The Blandford Frigate, of 1760, illustrates the narrative of the transatlantic slave trade through the border drawings depicting the ship: 'ON THE PASSAGE TO THE WEST INDIES' on the left, and on the right 'ON THE COAST OF AFRICA TRADING'. Little is known of Pocock's experience of the slave trade, but as a traveller in the West Indies he would certainly have been aware of it. In the drawings he shows two distinct groups of African figures, the enslaved and manacled men, but also those trading goods, including guns, in exchange for their fellow Africans. The activity is drawn without emotion or censure, the trading of people treated very much as a matter of fact. The depiction of Africans in positions of power, colluding in the trade, offers a complex perspective on the actualities of the transatlantic slave trade. The deadpan depiction reveals something of the contemporary attitude towards the trade. The ship's crew is shown preparing the ship to set sail for Africa. A large slave ship, like the Blandford, might have a crew of about 70 on the outward voyage to Africa and the Americas. The large crew was needed once the ship reached Africa and began slaving: the crew were both seamen and guards, in charge of the ship and the 'cargo' of enslaved Africans. The crew had to be taken from the home port, as the ship could nopt take on more crew in Africa. Once the ship reached the Americas and the enslaved Africans were sold, the captain often laid off many of the crew, as he only needed a small crew to sail the ship with a cargo of sugar or tobacco. A detail shows the ship 'On the Coast of Africa Tradeing', though there is no known record of the Blandford as a slave ship sailing from Bristol.