slave ship

American  

noun

1. a ship for transporting enslaved captives from their native homes to places of bondage.

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slave ship British  

noun

1. a ship used to transport slaves, esp formerly from Africa to the New World

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Etymology

Origin of slave ship

First recorded in 1790–1800

Example Sentences

“I was looking at the slave ship and I was looking at the whaling ship, and what I noticed was that of course with the slave ship, the cargo is the African bodies,” Brooks said.

From New York Times • Jun. 19, 2024

They were among the divers who’ve explored the Clotilda, a slave ship whose mostly intact hull that rests on the bottom of the Mobile River in Alabama.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 6, 2023

Illness was the slave ship captains’ constant fear.

From Textbooks • Dec. 14, 2022

The story is told by Anthony Gibbons who recalls his descendants being transported on a slave ship.

From Salon • Nov. 7, 2022

She dreamed of her parents, of her little brother, of the belly of the slave ship.

From "Copper Sun" by Sharon M. Draper