Chapter One

Chapter One of Hochschild's Bury the Chains focuses on giving backstory of John Newton's transition from a slave ship captain to an abolitionist. The chapter beings by establishing John Newton's history as a slave ship captain prior to the beginnings of his religious conversion. We then move onto a the tale of Newton surviving a severe North Atlantic gale on the triangle trade route that begins his conversion to Christianity. Following that it moves to Newton's proposal to Mary Catlett that continued his path to redemption. Following this, Newton returns to his seafaring after his marriage to Catlett and recounts the captain's success in quashing a slave rebellion aboard his ship. Following this he converted to evangelical Christianity but did not denounce slavery until some time later.