^{page 169 note 1} Langdon died on 8 January 1947 and his Will, a copy of which is available in Somerset House, was granted probate on 21 February 1947.

^{page 169 note 2} For example, where possible the dates of his voyages have been confirmed against Customs Bills of Entry records.

^{page 169 note 3} A more extensive consideration of these issues can be found in Lynn, M., ‘Bristol, West Africa and the nineteenth century palm oil trade’, Historical Research, 64, 155 (1991), pp. 359–374CrossRefGoogle Scholar. For Bristol's broader economic history in this period see Harvey, C.E. and Press, J. ‘Industrial change and the economic life of Bristol since 1880’Google Scholar, in idem (eds), Studies in the Business History of Bristol (Bristol, 1988), pp. 1–32Google Scholar; Alford, B.W.E., ‘The economic development of Bristol in the 19^th century: an enigma?’, in McGrath, P.M. and Cannon, J. (eds), Essays in Bristol and Gloucestershire History (Bristol, 1976), pp. 252–283Google Scholar; Morgan, K., ‘The economic development of Bristol, 1700–1850’, in Dresser, M. and Ollerenshaw, P. (eds), The Making of Modern Bristol (Tiverton, 1996), pp. 48–75.Google Scholar

^{page 170 note 4} This argument is developed in Rediker, M., Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: Merchant Seamen, Pirates and the Anglo-American Maritime World, 1700–1750 (Cambridge, 1987).Google Scholar

^{page 170 note 5} Adams, J., Remarks on the Country Extending from Cape Palmas to the River Congo (London, 1823)Google Scholar; Bold, E., The Merchants' and Mariners' Guide (London, 1822)Google Scholar; Smith, J., Trade and Travels in the Gulph of Guinea (London, 1851)Google Scholar; Whitford, J., Trading Life in Western and Central Africa (London, 1877).Google Scholar

^{page 170 note 6} Waddell, H.M., Twenty-Nine Years in the West Indies and Central Africa (London, 1863)Google Scholar; Kingsley, M.H., Travels in West Africa (London, 1897).Google Scholar

^{page 170 note 7} An exception to this is Fawckner, J., Narrative of Capt. James Fawckner's Travels on the Coast of Benin (London, 1837)Google Scholar, who describes being shipwrecked near Benin.

^{page 171 note 8} See below, pp. 204 and 237.

^{page 171 note 9} To give one example, Jackson, R.M., Journal of a Voyage to Bonny River (London, 1934)Google Scholar. See also Lynn, M., ‘Liverpool and Africa in the nineteenth century: the continuing connection’, Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, 147 (1998), pp. 27–54.Google Scholar

^{page 172 note 10} Lynn, M., Commerce and Economic Change in West Africa: The Palm Oil Trade in the Nineteenth Century (Cambridge, 1997), pp. 13–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

^{page 172 note 11} Wilson, C., The History of Unilever, 2 vols (London, 1954), II, pp. 25–27.Google Scholar

^{page 172 note 12} Lynn, , ‘Bristol, West Africa’, p. 361.Google Scholar

^{page 172 note 13} O'Brien, T., ‘Chistopher Thomas and Brothers Ltd’, Progress (1949), pp. 43–48Google Scholar; Diaper, C.J., ‘Christopher Thomas and Brothers Ltd: the last Bristol soapmakers’, Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, 105 (1987), pp. 223–232.Google Scholar

^{page 172 note 14} Minchinton, W.E., The British Tiplate Industry: A History (Oxford, 1957), pp. 55–58.Google Scholar

^{page 172 note 15} Palm oil was used as a lubricant for railway carriages in the period before the discovery of mineral oil.

^{page 172 note 16} Lynn, , ‘Bristol, West Africa’, pp. 359–374.Google Scholar

^{page 173 note 17} Harvey, and Press, ‘Industrial change’, p. 2Google Scholar; MacInnes, C.M., A Gateway of Empire (Bristol, 1939), pp. 381–399Google Scholar; Minchinton, W.E. (ed.), The Trade of Bristol in the 15^th Century (Bristol, 1957), pp. ix–xviGoogle Scholar; Morgan, , ‘Economic development of Bristol’, pp. 48–75.Google Scholar

^{page 173 note 18} Babington, W., ‘Remarks on the general description of the trade on the West Coast of Africa’, Journal of the Society of Arts, 23 (1875), pp. 245–257Google Scholar; Kirk-Greene, A.H.M., ‘The major currencies in Nigerian history’, Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, 2 (1960), pp. 132–150Google Scholar; Pedler, F.J., The Lion and Unicorn in Africa: the United Africa Company, 1787–1931 (London, 1974), pp. 21–22.Google Scholar

^{page 174 note 19} Minchinton, W.E., ‘The voyage of the snow Africa’, Mariner's Mirror, 37 (1951), pp. 188–190CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Minchinton, , Trade of Bristol, pp. xvi–xixGoogle Scholar; Morgan, K., Bristol and the Atlantic Trade in the 18^th Century (Cambridge, 1993), pp. 128–151.Google Scholar

^{page 174 note 20} Newbury, C.W., ‘Credit in early nineteenth century West African trade’, Journal of African History, 13 (1972), pp. 81–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

^{page 174 note 21} Lynn, M., ‘Change and continuity in the British palm oil trade with West Africa’, Journal of African History, 22 (1981), pp. 331–348.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

^{page 174 note 22} Hutchinson to Clarendon, 23 February 1857, FO 84/1030; Burton to Foreign Secretary, 14 January 1862, FO 84/1176.

