SOME OF MY EARLY ADVENTURES.

Auckland Star, Volume II, Issue 582, 21 November 1871, Page 2

SOME OF MY EARLY ADVENTURES.

CAPTURE Of X SLAVES. Some years ago, I"commanded one of Her Britannic Majesty's dispatch gun vessels, stationed on.the west coa^t&bf .iifrica for the suppression of the slate trade. In the .course of two years thus engaged we Tf&dy as usual, : done very little good, and lost a great unmber o; men by coa:st fever and sickness generally*-. A fewyesseishad been captured, but many'm&re had slipt through our fingers, by reason of the treachery of the informers on shore, most of whom eventually proved to be -in the pay and interests of the slave-dealers. The slave captains, too, had become very knowing ; They Were mostly old hands at the business, and oontriv,,ed : fco give us the slip many times. :-' For instance, in chasing them on a dark night, they would show, a bright light over the stern,, and after we had ioliowed'this for some hours would.drpp a large caskwith a lighted lantern fitted to it, &;t the same instant putting out their own light. It was easy for them to alter their course.so us to double duck uud sail away in the darkness, ieaviug us intent on watching their false light. This stratagem generally succeedei«l when the nights were very durk. Or, when hotly pursued in the daytime, they frequontiypraeti.se"d a most inhuma^ trick to increase the;r distauce. VVhcn we w eve close dpon' tliein Ihi.-y used-to throw a slave overboard with a plank for, him to ding ib, or very often without even that. They well know that-a British man-of-war will not pass a poor wretch struggling in trie water and leave him to drown. Thus, while sail was being shortened, the ship hove-to, boats lowered, the man picked up, and the vessel got on her course again, they contrived to get a fine start aheadj for these manoeuvres, even in the smartest phip, will ta<e some considerable time; and in Iliis way, as much i^rouud.was lost as would take many hours 10 recover, for a stern chase is a one. . ... ' a The luck had been againstus fora long time, and after many ftUse, informations and fruitless chases, we succeeded iii' capturing .a slaver in a most singular, manner, without any chase at all.

It happened this way.. One fiae morning, when cruising off the coast of Loango and Congo, the officer on watch reported a strange sail in sight. I went on deck, took my glass, and there, surely enough, was a very auspicious-looking craft right ahead. It was a dead calru, and we so<>n steamed up to. her.

the was a clipper barque or ahout four hundred ton*, i'rom her taut spars great clouds oi' snowy canvas flapped heavily against the rigging as her ions* low hull rolled slowly Irom side to side on the glassy surface of the heading ground-swell. Judging by her rakish appearance, and l»y her being a great deal out of the usual iraek of homeward or outward bound vessels—in fact, being in a very suspicious locality—one naturally came to the conclusion that »!ie must be a slaver. ; X hoped very soon to have the pleasure joj luting her hatches to ascertain whether this assumption were correct or no. As a preliminary step, the demand to show her colours was made ; to my great annoyance she hoisted the stars, and,'stripes lot America, ihis precluded the right !of. search. However, I resolved to board her, and try to de*"/ ••■>•■ siy;ns of her'

having a black 'ea^

that object

in view I had the gig manned, and in* a. tVjv minutes was alongside the doubtful craft.

The captain, a tall, gaunt Yankee, received vie at the gangway, and, without wailing to be a^ked, produced: his papers, which seemed to be all regular enough, i he barque was the Independence, of .Boston, Massachusetts, Hoberfc Storrnonlj master, for ivew York to the Capa jol Good Hope and back on a trading voyage, due was now homeward bound, and was twenty-seven days out from the Cape, so the captain informed me. Having taxed iiini with being oat'of the usual route, he explained that this was a new notion of his —he kept well over to the eastward so as to make a fair wind of-the north-east trades, when he should meet:; them. Whilst pointing.out to him the fallacy of tliis idea, I took a few turns up and down the deck with him, and succec d< d in drawing him into a long argument.' Whilst thus: ong.tKeKJv I noticed that all •thehatchus wfero milted buttoned tightly down; Jbiit 'that there were" no things st.6wed.oa the top of them, as is usually the case in merchant vessels whose hatches 'are never required to'jbe'opened during the 'voyage. This strengthened my suspicions,,and from the captain's extreme eagerness in satisfying all my. enquiries, I had very little doubt as to the nature of his cargo.

