# Lost - What time period is the Black Rock from?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-what-time-period-is-the-black-rock-from/325614>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [October 10, 2005, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-what-time-period-is-the-black-rock-from/325614 "2005-10-10T18:59:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-what-time-period-is-the-black-rock-from/325614/1 "2005-10-10T18:59:46Z")

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Any guesses how old that ship is? Dynamite was invented in 1866. By that date, slavery was already outlawed in Britain, France and the Netherlands, who were the three main colonial powers in sub-Saharan Africa (assuming Locke’s conjecture of Mozambique as the ship’s starting point is correct). Were the slaves illegally kidnapped by some private concern? And where would the destination mining colonies have been? What countries at that time maintained mining colonies in an an area where a ship heading east from Mozambique might have been aiming for?

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**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-what-time-period-is-the-black-rock-from/325614/2 "2005-10-14T04:19:49Z")

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I suggest you read the threads for the last two shows of the last season. I don’t have them handy, but they are listed in the OP of the current Lost threads.

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**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-what-time-period-is-the-black-rock-from/325614/3 "2005-10-14T04:32:25Z")

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I’m not sure I want to plow through all those threads; if anybody has a quick answer, this is as good a place as any. (Another question is whether a mining company at that time would be transporting slaves and cargo using a sailing ship instead of a steamboat.)

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**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-what-time-period-is-the-black-rock-from/325614/4 "2005-10-14T06:42:46Z")

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This has been thouroughly hashed out. You’re gonna have to read the threads.