^{page 174 note 23} The development of the Hamburg market can be traced in Harding, L., ‘Hamburg's West African trade in the 19^th century’, in Liesegang, G., Pasch, H., and Jones, A. (eds), Figuring African Trade (Berlin, 1986), pp. 363–391.Google Scholar

^{page 175 note 24} Pedler, , Lion and Unicorn, IV, p. 153Google Scholar. Coasting was a long established mechanism and fitted into local structures of trading on the coast; Syfert, D.N., ‘The Liberian coasting trade, 1822–1900’, Journal of African History, 18 (1977), pp. 217–235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

^{page 175 note 25} Mortality rates among sailors were high whichever system was used, until the discovery of quinine as a prophylactic in 1854.

^{page 175 note 26} See below, p. 209.

^{page 175 note 27} See below, p. 208.

^{page 176 note 28} Inikori, J.E., ‘West Africa's seaborne trade, 1750–1850: volume, structure and implications’, in Liesegang, , Pasch, and Jones, , Figuring African Trade, pp. 49–88Google Scholar, examines the issue of West African seaborne imports in more detail.

^{page 176 note 29} Ofonagoro, W.I., Trade and Imperialism in Southern Nigeria, 1881–1929 (New York, 1979), pp. 95–96.Google Scholar

^{page 176 note 30} Inikori, , ‘West Africa's seaborne trade’, pp. 84–85.Google Scholar

^{page 176 note 31} Ofonagoro, , Trade and Imperialism, pp. 78–81, 114–120.Google Scholar

^{page 176 note 32} This is the theme of Dike, K.O., Trade and Politics in the Niger Delta, 1830–85 (Oxford, 1956).Google Scholar

^{page 177 note 33} See below, p. 209. The only other area for which evidence exists of this practice in this period concerns the Loango coast; Martin, P.M., The External Trade of the Loango Coast, 1576–1870 (Oxford, 1972), p. 103.Google Scholar

^{page 177 note 34} The history of this firm is outlined in Lynn, M., ‘British business and the African trade: Richard & William King Ltd. of Bristol and West Africa, 1833–1918’, Business History, 34 (1992), pp. 20–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

^{page 177 note 35} Lucas Brothers derived from the late eighteenth-century cooperage firm of Thomas Lucas and was developed by Edward Thomas Lucas (1824–1863) and John Frederick Lucas (1831–1893). Lucas Brothers often operated in tandem with Edward Gwyer & Son; Lynn, , ‘Bristol, West Africa’, pp. 366–367.Google Scholar

^{page 177 note 36} Lynn, , ‘British business and the African trade’, pp. 25–26.Google Scholar

^{page 178 note 37} Indeed these ships were not markedly larger than Bristol ships used in the African trade in the 1790s; Morgan, , Bristol and Atlantic Trade, p. 44Google Scholar; Lynn, M., ‘From sail to steam: the impact of the steamship services on the British palm oil trade with West Africa, 1850–90’, Journal of African History, 30, (1989), pp. 227–245.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

^{page 178 note 38} Pedler, , Lion and Unicorn, pp. 8–26, 151–156.Google Scholar

^{page 178 note 39} See below, p. 205.

^{page 179 note 40} There is little detailed work in English available on the history of this area. For a general introduction see Person, Y., ‘The Atlantic coast and the southern savannas, 1800–80’, in Ajayi, J.F.A. and Crowder, M. (eds), History of West Africa, II (2nd edn, London, 1987), pp. 257–262Google Scholar; Person, Y., ‘Western Africa, 1870–1886’, in Oliver, R. and Sanderson, G.N. (eds), Cambridge History of Africa, VI (Cambridge, 1985), pp. 227–228.Google Scholar

^{page 179 note 41} Brooks, G.E., The Kru Mariner in the Nineteenth Century (Newark, DL, 1972)Google Scholar; Behrens, C., Les Kroumen de la Côte occidentale d'Afrique (Bordeaux, 1974)Google Scholar; Davis, R.W., Ethnohistorical Studies on the Kru Coast (Newark, DL, 1976), pp. 5–9Google Scholar; Tonkin, E., ‘Creating Kroomen: ethnic diversity, economic specialism and changing demand’, in Stone, J.C. (ed.), Africa and the Sea (Aberdeen, 1985), pp. 27–47Google Scholar; Martin, J., ‘Krumen “down the coast”: Liberian migrants on the West African coast in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries’, International Journal of African Historical Studies, 18 (1985), pp. 401–423.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

^{page 179 note 42} Weiskel, T.C., French Colonial Rule and the Baule Peoples (Oxford, 1980), pp. 5–32.Google Scholar

^{page 179 note 43} Person, , ‘Atlantic coast and southern savannas’, pp. 262–265.Google Scholar

^{page 179 note 44} Bosman, W., A New and Accurate Description of the Coast of Guinea (1705, repr. 1967), p. 487Google Scholar; Adams, J., Remarks on the County Extending from Cape Palmas (London, 1823, repr. 1966), p. 3.Google Scholar

^{page 180 note 45} Weiskel, , Baule Peoples, pp. 30–32.Google Scholar

^{page 180 note 46} Johnson, M., ‘By ship or camel: the struggle for the Cameroons ivory trade in the nineteenth century’, Journal of African History, 19 (1978), pp. 523–578CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Austen, R.A. and Derrick, J., Middlemen of the Cameroons Rivers: the Duala and their Hinterland, c1600–c1960 (Cambridge, 1999), pp. 55–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

^{page 180 note 47} Ibid., pp. 91–92.

