Okay, here's a picture. It's of a wealthy captain in his cabin, sitting down about to eat, and it dates some forty years before John Constant's time. It's relevant though because entering on the left, and bearing a dish of what looks like roast chicken, is the captain's cook. And over on the right is another servant, this one providing some music for the diners, and as you can see he's black.
I just put this painting in to show you that a captain having his own cook, and also a black servant, is not anything very unusual for the time. In your mind you have to combine the two. Constant's employer, Captain Henry Smedley, had done quite well for himself. He was working for a successful trading company, and when he was on a voyage he employed a black servant as his private cook. Because God forbid he should eat the sort of crap his crewmen got.
No comments:
Post a Comment