What’s in a Name?
The Naming of Parts
The Grave at Sunderland Point
There’s an embarrassment in walking to the grave,
Out there at causewayed Sunderland Point,
From where ships once sailed the seven seas,
Now a desolate mudflat skyscape,
A couple of miles beyond the last post village -
But once all seascape hustle and bustle,
Shipshape and Lancaster slavery fashion.
There are still two pubs there in Overton,
The Globe and The Ship -
Cottages bear dates coeval with the slave trade.
The signposts curtly say: ‘Sambo’s Grave’,
It’s out there at windswept Sunderland Point;
The steps he climbed at the brewhouse are still there –
He climbed to pine and die in lonely isolation,
Or so the story has it;
The building – now a house – was up for sale,
When I visited in late summer 2021;
It’s history, like a name, silent.
An information board tells the tale in detail,
But there is no mention of the provenance
Of the word ‘Sambo’ and its cognate
Racist associations and lineage;
I looked at the well-tended imagined grave,
Decorated with painted pebbles
And children’s keepsakes.
I took out Dorothea Smartt’s book,
Ship shape and studied these descriptions:
‘Sambo, any male of the negro race …’;
‘Sambo: A pet name given to anyone of the negro race’;
‘Sambo … A colloquial or humorous appellation for a negro …’;
‘Sambo: a stereotypical name for a male black person
(now only derogatory) …’;
What’s in a name?
The Naming of Parts.
In Lancaster, there is a memorial,
The triangular trade represented in 3-D,
And also italicised and etched down a column,
Four headings to collate information,
Under the title Captured Africans:
Ships Master Depart Africans
Expedition Strangeways, James 1745 188
Jolly Batchelor Hinde, Thomas 1749 154
Africa Hinde, Thomas 1752 170
Bark Millerson, Richard 1754 140
Swallow Ord, William 1755 100
Lancaster Paley, Thomas 1756 90
Castleton Lindow, James 1756 120
Gambia Dodson, Robert 1756 180
Cato Millerson, Richard 1759 360
Thetis Preston, John 1759 212
Molly Dennison, William 1760 228
Marquis of Granby Dodson, Robert 1762 240
Eagle Millerson, Richard 1762 220
Hamilton Saul, William 1762 270
Norfolk Innes, Isaac 1763 202
King Tom Read, John 1764 230
Antelope Paley, Thomas 1764 150
Phoebe Macky 1764 296
Prince George Addison, John 1766 160
Pearl Maychell, James 1771 300
Stanley Absob, John 1773 160
Nelly Maychell, James 1741 250
Sally Sawrey, James 1775 153
Old England Garnet, John 1783 181
John Nunns, John 1806 280
Twenty-five names of ships;
The surnames and first names of the ships’ masters;
I counted 5,034 captured Africans,
Names unknown;
I looked at synonyms for nameless;
I looked at synonyms for chattel;
I took out Dorothea Smartt’s book,
Ship shape and studied these descriptions:
‘Sambo, any male of the negro race …’;
‘Sambo: A pet name given to anyone of the negro race’;
‘Sambo … A colloquial or humorous appellation for a negro …’;
‘Sambo: a stereotypical name for a male black person.
What’s in a name?
The naming of parts.