^{page 181 note 48} Brooks, G.E., Yankee Traders, Old Coasters and African Middlemen (Boston, MA, 1970), pp. 224–225Google Scholar. Kru employment on British ships was clearly long established, according to Robertson, G.A., Notes on Africa (London, 1819), p. 43.Google Scholar

^{page 181 note 49} Smith, writing in the 1850s, gives Kru wages on ship as 55 per month; Trade and Travels, p. 103Google Scholar; Frost, D., ‘Racism, work and unemployment: West African seamen in Liverpool, 1880s–1960s’Google Scholar, in idem (ed.), Ethnic Labour and British Imperial Trade: A History of Ethnic Seafarers in the UK (London, 1995), pp. 22–33.Google Scholar

^{page 181 note 50} See below, p. 206.

^{page 182 note 51} A useful introductory survey of British ideas about race is Rich, P.B., Race and Empire in British Politics (Cambridge, 1986)Google Scholar; Dresser, M., Slavery Obscured: The Social History of the Slave Trade in an English Provincial Port (London, 2001)Google Scholar considers Bristolians' attitudes to Africans and to the slave trade. See especially pp. 53–95.

^{page 182 note 52} Davies, P.N., The Trade Makers: Elder Dempster in West Africa, 1852–1972 (London, 1973).Google Scholar

^{page 182 note 53} Lynn, , Commerce and Economic Change, p. 110.Google Scholar

^{page 183 note 54} See below, p. 237.

^{page 183 note 55} Lynn, , Commerce and Economic Change, p. 111.Google Scholar

^{page 183 note 56} Langdon, J.C., ‘Barter trade from Bristol ships, west coast of Africa, fifty years ago’Google Scholar, I, typescript in Bristol City Library.

^{page 183 note 57} Pedler, , Lion and Unicorn, p. 139.Google Scholar

^{page 184 note 58} Lynn, , Commerce and Economic Change, p. 110.Google Scholar

^{page 184 note 59} Hastings, A., The Church in Africa, 1450–1950 (Oxford, 1994), pp. 177–188, 242–247.Google Scholar

^{page 184 note 60} Abasiattai, M.B., ‘Sierra Leone and Liberia in the nineteenth century’, in Ajayi, and Crowder, , History of West Africa, II, pp. 301–339.Google Scholar

^{page 184 note 61} Johnson, H.H., George Grenfell and the Congo, 2 vols (London, 1908), I, pp. 19–29Google Scholar; van Slageren, J., Les Origines de l'Eglise Evangélique du Cameroun (Yaoundé, 1972), pp. 11–37.Google Scholar

^{page 185 note 62} Lloyd, C., The Navy and the Slave Trade (London, 1949).Google Scholar

^{page 185 note 63} Reynolds, E., ‘The Gold Coast and Asante’, in Ajayi, and Crowder, , History of West Africa, II, pp. 215–249.Google Scholar

^{page 185 note 64} Atger, P., La France en Côte d'Ivoire de 1843 à 1893 (Dakar, 1962)Google Scholar; Hargreaves, J.D., Prelude to the Partition of West Africa (London, 1963), pp. 125–129, 145–195Google Scholar. Bouët's voyages are described in Bouët-Willaumez, E., Description Nautique des Côtes de l'Afrique Occidentale (Paris, 1849).Google Scholar

^{page 186 note 65} Hargreaves, J.D., West Africa Partitioned, I, The Loaded Pause, 1885–89 (London, 1974), pp. 242–246Google Scholar; II, The Elephants and the Grass (London, 1985), pp. 51–60.Google Scholar

^{page 186 note 66} Hargreaves, , Prelude, pp. 316–338Google Scholar; Austen, and Derrick, , Middlemen, pp. 91–92.Google Scholar

^{page 186 note 67} Crowe, S.E., The Berlin West African Conference, 1884–1885 (London, 1942)Google Scholar; Förster, S., Mommsen, W.J., and Robinson, R., Bismarck, Europe and Africa: the Berlin Africa Conference 1884–85 and the Onset of Partition (Oxford, 1988).Google Scholar

^{page 186 note 68} Bristol Chamber of Commerce Annual Report, 1884, pp. 97–98; 1885, pp. 9–10; 1890, pp. 14, 90–92; Minutes of Bristol Chamber of Commerce, vol. 8, 27 November 1889, 22 January 1890; R. & W. King to Granville, 23 December 1884, FO 403/48, R. & W. King to Salisbury, 18 January 1892, FO 854/2240.

^{page 187 note 1} 293 tons, R. & W. King, owners, Bristol Presentments, 14 09 1882.Google Scholar

^{page 187 note 2} The lubber-holes were holes which afforded easier access for the inexperienced sailor while climbing a mast than using the ratlines.

^{page 187 note 3} Langdon may have been receiving the going rate for an apprentice seaman; however, his wages were low compared to ordinary seamen in the African trade; Lynn, M., ‘The profitability of the early nineteenth century palm oil trade’, African Economic History, 20 (1992), pp. 77–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

^{page 188 note 4} The lazaretto was the space between decks used as a store room or quarantine bay.

^{page 188 note 5} Presumably Bass ale.

^{page 188 note 6} The Board of Trade was responsible for regulating the merchant marine. Its responsibilities included administering the Merchant Shipping Acts, examining the seaworthiness of ships, checking officers' certificates and the supervision of the engagement, payment and discharge of seamen. Langdon is using ‘runner’ in the sense of agent.

