a ship used to transport slaves from their homes to places of bondage

Slave ships were cargo boats specially converted for the purpose of transporting slaves, especially newly captured African slaves. The most important routes of the slave ships led from the northern and middle coasts of Africa to South America and the south coast of what is today the Caribbean and the United States of America. The captains and sailors of the boats were allowed to do whatever they wanted with the slaves.

Slave Ship is a 1956 short science fiction novel by Frederik Pohl. The scene is a world in the throes of a low-intensity global war, which appears to be an amplified representation of the Vietnam War, in which the U.S. was just beginning to be involved. The plot involves telepathy, speaking to animals, and, in the last few pages, an invasion by extraterrestrials.

a recent film directed by Terry Bright