The Brooks Jug, Herculaneum Factory, Liverpool. Earthenware, printed, painted, 1793 (Dated given in applied text, representing terminus postquem.) 24,2 cm (high). ©The Trustees of the British Museum
This jug features an image of the Brooks (also known as Brookes) slave ship, built in 1781 and active in the Transatlantic Slave Trade until 1804. Initially owned by Joseph Brooks Jr., the ship changed ownership several times. It was registered in Liverpool, a central hub in the British slave trade. It is estimated that slave ships transported between eleven and twelve million Africans to the Americas, operating largely without regulation until the late eighteenth century.
Depictions of slave ships on ceramics are rare. However, this jug can be considered part of a tradition of commemorative “shipware,” which often highlighted aspects of maritime commerce and Britain’s seafaring activities. Within this tradition, the Brooks is presented as a merchant vessel, downplaying any emphasis on its role in the slave trade.
The image on the jug is a black transfer print, over-painted with enamels. Captain Noble, a Liverpool ship’s captain who made several voyages on the Brooks, was sent to Parliament by Liverpool merchants in 1790 to advocate for the slave trade. The jug bears the inscription: “Success to the Brooks Capt. Nobel,” possibly celebrating his support for the merchant community.
The reverse side of the jug depicts a scene of ropemaking, accompanied by the Rope Maker Company’s coat of arms and the inscription, “Success to the Rope Makers. And the Glorious 10th of March, May it never be forgotten,” likely referring to the recovery of King George III in 1789 after a period of illness. This combination of imagery reflects how ceramics like this jug were used to represent different aspects of Britain’s history and economy.
The Brooks was not only employed in celebrating a slave trading voyage but also became a powerful tool for the anti-slavery movement. This stowage plan, created in 1789, illustrates how enslaved people were transported from Africa to the Americas emphasizing the overcrowding of human cargoes. The ship was authorized to carry up to 454 enslaved individuals, with each man allotted 6 feet (1.8 m) by 1 foot 4 inches (0.41 m) of space, each woman 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m) by 1 foot 4 inches (0.41 m), and each child 5 feet (1.5 m) by 1 foot 2 inches (0.36 m). In practice, however, the Brooks carried between 322 and 740 enslaved people on a single voyage across its eleven trips. This horrifying image of the stowage plan of the Brooks was used by Thomas Clarkson (1760–1846) and other abolitionists to illustrate the inhumanity of the slave trade.
Stowage of the British slave ship "Brookes" under the Regulated Slave Trade Act of 1788, etching, 48 x 40 cm., London, Published by James Phillips, 1789, Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Washington, D.C. 20540