^{page 188 note 7} Given the dangers associated with loading gunpowder in port, it was the practice for this to be loaded at sea. Kingroad referred to the stretch of water between Portishead and the mouth of the Avon, where this could be undertaken safely.

^{page 188 note 8} Bum boats were responsible for carrying provisions to vessels. The village of Pill lies on the left bank of the Avon near the mouth of the river.

^{page 189 note 9} 231 tons.

^{page 189 note 10} This refers to the loading line marked on ships, established by the Act of 1876 following the campaign led by Samuel Plimsoll.

^{page 189 note 11} Bulk salt was a staple of the African trade in the nineteenth century and much in demand on the coast for trading inland in order to purchase palm oil and other produce; Latham, A.J.H., ‘Palm oil exports from Calabar, 1812–1887, with a note on the formation of oil prices to 1914’, in Liesegang, G., Pasch, H., and Jones, A. (eds), Figuring African Trade (Berlin 1986), pp. 265–296Google Scholar

^{page 189 note 12} i.e. Lundy island in the Bristol channel.

^{page 189 note 13} 288 tons, R. & W. King, owners. Presumably named after Mervyn King (1844–1934), son of William King.

^{page 191 note 14} Captain Swan.

^{page 192 note 15} As casks were needed to store palm oil, it was the practice to convey these to West Africa in shooks of staves in order to leave space for the outward cargo. The casks were then put together by the ship's cooper once the ship had arrived on the coast.

^{page 192 note 16} A slang term for a gentleman, meaning unclear in this context.

^{page 192 note 17} It was usual for British ships involved in the African trade to collect crew from the Kru region of modern Liberia and Ivory Coast to undertake the hard labour on board ship, and particularly the loading of palm oil, once West Africa had been reached. The Kru had great experience in the maritime trade and had the further advantage of being cheaper than labour from Britain; Brooks, G.E., The Kru Manner in the 19^th Century (Newark, DL, 1972)Google Scholar; Martin, J., ‘Krumen “down the coast”: Liberian migrants on the West African coast in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries’, International Journal of African Historical Studies, 18 (1985), pp. 401–423CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Tonkin, E., ‘Creating Kroomen: ethnic diversity, economic specialism and changing demand’, in Stone, J.C. (ed), Africa and the Sea (Aberdeen, 1985), pp. 27–47Google Scholar; Frost, D., Work and Community Among West African Migrant Workers since the Nineteenth Century (Liverpool, 1999).Google Scholar

^{page 193 note 18} i.e. the topmost part of the mast.

^{page 193 note 19} The truck was a small block of wood through which the rigging was threaded.

^{page 194 note 20} The starting tub was the cask on deck into which purchases of palm oil would be poured.

^{page 194 note 21} i.e. packs of shocks.

^{page 195 note 22} Presumably jib-boom.

^{page 196 note 23} This must refer to the Franco-Prussian war of 1870–1871. Langdon would have been seven.

^{page 196 note 24} Probably Marryat, F., The Phantom Ship (London, 1839).Google Scholar

^{page 197 note 25} MrsTaylor, Janet, An Epitome of Navigation and Nautical Astronomy with the Improved Lunar Tables (9th edn, London, 1842).Google Scholar

^{page 198 note 26} Manillas (from the Latin, manus) were horseshoe-shaped tokens used as a currency. They were made of an alloy of copper and lead and were common on the Ivory Coast and in the Niger Delta and its hinterland. They came in various sizes, with different varieties being utilized in different areas. First used by Portuguese traders in the sixteenth century, they ceased to be legal tender in southern Nigeria in 1911. By the nineteenth century, Bristol had emerged as a major centre of production for manillas, this being linked into Bristol trade with the Ivory Coast; Babington, W., ‘Remarks on the general description of the trade on the West Coast of Africa’, Journal of the Society of Arts, 23 (1875), pp. 245–257Google Scholar; Kirk-Greene, A.H.M., ‘The major currencies in Nigerian history’, Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, 2 (1960), pp. 132–150.Google Scholar

^{page 198 note 27} This is a fairly typical cargo manifest for the African trade. Customer taste varied sharply from area to area, and consequently traders needed a great variety of goods, particularly textiles, in order to trade on a long stretch of coast. Bold, in 1822, stressed how precise and particular customers were in West Africa; Bold, E., Merchants' and Mariners' Guide (London, 1822), p. 60.Google Scholar

^{page 198 note 28} In this judgement Langdon is reflecting a later view. Contrary to the belief that Africans accepted ‘throw-outs’ and suchlike, in the nineteenth century at least, their choice was very particular. See Bold, above, and Laird to the 1843 Parliamentary Committee on Africa quoted in Johnson, M., ‘Cloth on the banks of the Niger’, Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, 6 (1973), p. 354.Google Scholar

^{page 198 note 29} These flintlocks were more usually termed ‘dane guns’. Firearms were a major import into West Africa in the nineteenth century, and accounted for some 12 per cent of the value of British exports to the Windward Coast in 1850, second only to textiles. At the Brussels Convention of 1890 European powers agreed not to sell firearms to Africans; Inikori, J.E., ‘West Africa's seaborne trade, 1750–1850, volume, structure and implications’, in Liesegang, Pasch, and Jones, Figuring African Trade, pp. 49–88.Google Scholar

^{page 198 note 30} Hutchinson estimated the value of manillas at 3d each in the 1850s; Hutchinson, T.J., Impressions of Western Africa (London, 1858), pp. 255–256Google Scholar. According to Babington, by the 1870s they were valued at 3d each on the Ivory Coast; Babington, , ‘Remarks on the general description of the trade’, p. 249.Google Scholar

^{page 199 note 31} More generally used in West Africa to mean ‘present’ or ‘gift’; from the Portuguese, dar ‘to give’.

