Conditions in the workshop were awful. The hot, humid environment made breathing difficult and the long hours with little to eat or drink led to exhaustion for many slaves. To make matters worse, sugar cane releases a sickly odour when boiled and when combined with the other conditions in the workshop would often leave slaves feint and weak. For those unlucky enough to feint while working at the vats, they could end up being boiled alive in hot cane juice.

Both slaves and their overseers would have been taken from Africa although often from different areas. Brutality was commonplace and the unfortunate slave could expect frequent whippings and other harsh methods of punishment by both his overseer and the plantation owner.

For those who survived these hazards, very few escaped Dropsy, a disease which caused small, painful lesions to form on the face and hands.

Before progressing upstairs to continue the story of rum we will enter the Deserted Vault.