The Australian historian Keith Windschuttle criticised Rozema for adding in this scene, not in the book, stating Fanny hears terrible cries from a ship off the coast and is told it is a slave ship bringing in its human cargo to Portsmouth. Windschuttle notes that slaves were never brought to British shores. The essence of the Triangular trade was that after the ships had transported the slaves from Africa to the Caribbean, they would return to Britain loaded only with sugar and tobacco. Then, leaving Britain, they would return to Africa, loaded with manufactured goods. A parallel is drawn between Fanny's role as a woman and a poor relative in the Bertram family, and the role of slaves.