^{page 199 note 32} More usually spelt Cavally River. Robertson in 1819 spoke of ‘considerable trade’ at Cavally, while Babington in 1875 found very little trade along the next sixty miles of the coast; Robertson, G.A., Notes on Africa (London, 1819), pp. 67–81Google Scholar; Babington, , ‘Remarks on the general description of the trade’, p. 248.Google Scholar

^{page 199 note 33} American Protestant missionaries had been based at Cape Palmas since 1838.

^{page 200 note 34} Usually spelt Harmattan; this wind from the east and northeast can bring with it considerable quantities of dust.

^{page 200 note 35} 15 April 1881.

^{page 200 note 36} Grand-Bérébi in modern Côte d'Ivoire. Given changes in economic fortunes, not all of the towns mentioned in Langdon's narrative have easily identifiable modern equivalents. However, a useful map giving the position of the towns and ports of this coast in the 1840s can be found in the Appendix to the Madden report, Parliamentary Papers 1842, XII (551), p. 520f.Google Scholar

^{page 201 note 37} Grand Drewin today refers to a beach and small hamlet close to Latéko, some six to seven miles to the west of Sassandra in Côte d'Ivoire. Adams refers to St Andrew's and Drewin together, ‘the people here have a small quantity of ivory, for which they always wish an exorbitant price’; Adams, J., Remarks on the Country Extending from Cape Palmas to the River Congo (London, 1823), p. 3.Google Scholar

^{page 201 note 38} On the left bank of the Avon on the outskirts of Bristol.

^{page 202 note 39} The etymology of the word ‘palaver’ is unclear but it is may be derived from the Portuguese word palavra (speech), and by this period it had come to mean both a dispute and the negotiations to settle it.

^{page 202 note 40} A bonny was a large cask for palm oil, named after the port of Bonny in the Niger Delta.

^{page 202 note 41} i.e. credit in the form of goods. Trust was usually given out calculated according to a unit; on this part of the coast termed a ‘round’; Newbury, C.W., ‘Credit in early nineteenth-century West African trade’, Journal of African History, 13 (1972), pp. 81–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

^{page 203 note 42} Modern Jacqueville, close to Abidjan in Côte d'Ivoire. In the early nineteenth century this was already an important source of palm oil; Robertson, Notes, p. 92.

^{page 203 note 43} These ‘passengers’ were being used as pawns to guarantee trust; in effect this meant that Langdon's ship was being involved in a form of slaving. Given the abolition of Britain's slave trade in 1807, this was highly illegal behaviour; hence the captain's desire to avoid naval vessels.

^{page 203 note 44} i.e. at the end of his watch, either 8 pm or midnight.

^{page 204 note 45} Boiling was used to remove impurities such as water or dirt.

^{page 205 note 46} Untraced on modern maps, but clearly close to Sassandra in Côte d'Ivoire.

^{page 205 note 47} Untraced but clearly close to Sassandra in Côte d'Ivoire.

^{page 205 note 48} Sassandra in Côte d'Ivoire. Originally named São Andrea by the Portuguese, it was called St Andrews (or sometimes King George's Town) by the English. Its importance for maritime trade derived from the break in the surf that gave it a sheltered anchorage. Robertson in 1819 commented on the ‘great trade’ at this port, which he estimated as worth £4,000 pa; Robertson, Notes, pp. 75, 361. The reputation of its traders among visitors was however somewhat negative; an American supercargo in 1841 commented that ‘St Andrews people are considered a treacherous set of scoundrels’; Brooks, , Kru Manner, p. 97.Google Scholar

^{page 205 note 49} Untraced on modern maps but marked on the Madden report map between Sassandra and Fresco in Côte d'Ivoire; possibly modern Trepoint? In his ‘Diary and notebook, 1883–84’, 27 September 1883, Langdon places Trepoo as four miles from Sassandra.

^{page 206 note 50} Untraced on modern maps but marked on the Madden report map between Sassandra and Fresco in Côte d'Ivoire; possibly modern Kotrohou?

^{page 206 note 51} Fresco in Côte d'Ivoire.

^{page 206 note 52} Untraced on modern maps but the Madden report map shows Piccanninny Lahou to the east of Fresco.

