“It is now so warm that I am in only my Shirt and the Frogs are in full Tune.” —Mark Catesby in South Carolina and the Caribbean, 1722-26 Henrietta McBurney– The English naturalist Mark Catesby (1683-1749) wrote to his sponsor the botanist, William Sherard, about the extreme weather conditions in
In 1792, a ship set sail from England with the best of intentions. Its tragic journey would change the course of history forever. Historian Billy Smith uncovered a remarkable story of tragedy unleashed from misguided humanitarianism in his book Ship of Death: A Voyage that Changed the Atlantic World. The Hankey was engaged
In 1792, the Hankey left Britain full of abolitionists who hoped to establish a colony free of slavery in West Africa. Botched negotiations with local tribes and the failure of the colony sent the Hankey on a trip around the Atlantic with a terrible infestation of Yellow Fever. Billy Smith