VERY RARE DATED HAND CUFFS SHAKELS 1759 BEMONT PARISH
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll ... 0964748390
Normally I would not comment on a live auction, but there are a number of things that concern me about this item and we don't want people possibly getting ripped off. Before you consider the hefty asking price consider this-
My index of UK parishes has no such parish. The closest thing is Beaumont Leys in Leicester which was once a very small Parish but was incorporated into another.
There are a number of place names called Belmont with an "l" in Eng, Ire, and Scotland but they were not Parishes.
Usually in those times the "s" was written as "f". So the name on the bilbo MAY be newer.
My response from the seller was-
"hi dont no anything about them except they come from a large estate that i cleared around 15 years ago . other hand cuffs old traps rare antiques ect ect . these were in the attic thanks"
I don't know how much of that is true because they sold in May 2012 as part of a collection for 300 Pounds.
http://www.thecanterburyauctiongallerie ... ms_various
Personally, I think it is a very nicely made, and possibly old item, but I think it is now a nice novelty item. The padlock would not have been used originally because the hole in the bar is rectangular suggesting a wedge or a split spring washer would have been used.
Make up your own mind.
Paul
Click to expand...
Iron Bilboes of the Henrietta Marie
Corey Malcom
Director of Archaeology
Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Society
Of all the artifacts recovered from the wreck site of the Henrietta Marie, none serve as stronger icons for her involvement in the slave trade than the crude iron restraints known as bilboes. They succinctly express the grim nature of a voyage in which a group of people was forcibly held, and shipped as a cargo. Bilboes gave the slavers a physical and psychological advantage, allowing them to control the Africans from the time they were put aboard the ships until they could be safely delivered to the markets of the Americas. By inhibiting the likelihood of resistance and rebellion by the captives, they prevented physical injury to crew or cargo that might result from any such insurrection. A sufficient number of components-shackles, bolts and wedges- were found on the wreck that, when assembled, once formed just over eighty bilboes; enough to hold more than 160 people.
Throughout the history of the slave trade, items of restraint can be found to have been called by many names, including fetters, irons, manacles, hand bolts, gyves, shackles and handcuffs. Whatever the name, their purpose was singular; to limit or deny the free movement of a group of African men, women and children and make them available for sale.
Folklore holds it that bilboes came to England from Spain during the Armada campaign of 1588, when the invading Spanish supposedly carried them by the dozens in anticipation of taking English prisoners (Earle, 1896). The word bilbo is believed to be derived from the name of the northern Spanish port, Bilbao (ibid.). Bilboes, certainly were used in early colonial Spain, and have been recovered from two Spanish shipwrecks in the Americas; the Molasses Reef wreck, tentatively dated to ca. 1513, and thought to have been a slaver capturing Lucayan Indians (Keith, 1988), and the galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha of 1622.
They were used both on land and sea to hold and punish those who committed offenses against society. In the earliest American colonies, bilboes served effectively as low-cost, self-contained "prisons". In Boston during the 1630s offenders would be "sett in the bilbowes", which had been imported from England, in the town square in full public view (Earle, op.cit.). An early treatise on sea service describes that among the duties of the boatswain, "... he is (in the nature of a Provost Marshal at land) to see all offenders punctually punished, either at the capstan, or by being put in the bilboes..." (Boteler, 1685).
Exactly when bilboes were put to use in the slave trade is unclear, but contemporary references from European sources provide the reasoning for their implementation. Restraining the Africans could effectively prevent rebellion and suicide, which always loomed as threats to the success of any slaving voyage. An uprising by slaves was not only perceived as a threat to a ships crew, but to any profit as well. If the Africans did manage to take up arms, the Europeans would have been compelled to protect themselves, and possibly injure or kill them. From the slavers perspective, this would be destroying cargo, which, obviously, ran counter to their purpose.
The owners of the Dispatch, writing in 1725, instructed their captain, William Barry,
"So soon as you begin to slave let your knetting be fixd breast high fore and aft and so keep em shackled and hand Bolted fearing their rising or leaping Overboard , to prevent which let always a Constant and Carfull watch be appointed to which must give the strictest Charge for the preservation of their own lives, so well as yours and on which the voyage depends..."
Other writers involved in the slave trade express similar reasons for shackling, but also, they describe the manner in which the Africans were held. Consistently, it is seen that it was usually the adult male captives who were joined by irons, in pairs. Captain Thomas Phillips of the Royal African Companys Hannibal, which sailed to Guinea in 1693-94, describes, "When our slaves are aboard we shackle the men two and two, while we lie in port, and in sight of their own country, for tis then they attempt to make their escape, and mutiny...(Dow, p.73)." Alexander Falconbridge, who served as a surgeon in the slave trade during the latter part of the 18th century, wrote, "The men negroes, on being brought board ship, are immediately fastened together, two by two, by hand-cuffs on their wrists and by irons rivetted on their legs. (1788, p.19)", but he goes on to describe how this situation could become problematic. "It often happens, that those who are placed at a great distance from the buckets [toilets], in endeavouring to get to them, tumble over their companions, in consequence of being shackled. These accidents, although unavoidable, are productive of continuous quarrels... (ibid., p.20)." Capt.William Snelgrave, a slaver with over thirty years experience, describes, from 1754, a somewhat more judicious use of restraint for the Africans, "When we purchase the Negroes, we couple the sturdy men together with irons; but we suffer the Women and Children to go freely about: And soon after we have saild from the coast we undo all the mens Irons. (Dow p.131)." Finally, James Barbot recorded in his narrative of the voyage of the English slaver Don Carlos, a scenario where the Africans mutinied, and probably felt that, for once, their bilboes were being put to the best use;
"... as having premeditated a revolt, and seeing all the ships company, at best weak and many quite sick, they had also broken off the shackles from several of their companions feet, which served them, as well as billets they had provided themselves with, and all other things they could lay hands on, which they imagind might be of use for this enterprize. Thus armd, they fell in crowds and parcels on our men..."
