How it started ...
In the summer of 2003 I was home in Liverpool for a month and spent most mornings walking along the Pier Head praying.
The Pier Head is the name given to the landing stage where ferries and ships embark and disembark. As a result of this I began to research the city's history and it was then that I found out about the legacy of the slave trade. I also found out that John Newton, the writer of the hymn "Amazing Grace", was converted to Christianity during a storm on his way back to Liverpool and later became the captain of a slave ship that sailed from there. He eventually became a minister in Olney, where he then wrote the hymn.
It’s incredible, now that I look back and put the pieces together, that I was able to walk along the same riverfront that he would have walked and I'm sure, would have prayed. I decided to take a trip of my own and call it "The Amazing Grace Tour."
Pier Head in John Newton's time
Excerpts from John Newtons diary.
Wednesday 22 May
"...At 3am. weighed with a small brease at west, bound (by God's permission) for Antigua. Made but little way by reason of the great head swell and the brease faint, but just at noon freshened a little;...Saw the Carolina schooner at anchor under the land, believe Mr. Smith was coming to trade with me. He said he would if he got any slaves, but as l limited him to 4 days he can't well blame me, it being 9 since I was with him."
Monday 8 July
"...Landed the slaves. Sold all to about 20."
Wednesday 10 July
"...Buryed one of the remaining slaves, a man (No 52)."