There is little evidence in the NRS of the enslavement and movement of the enslaved to African ports prior to shipping. Log books of ship voyages normally remain the property of ship owners and very few have found their way to Scottish archives. The NRS holds one letter describing a voyage on a slave trader from Bleney Harper (in Barbados) to William Gordon & Company, Glasgow, May 1731 (NRS reference CS228/A/3/19). A greater proportion of evidence on the enslavement and movement of enslaved persons can be found in The National Archives (in London) in the records of the African trading companies, Customs Outport, Board of Trade and the Admiralty. For more details see the research guides on the slave trade on The National Archives website (see below under United Kingdom government sources).
Where evidence of the slave trade voyages exists in Scotland it is generally through court cases. For example, four cases involving owners of ships engaged in the slave trade, which were heard in the High Court of Admiralty in Scotland are: Daniel v Graham, 1721 (NRS reference AC9/718), Clark v Inglis, 1727 (NRS reference AC9/1022), Horseburgh v Bogle, 1727 (NRS reference AC9/1042) and Alexander v Colhoun & Company, 1762 (NRS reference CS228/A/3/19). The records of the Horseburgh v Bogle case are important as they give very detailed information about the way in which the slave trade was carried out in the early eighteenth century. There are more than 70 items including financial records, witness statements and other legal papers providing evidence of the export of 'guinea goods' from Britain to Africa, the role of the ship's surgeon as supercargo in purchasing slaves for transportation, and his contract with the Scottish merchants who backed the venture.