From the African perspective there are few accounts of the slave trade, but one, that of Olaudah Equiano, who was captured and put into slavery as a boy, describes the psychological terror induced by the sight of his countrymen in shackles and chains. After having been sold to English slavers in the mid-1700s, he entered their ship to await transport to the Americas;
" When I looked around the ship too, and saw a large furnace of copper boiling, and a multitude of black people of every description chained together, every one of their countenances expressing dejection and sorrow, I no longer doubted of my fate; and, quite overpowered with horror and anguish, I fell motionless on the deck and fainted. (Bontemps,1969 p.27)"
From even these few accounts, it can be seen that bilboes served as a way to ensure that African captives taken into the slave trade were more easily kept and transported during at least portions of the voyage to the Americas. By being able to restrain their unwilling merchandise, the slavers could ensure a safe and profitable delivery.
The basic design of the Henrietta Marie bilboes is one that went virtually unchanged for at least two centuries in western Europe and the American colonies. Two U-shaped shackles fit over the ankles or wrists of the slaves, too tight to slip hands or feet through. Loops at each terminus slid onto a bolt of iron round stock. The bolt had a larger diameter head forged onto one end, and a slot pierced into the other. The large head served as a stop to keep the loops from sliding over the end of the bolt. The same effect was achieved at the other end by hammering an iron wedge into the slot locking the shackles, and thus the prisoners, to the bolt. Eighty-one bolts and 165 shackles have been found at the site of the Henrietta Marie. Many of these were found as intact sets, but bolts with one shackle, and many individual components were also found. It is unclear how they were stored, but presumably it was as intact sets, and the wrecking process put the collection into its relative disarray.
There are telling differences which give clues to the intended victims who were once held by these restraints. Most significant is the size of the U-shaped shackles. Some are large, and presumed to have fit only the ankles of large men. Others may have been wrist shackles for large adults or ankle shackles for those who were smaller. Others, whose diminutive form is quite startling, suggest they were used to shackle the wrists of small adults or the ankles of juveniles. It seems the shackles could also be custom fit by compressing or expanding the "U". This appears to have been done to some of the recovered examples, with two shackles of the same size on the same bar having different widths.
Though the functional design of these bilboes is identical, there are slight stylistic differences, which suggest that more than one artisan worked to create this collection. Some bolts are short, meant for the shackles to fit tightly. Others are long enough to allow a gap of approximately 6 inches between shackles. Bolt lengths vary between 6 1/2 to 17 inches. Some of the barstock used in their construction is a heavy, 3/4 inch diameter, and in others a more slight 1/2 inch diameter is found. The design of the finished ends also varies; with some having rounded heads, others pointed. The shackles also have varying qualities; some are formed of barstock of 3/8 inch diameter, some of 1/2 inch. Some shackles have large, flaring loops, and some are formed with blended lines nearly the same width as the barstock from which they were made.
Two shackles from two different bilboes from the Henrietta Marie were seized with cord, presumably for a cushioning effect to prevent chafing of the captives skin. It is unknown if these were special sets, or if all the shackles were once similarly wrapped, with the cordage of the others long ago destroyed by the natural actions of the marine environment. Considering the similar nature of the deposition for the collection though, this seems unlikely. A more likely theory for having "cushioned" shackles reflects on the assumed recalcitrance of a few slaves. No contemporary reference indicates the Africans were held in irons for the duration of Middle Passage, and this makes sense. Bilboes would have surely caused considerable chafing if worn for prolonged periods, and increased the likelihood of infections and other health problems among the slaves. Anything negatively affecting the well being of the cargo like this impeded the ships ability to operate profitably, and would have been avoided. Inevitably, though, some of the Africans would have been "bad"; therefore, for the crews safety required prolonged restraint. Perhaps these were special shackles designed to hold unruly slaves for longer periods without affecting their salability.
It appears likely that one of the merchants who had consigned goods to the Henrietta Marie, ironmonger Anthony Tournay, was also the supplier of the bilboes. Tournay was a wholesaler of iron goods, and shipped 33 tons of iron trade bars on her last voyage. He had close business and social ties to Sir Ambrose Crowley, the most prominent ironware manufacturer of the time, and who contracted to provide various iron slave restraints to the Royal African Company (Tattersfield, 1994). It is not farfetched to see at least some of these bilboes as having been channeled by Tournay from Crowleys ironworks to the Henrietta Marie.
These bilboes represent the essential horror of the transatlantic slave trade. In 1700 people were forced to wear these very devices and suffer as much as any human can. As they sat in the equatorial swelter, bound to their neighbor aboard the Henrietta Marie, the Africans were probably unsure of what the future held for them, but the bilboes represented the beginning of a new life -- one where they were barely considered human, and would never again be free.
