Letter by Alexander Baillie of Dochfour, Isle of Nevis, to Alexander Baillie of Dunain, 1752
This letter by Alexander Baillie gives a vivid description of life on a Caribbean plantation. It was written at a time when many Highland men were running these estates with slave labour in the hope of making a fortune against the odds. The letter details a storm which uprooted sugar canes and drove over seventy ships ashore; the difficulty of succeeding on the plantations; the choice of a young gentleman from Dumfries to go to Jamaica – “that Curs’d Place that has been the grave of so many of our countrymen”- because he would “rather run the risk…for a fortune than go home a beggar”; the handsomeness of “Negro wenches” and the habit of some to keep them in “chints and callicoes out of the fields.
Writing Ideas
Imagine living through the events described in this letter. Why not write a diary entry or a letter detailing your experiences of the epidemic and the storm?
This letter contains a wealth of information about the motives of many people who went to the Caribbean in the 18th century. Write from the perspective of the young man from Dumfries. What was your life like before going to the Isle of Nevis? Why are you willing to take the risk?
Download a typed copy of the document.
Document Ref: GB0232/D456/A/1/28
