Model of a Slave Ship Jammed into the holds of slave ships, enslaved Africans made the dreaded Middle Passage to the New World. This model slave ship was used in parliamentary debates by antislavery leaders in Britain to demonstrate the inhumanity of shipping people like cargo. The model does not show another typical feature of slave ships: weapons. Slaves vastly outnumbered the crews, and crew members justifiably feared slave uprisings. © Wilberforce House, Hull City Museums and Art Galleries, UK/The Bridgeman Art Library.