Which of the following was a significant response by the enslaved to their conditions on slave ships?

The choice highlighting protest through silence and refusal to cooperate accurately reflects a significant response of the enslaved to their conditions on slave ships. Enslaved individuals often experienced extreme brutality and dehumanization during the Middle Passage. In response to these horrific conditions, many enslaved people exhibited forms of resistance, including silence and non-cooperation. This form of protest served as a powerful, albeit risky, act of defiance against their captors, signaling both their suffering and their unwillingness to accept their fate passively.

The other responses, while they may describe actions taken by some individuals within the broader context of enslavement, do not encapsulate the collective and systemic nature of resistance that characterized the experiences aboard slave ships, where the immediate threat of violence and oppression made traditional forms of protest difficult. Thus, the most resonant response to the conditions endured on the ships is indeed embodied in the silent defiance and refusal to comply with the dehumanizing conditions imposed on them.