^{page 206 note 53} Grand-Lahou in Côte d'Ivoire to the west of Abidjan, described by Babington in 1875 as ‘a very large town’; ‘Remarks on the general description of the trade’, p. 248. Strictly speaking, Lahou-Plage is the old trading port. Adams, , Remarks, p. 3Google Scholar, noted that ‘the town of Cape Lahoo is built on a narrow peninsula of sand formed by the sea and river, and may consist of 150 houses, containing a population of seven or eight hundred souls. The Dutch, at a former period, carried on here a considerable trade in slaves and ivory, in which article the Lahoo people have always dealt largely’. Robertson remarked on the extent of its trade ‘more business is done here than in the whole distance from Cape Mount to St Andrews; the quantity of gold and ivory sold annually, is greater thanat any of the European settlements, Cape Coast and Accra excepted’; he estimated it as worth £16,500 pa; Robertson, , Notes, pp. 82, 361.Google Scholar

^{page 206 note 54} From 1852 a regular steamer service was operating between Britain and West Africa. This was generated by the government mail contract established from that year. Initially services were every month but by this period had become fortnightly. It had several consequences for trade on the coast and, not least, allowed passengers to travel between ports on the West African littoral; Davies, P.N., The Trade Makers: Elder Dempster in West Africa, 1852–1972 (London, 1973).Google Scholar

^{page 207 note 55} It was not uncommon in this period for British traders to arrange for children of African brokers to be educated in Britain during the nineteenth century, an arrangement that would be of mutual benefit. R. & W. King arranged for the education in Bristol of the son of King Bell of the Cameroons; FO 541/16, Dowell to Admiralty, 10 January 1869.

^{page 207 note 56} i.e. Windward coast.

^{page 208 note 57} 278 tons.

^{page 209 note 58} i.e. returning along the coast to the west, against the wind.

^{page 209 note 59} Untraced on modern maps but the Madden report map places Jack Lahou (also known as Trade Town) to the west of Half Jack and close to the position of modern Abidjan.

^{page 209 note 60} Untraced on modern maps; not placed on the Madden report map.

^{page 210 note 61} Harvesting of palm fruits usually began at the start of the rainy season; it would then be some weeks before the palm oil was ready for sale. In the centre of the oil trade, the rivers of the Niger Delta, the buying season began around March.

^{page 211 note 62} [sic], Booto in the rest of the text.

^{page 213 note 63} i.e. Able Seaman.

^{page 213 note 64} 252 tons. The Burnswark, Capt. Venning, returned to Bristol from ‘Lahon’ with a cargo of palm oil, camwood and coconuts for R. & W. King in September 1882; Customs Bills of Entry Bill A, 16 09 1882.Google Scholar

^{page 218 note 65} This may refer to the bombardment in 1864 by a combined British, French, Dutch, and American fleet to reopen the Shimonoseki Straits. Alternatively Langdon may be referring to the arrival of Harry Parkes as British minister to Japan in 1865.

^{page 219 note 66} Possibly the SS Roman Empire, 1,542 tons, of the Calcutta run.

^{page 219 note 67} i.e. the Equator. It was usual for ships trading to West Africa to sail south of the line for their return, in order to catch the south-east trade winds, rather than attempt to return directly along the coast.

^{page 221 note 68} Ships returning from West Africa would return to Falmouth, Plymouth, or, as occurred on Langdon's second voyage, Cobh, for orders as to where they were to take their cargo for landing. This would usually depend on market prices.

^{page 222 note 69} Trinity House was the institution responsible, under the Board of Trade, for regulating the safety of British shipping, particularly with reference to maintaining lighthouses and navigation buoys and licensing pilots. It was also responsible for clearing wrecks.

^{page 223 note 70} Gapt. Luke, Bristol Presentments, 14 09 1882.Google Scholar

^{page 224 note 71} The Ceara, Capt. Luke, returned to Bristol from the west coast of Africa with a cargo of 688 casks of palm oil and a quantity of coconuts for R. & W. King on 14 September, Customs Bills of Entry, Bill A, 16 09 1882.Google Scholar

^{page 225 note 72} i.e. the rivers of the Niger Delta and its neigbours in the Bights of Benin and Biafra.

^{page 225 note 73} Capt. Gay, Bristol Presentments, 12 10 1882Google Scholar. For voyages to the Niger Delta and its neighbouring rivers in the early nineteenth century it was usual for there to be a supercargo, in addition to the master, on board the ship; the former would be responsible for the trading activities of the voyage. There were few remaining ‘competitive firms’ to Kings in Bristol in this period; the main one would have been Lucas Bros, owners of the Watkins that Langdon's brother served on.

^{page 225 note 74} i.e. Geordie.

^{page 226 note 75} i.e. the seamen responsible for loading gunpowder.

^{page 226 note 76} At the mouth of the Avon, by Portishead.

^{page 227 note 77} [sic] Shanty.

^{page 227 note 78} The CSS Alabama was a warship built at a British dock for the confederate government during the American Civil War. Launched in 1862, it inflicted considerable damage on federal shipping until sunk by the USS Kearsarge near Cherbourg in 1864.

^{page 228 note 79} Presumably the Great Lakes of North America.

^{page 228 note 80} i.e. the Grand Banks fisheries off Newfoundland.

^{page 229 note 81} The comet of 1882, sometimes termed the Great September comet, initially became visible to the naked eye on 1 September 1882 and remained so for 135 days; S.P. Maran (ed.J, The Astronomy and Astrophysics Encyclopedia (Cambridge, 1992), p. 117.Google Scholar

^{page 231 note 82} The Board of Trade was responsible for issuing certificates of efficiency for ship's officers after examination; this examination included an eyesight requirement.

^{page 234 note 83} To the south-west of Bristol.

^{page 234 note 84} The island of Fernando Po (now Bioko), which the Spanish had claimed since 1778, was formally occupied by Spain in 1858. It had been briefly occupied by the British between 1827–1834 and acted thereafter as an important provisioning centre for ships in the trade of the Bight of Biafra. Its facilities included a rudimentary hospital. It was also used as a depot where Kru could be landed at the end of a trading voyage to await a ship returning to the Kru coast.

^{page 234 note 85} Stricdy, the Cameroons estuary of the Wouri river.

