Chapter 8 Summary and Analysis

The Nancy sloop gets a new captain, named Phillips, and Equiano once again sets sail after King begs him to remain working for him. On the journey, Equiano has nightly dreams about the ship wrecking. He also "damns" the ship vocally when he is pumping water. Soon after, the ship gets dangerously close to currents that could dash the ship against rocks. The new captain, despite repeated warnings, seems unconcerned or ignorant of the danger, and refuses to go on deck. By the time Phillips finally does go on deck, the ship hits rocks and gets stuck. Equiano attributes the disaster to his sin of damning the ship.

Phillips orders the hatches to be nailed shut, so that the slaves below deck cannot overwhelm the crew and take over the rescue boats. Equiano yells at Phillips for being an incompetent captain...