William Boats
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William Boats (1716-1794) was a Liverpool slave trader.{{sfn|Richardson|2007|pp=195}} Boats was responsible for 157 slave voyages, over half of his slaves were sent from the Bight of Biafra to Jamaica.{{sfn|Richardson|2007|pp=29}}
Slave trading and privateering
Boats had shares in at least 156 Guineaman.{{sfn|Richardson|2007|pp=92}} In the book History of the Liverpool Privateers the author wrote that Boats was a waif found in a boat and enrolled in a Blue Coat School. It claims that he was apprenticed to the sea and rose to be a commander of a slave ship, becoming "one of the leading merchants and shipowners of Liverpool". Continuing, it says he married Ms. Brideson and captured a Spanish ship rich in gold and treasure. A Liverpool paper{{vague|date=September 2024}} which announced his death at the age of 78, called him a "most useful member of society".{{Cite book|last=Williams|first=Gomer|title=History of the Liverpool Privateers and Letters of Marque|publisher=W. Heinemann|year=1897|isbn=9780722297797|location=|pages=484–485}}
Boats was the first slaver to have his ships sheathed in copper to prevent infestations of wood-boring parasites.{{sfn|Richardson|2007|pp=240}}
References
{{reflist}}
Sources
- {{Cite book
|last=Richardson
|first=David
|author-link1=
|year=2007
|title=Liverpool and Transatlantic Slavery
|location=UK
|publisher=Liverpool University Press
|isbn=978-1-84631-066-9
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boats, William}}
Category:18th-century English slave traders
Category:People from Liverpool
Category:18th-century English businesspeople
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