Brasil, and the West-Indies; in His Majesty's Ships, the Swallow and Weymouth (London, 1735), by John Atkins, Surgeon in the Royal Navy (library file gut72102_atkins_voyage_to_guinea.txt, line 2652)
  10. White people were seldom or never admitted to the king of Whydah's presence except at the times they paid their customs, which were very considerable from the Europeans, who drove there the greatest slave trade of any on the whole continent. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period printed description of the coast: John Atkins, A Voyage to Guinea, Brasil, and the West-Indies; in His Majesty's Ships, the Swallow and Weymouth (London, 1735), by John Atkins, Surgeon in the Royal Navy (library file gut72102_atkins_voyage_to_guinea.txt, line 2672)
  11. Bartholomew Roberts found eleven sail in Whydah Road, English, French and Portuguese, three of the French being stout ships of thirty guns and upwards of a hundred men each, and all of them struck their colours when he came to fire. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Period narrative: Charles Johnson, A General History of the Pyrates (London, 1724), the chapter of Captain Bartho. Roberts and his Crew (library file gut40580_johnson_general_history.txt, line 7554)
  12. The commanders of the ships in Whydah Road and a good part of their men were ashore when the pirates came in, according to the custom of the place, to receive the cargoes and return the slaves, work they were obliged to watch the seasons for because of the dangerous sea. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Period narrative: Charles Johnson, A General History of the Pyrates (London, 1724), the chapter of Captain Bartho. Roberts and his Crew (library file gut40580_johnson_general_history.txt, line 7557)
  13. Ogle reported that the ten ships he found in Whydah Road had all ransomed at the rate of eight pounds weight of gold each. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Officer's report printed with a trial account: A Full and Exact Account of the Tryal of All the Pyrates, Lately Taken by Captain Ogle, on Board the Swallow Man of War, on the Coast of Guinea (London, 1723), Captain Chaloner Ogle's report printed at the head of the Tryals (library file ogle-tryals-1723.txt, line 92)
  14. The ransoms at Whydah in January 1722 were settled with letters passing and repassing from the shore. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: Charles Johnson, A General History of the Pyrates (London, 1724), the chapter of Captain Bartho. Roberts and his Crew (library file gut40580_johnson_general_history.txt, lines 7562-7564)
  15. The Porcupine lay in Whydah Road with her lading of captives almost made up when the pirates came in, and her commander, being on shore settling his accounts, was sent to for the ransom and excused himself as having no orders from the owners. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Period narrative: Charles Johnson, A General History of the Pyrates (London, 1724), the chapter of Captain Bartho. Roberts and his Crew (library file gut40580_johnson_general_history.txt, line 7595)
  16. The pirates set the ship on fire with eighty enslaved people aboard her, chained two and two together, under the choice of perishing by fire or water, and those who jumped overboard from the flames were seized by sharks. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Period narrative: Charles Johnson, A General History of the Pyrates (London, 1724), the chapter of Captain Bartho. Roberts and his Crew (library file gut40580_johnson_general_history.txt, line 7603)
  17. Captain Chaloner Ogle reported that an English ship had been burnt at Whydah by the pirates for refusing to ransom, with a considerable number of enslaved Africans aboard. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Officer's report printed with a trial account: A Full and Exact Account of the Tryal of All the Pyrates, Lately Taken by Captain Ogle, on Board the Swallow Man of War, on the Coast of Guinea (London, 1723), Captain Chaloner Ogle's report printed at the head of the Tryals (library file ogle-tryals-1723.txt, line 94)
  18. The pirates intercepted a letter from General Phips to Mr Baldwin, the Royal African Company's agent at Whydah, giving an account that Roberts had been seen to windward of Cape Three Points so that Baldwin might the better guard the Company's ships. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Period narrative: Charles Johnson, A General History of the Pyrates (London, 1724), the chapter of Captain Bartho. Roberts and his Crew (library file gut40580_johnson_general_history.txt, line 7612)