^{page 234 note 86} Most of the rivers in the Bights of Benin and Biafra had submerged sand bars at their mouths. Navigating across these was extremely hazardous; the use of local pilots was usually required, though payment of these became an issue of some controversy between British traders and local authorities.

^{page 234 note 87} Hulks, which were used as store ships by traders, became increasingly common in West African rivers once the steamship services between Britain and West Africa began in 1852. They allowed traders to bulk their produce and despatch it on the steamer. However, firms like Kings who did not regularly use the steamers, found hulks useful in allowing them to cut down ‘turn-around’ time on the coast.

^{page 235 note 88} This was relatively quick for a voyage from Britain.

^{page 235 note 89} The Duala of the Cameroons estuary were divided into three main quarters or ‘towns’, named after their ruler, Akwa, Bell and Deido.

^{page 235 note 90} The Baptist Missionary Society set up its mission in the Cameroons estuary in 1845; this mission was an offshoot of its work on Fernando Po. It was established in response to an initiative originating in the West Indies and a number of its staff were Jamaican. The missionary referred to in Langdon's account was Joseph Jackson Fuller, a jamaican who began his ministry in 1859 and who in 1861 married the daughter of Joseph Diboll, an English minister in the Baptist mission. The Baptist mission left the Cameroons estuary in 1886 following the German annexation. Fuller retired in 1888. van Slageren, J., Les origines de l'église évangélique du Cameroun (Yaoundé, 1972), pp. 29–35.Google Scholar

^{page 236 note 91} i.e. children.

^{page 236 note 92} In many of the rivers involved in the West African trade it was common for the traders to combine together to provide a hospital ship and a surgeon for the use of ships coming out.

^{page 236 note 93} In this period the swivel bridge, commonly called the drawbridge, at the entrance to the floating harbour in Bristol.

^{page 237 note 94} To warp a ship involved moving the vessel in an anchorage by use of a hawser and a kedge anchor, hauled by the crew.

^{page 237 note 95} Such resident agents, who would remain on the coast for the palm oil ‘season’, buying produce, became increasingly common in the West African trade, and more specifically the river trade, after the introduction of steamship services in 1852.

^{page 237 note 96} Presumably a reference to Forster's Education Act of 1870 and the school boards it established.

^{page 237 note 97} Pidgin English was the lingua franca of the West African trade, though (as seen in words like ‘dash’ and ‘palaver’) it borrowed from the Portuguese of the original maritime traders to the coast.

^{page 238 note 98} Dolly Varden hats, which were popular in the early 1870s, were named after the heroine in Dickens, Charles's Barnaby Rudge (London, 1841)Google Scholar. They were straw hats with a low crown and a wide brim and were sometimes referred to as shepherdess hats. I am grateful to Ms Lucy Pratt of the Victoria and Albert museum for this information.

^{page 239 note 99} Palm kernels were usually transported bulked together in ‘mats’ made of rope.

^{page 239 note 100} Dunnage mats were stowed in the hold to prevent damage to freight and to stabilize the cargo. The shifting of a cargo of kernels, as occurred on this voyage, was of considerable hazard.

^{page 240 note 101} Gin, or more strictly Dutch schnapps, was a staple of the West African trade.

^{page 240 note 102} Calabar (usually termed Old Calabar in this period) was one of the major ports of the Bights for the West African trade. Kings had only entered its trade, however, in 1879.

^{page 241 note 103} The Blue Peter flag is used to signal that the ship is about to sail and that all concerned should report on board.

^{page 242 note 104} The trading castle at Cape Coast was the centre of British administration on the Gold Coast; the Gold Coast was annexed in 1874. The official commanding British administration was the governor, not the consul. However, from 1872 there was a British consul, with a consular court, based much closer to the Cameroons at Old Calabar.

^{page 242 note 105} i.e. by the small steamer from Old Calabar referred to above.

^{page 243 note 106} As on the windward on Langdon's first voyage, because of the prevailing winds and currents in the Gulf of Guinea, it was the practice of traders to this region to drift south in order to catch the south-east trade winds for the return to Britain.

^{page 243 note 107} Light breezes marked by slight ripples on the surface of the sea.

^{page 243 note 108} i.e. 7.30 am.

^{page 244 note 109} Bordeaux and Marseilles were the main French ports involved in the West African trade.

^{page 244 note 110} More usually spelt ‘wear’. This involved turning the ship from port tack to starboard, or vice versa, by allowing the wind to pass around the stern.

^{page 244 note 111} [sic]; presumably stern first.

^{page 244 note 112} In the centre of Bristol close to College Green; site of a fort and part of the city's defensive walls.

^{page 245 note 113} Hamburg was the main port for the palm kernel trade from West Africa, the kernels then being transported to the German and Dutch markets for processing. The sharp increase in Hamburg's African trade only began in the late 1870s and was due to the development of the margarine industry in this period, for which palm kernel oil was a vital ingredient. Kings' involvement in the Hamburg trade was a sign of considerable entetprise; Harding, L., ‘Hamburg's West Africa trade in the nineteenth century’, in Liesegang, Pasch and Jones, Figuring African Trade, pp. 363–391.Google Scholar

^{page 245 note 114} Presumably Start Point, South Devon.

^{page 246 note 115} 23 March 1883.

^{page 247 note 116} i.e. draw up the sails to the yard on the mast in preparation for furling.

^{page 249 note 117} [sic]; breech-loading.

