Read the quotation from the writings of Olaudah Equiano, an African who experienced the Middle Passage. "The closeness of the place, and the heat of the climate, added to the number in the ship, which was so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself, almost suffocated us." A conclusion that can be drawn about slave ships from this description is that passengers suffered greatly during their journey to the Americas. O did not know they were going to the Americas. O tried to escape during their journey to the Americas. O complained about conditions during their journey to the Americas.