  19. Ogle found ten sail of ships in Whydah Road, two of them English, three French and five Portuguese, all of which had ransomed. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Officer's report printed with a trial account: A Full and Exact Account of the Tryal of All the Pyrates, Lately Taken by Captain Ogle, on Board the Swallow Man of War, on the Coast of Guinea (London, 1723), Captain Chaloner Ogle's report printed at the head of the Tryals (library file ogle-tryals-1723.txt, line 92)
  20. Ogle was informed on his arrival at Whydah that two pirate ships, one of forty and another of twenty-four guns, commanded by one Roberts, had been there and had sailed about twenty-six hours before. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Officer's report printed with a trial account: A Full and Exact Account of the Tryal of All the Pyrates, Lately Taken by Captain Ogle, on Board the Swallow Man of War, on the Coast of Guinea (London, 1723), Captain Chaloner Ogle's report printed at the head of the Tryals (library file ogle-tryals-1723.txt, line 90)
  21. Atkins writes that the squadron decided to follow the pirates to Whydah as the best place on the coast for plunder, and that they missed them there by twenty-four hours but fixed the limits of their navigation by following quickly to Cape Lopez. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period printed description of the coast: John Atkins, A Voyage to Guinea, Brasil, and the West-Indies; in His Majesty's Ships, the Swallow and Weymouth (London, 1735), by John Atkins, Surgeon in the Royal Navy (library file gut72102_atkins_voyage_to_guinea.txt, line 4583)
  22. Atkins's journal of the voyage has his ship come before Whydah on 15 January and learn that the pirates had plundered and ransomed eleven sail of ships and had left the place two days before. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Period printed description of the coast: John Atkins, A Voyage to Guinea, Brasil, and the West-Indies; in His Majesty's Ships, the Swallow and Weymouth (London, 1735), by John Atkins, Surgeon in the Royal Navy (library file gut72102_atkins_voyage_to_guinea.txt, line 6306)
  23. The General History has the pirates sail from Whydah Road on 13 January and the Swallow arrive there on the 17th. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Period narrative: Charles Johnson, A General History of the Pyrates (London, 1724), the chapter of Captain Bartho. Roberts and his Crew (library file gut40580_johnson_general_history.txt, line 7705)
  24. The ship the pirates carried away from Whydah Road was French built and had formerly been a privateer of St Malo; they fitted her for their own service as the Ranger and quitted an older consort of twenty-four guns to man her. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Officer's report printed with a trial account: A Full and Exact Account of the Tryal of All the Pyrates, Lately Taken by Captain Ogle, on Board the Swallow Man of War, on the Coast of Guinea (London, 1723), Captain Chaloner Ogle's report (library file ogle-tryals-1723.txt, lines 96-100)
  25. The French prisoners tried at Cape Coast Castle said that the pirates, having seized their ship at Whydah in January, forced them on board with them. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Trial print: A Full and Exact Account of the Tryal of All the Pyrates, Lately Taken by Captain Ogle, on Board the Swallow Man of War, on the Coast of Guinea (London, 1723), the proceedings of 5 April 1722 (library file ogle-tryals-1723.txt, line 1264)
  26. The king of Dahomey overran Whydah in 1727, a revolution that overturned everything there and entirely destroyed the slave trade the English drove from the place. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Period printed description of the coast: John Atkins, A Voyage to Guinea, Brasil, and the West-Indies; in His Majesty's Ships, the Swallow and Weymouth (London, 1735), by John Atkins, Surgeon in the Royal Navy (library file gut72102_atkins_voyage_to_guinea.txt, line 2849)
  27. Thousands fled at Sabbee from two hundred of the king of Dahomey's men. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Period printed description of the coast: John Atkins, A Voyage to Guinea, Brasil, and the West-Indies; in His Majesty's Ships, the Swallow and Weymouth (London, 1735), by John Atkins, Surgeon in the Royal Navy (library file gut72102_atkins_voyage_to_guinea.txt, line 3024)
  28. After the conquest the conquerors plundered all the European merchants at Jaqueen, finishing the destruction of the slave trade, the little of it still doing being carried on at Appah, beyond the bounds of the conquest. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Period printed description of the coast: John Atkins, A Voyage to Guinea, Brasil, and the West-Indies; in His Majesty's Ships, the Swallow and Weymouth (London, 1735), by John Atkins, Surgeon in the Royal Navy (library file gut72102_atkins_voyage_to_guinea.txt, line 2895)