^{page 251 note 118} Presumably a mission boat of some kind. ‘Bethel’ was commonly used among sailors to refer to a place of worship.

^{page 251 note 119} The Pool of London; Langdon's ship would berth in the Lower Pool.

^{page 253 note 120} Langdon has clearly left out quotation marks here, since it would be himself reporting that the Ceara had sunk.

^{page 253 note 121} 291 tons, Capt. Swan, R. & W. King, owners, Bristol Presentments, 17 05 1883.Google Scholar

^{page 254 note 122} Held in Bristol City Library, ‘Diary and Notebook of John Chandler Langdon, 1883–84’.

^{page 256 note 123} A martingale was a rope for guying down the jib-boom.

^{page 257 note 124} i.e. Cape Verde in modern Senegal.

^{page 259 note 125} [sic]; cowrie shells. These were shells of cypraea moneta and cypraea annulus that were imported from the Indian Ocean and that had been used as a currency in West Africa for many centuries. These became particularly associated with the development of the palm oil trade, because of their use in paying for small quantities, and became increasingly prevalent in parts of West Africa (though less so the Windward Coast) during the nineteenth century in what came to be called the great cowrie inflation. Johnson, M., ‘The cowrie currencies of West Africa, Part I’, Journal of African History, 9 (1970), pp. 17–49CrossRefGoogle Scholar and ‘Part II’, idem, pp. 331–353; Hogendorn, J. and Johnson, M., The Shell Money of the Slave Trade (Cambridge, 1986).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

^{page 261 note 126} i.e. returning westwards along the coast, against the wind.

^{page 262 note 127} A longer description of this incident was given by Langdon in ‘Our bust up with the Nigger of Sassandrew River, West Coast of Africa, 1883–84’; typescript in Bristol City Library.

^{page 264 note 128} The Governor in question would have been Sir Samuel Rowe, Governor of the Gold Coast and Lagos, 1881–1884. It was a belief among traders that Bristol ships in West Africa ‘avoid the British colonies and settlements, preferring to trade with native states’, allegedly because of a desire to avoid British regulations. The presence of pawns or ‘passengers’ on Langdon's voyages might confirm this; Swanzy, A., ‘On trade in Western Africa with and without British protection’, Journal of the Society of Arts, 22 (1874), pp. 48–87.Google Scholar

^{page 265 note 129} This would refer to the Franco-Prussian war of 1870–1871. The French had been very active on the Ivory Coast in the 1830s and 1840s with the work of the naval officer Edouard Bouët-Willaumez. French garrisons had been established on the Ivory Coast in 1843; they were withdrawn following the Franco-Prussian war; Bouët-Willaumez, E., Description nautique des côtes de l'Afrique Occidentale (Paris, 1849).Google Scholar

^{page 265 note 130} French traders had been prominent at Assinie and elsewhere on the Ivory Coast in the early part of the century and Robertson described their ‘extensive trade’ in 1819; Robertson, , Notes, p. 96Google Scholar. Contrary to Langdon, Babington noted their presence in Grand Bassam and Assinie in the 1870s, ‘Remarks on the general description of the trade’, p. 249. The most prominent French firms in West Africa by the 1880s were Victor Régis of Victor et Louis Régis of Marseilles (taken over by Mantes Frères), and Cyprien Fabre of Augustin Fabre et fils of Marseilles.

^{page 269 note 131} i.e. 9 pm.

^{page 271 note 132} i.e. R. & W. King.

^{page 272 note 133} It was common in the West African trade for larger ships to use a smaller cutter to collect small quanitities of produce from several different ports. This was particularly so in the river trade of the Niger Delta region, where a shallow bar at the river entrance could make access dangerous. The Jane Lamb, 303 tons, Capt. Rawlinson, arrived in Bristol from Antwerp in July 1883 with a cargo of coconuts for Cummins & Co. It is likely it would have unloaded a cargo of African produce at Antwerp before sailing for Bristol; Customs Bills of Entry, Bill A, 6 July 1883.

^{page 274 note 134} i.e. handcuffs.

^{page 275 note 135} [sic], Governor.

^{page 276 note 136} Kola nuts (the nuts of cola acuminata and cola nitide, both native to Africa) contain caffeine and are prized as a mild stimulant.

^{page 276 note 137} Guinea worm, a common parasite in tropical regions, is transmitted by water and causes dracunculis in humans.

^{page 277 note 138} The connection between malaria and the mosquito by Sir Ronald Ross was not made until 1896–1897.

^{page 277 note 139} Although these were typically-sized ships for the sailing ships of the West African trade in the first part of the nineteenth century, they were relatively small for this period, following the introduction of steamers into the trade in the 1850s. By 1880, the average ship in the West African trade was some 800 tons.

^{page 278 note 140} In 1886 the French re-asserted their presence on the Ivory Coast and commenced a piece-meal occupation of the territory, a process that culminated in the declaration of a French colony in 1893.

^{page 279 note 141} i.e. Cobh, Co. Cork.

^{page 279 note 142} i.e. the south-east trade winds.

^{page 282 note 143} i.e. Ballycotton, Co. Cork.

^{page 282 note 144} The Edmund Richardson, 291 tons, Capt. Cummins, arrived in Bristol from ‘Cape Lahore’ on 24 November, with a cargo of 551 casks of palm oil and 10,000 coconuts for R. & W. King, Customs Bills of Entry, Bill A, 25 11 1884.Google Scholar

^{page 283 note 145} i.e. bookbinding.

^{page 283 note 146} 1886–1893.