Bristol’s slavery past will be brought into sharp focus on BBC Four in the latest episode of Shipwrecks.
Madge Dresser, associate professor in history at UWE, is appearing on tonight’s show talking about a particularly tragic shipwreck.
“During the course of my research, I had come across this case which transpired to be one of the worst maritime tragedies in Colonial American history,” Dr Dresser said.
“In 1763 a ship called the Phoenix sunk off the coast of Britain. All the white crew were rescued, but the 356 enslaved Africans were left to die on the ship.
“I brought this particularly horrific case to the producers’ attention and they ended up using it in the programme.
“They also decided to film part of the series in Bristol, which gave me the opportunity to talk about Bristol and the slave trade in general, again based on my research.”