It wag certain that if he had slaves on board, those hatchways could not remain closed for an hour without suffocating them. Jf they were qpeopd dui'iug that time, the presence of slaves would be .easily perceptible,' and in, that case 'the vessel would be a lawful prize.

r Considering these things, I sat. oa the taffrail, and taking onfc.a bundle of choke Havaunahs, proposed a smoke. This the Yankee agreed to, 1 and we smoked away, and gut tolerably social, although at tile same tune it was amuaingito see how^very fidgety ho was getting.

In the course of .conversation^ it/furnejd out that ko :Jiud beeu.jn China, and qs that was the last station on which I served, wo wore aide to compare--n^tes on-that subject- . Ji-o interested vie very mu.qh by giving an "account' of the clever way" in which iie suppressed a mutiny that broke out in his fh\Q on her. last -yoj'-age. it appeared that he wa-i chartered to take three, huudred Chinese, coolies,, the 'Vjrry'l dregs of the population, from Hongkong to California. Jut. occurred to. these Celestial vagabonds, sonic time after the vessel, had pat 4o; sea;-to niurder.tUe. officers and crew and ran aw -\y with the siiip. In order to effect tnei! purpose they adopted: a highly ingehioti:! fxpedient. Severtu 1 arg» - bonfi Fes - weve nmde oa • -i« wer deck and a cry of " fire," " fire," >yaH raised; the'Cljinaaien. thinking that the officers and crew would all rush down below to ]>ub the iires out, and then tiiey would be easily able to fall upon them with knives, ■•■ and murder them all. simultaneously. Hut our friend the captain, far too wide awake for that, simply had all the 'luitcHes ■battened down, and smoilieccd the (Jhinu.mou in theilljiinnke. When iiiey ,were sulli-iontly choked and thus reduced to subjection, he demanded that they should deliver up

[ of the mutiny. r hia ~ j did, ana without any trial he hunt f?^ | six m number, at the iorevaivl t fi etn. I day. i a tUe sam e

j We continued thus, .spinning ; smoking, for some time wf/" 1? 8 and | breeze sprang up, and the YanLrt-V | mg to shake me off, ' thiab. wind at J«fc 1^ sorrT^^oJthe ; good-bye, but I reckon UZ M *** \ »nd «o on my course, for I can't Iff^ |be stopping hero all day talking •• Ordt<» ; Don t mention it, my dear V • j I replied. " You see th«J is no n^" '-forthat. I Kaj just as weli l?e3^ way as afly other, for I' m onl ? ' Jr' Here, take another cigar and sift? 8U& again." HIOS

!■ I then shouted to the fi rsfc c eita . , \m barque. Upou this '' I one, s allovv face darkened anf^ S ;bnger ; he was evidentiy;

' ' He.certainly did not appear fn : date, thin act of courtesTonL^*' I kept on talking, and .tried to^ff' ; himan another argument, ■anythingo excuse to pass the time. Bit h n trying equally hard to put an endto? | conversation by sullenly reulvm-r •< and "no" to everything,^ / o es" .volunteering a remark or comment oi?? own. ButJano^epu-toutoyW^ Junta, I commenced a series of I ; winded stories keeping him at the Til J'time well supplied with cigars " * c [ It was deligfuful to see.how excessively I nervous and fidgety he' was. f?KS j knew that if this listed much longer h ' car K o would not be worth muchfso h ; kept on giving me the strongest 1 ints t! «0' f O("h^ V rf tended "ottoun e^ stand At le^Lh he appeared to be i losing his temper, and tile more cross h go the more obtusely goo d-natured and uroane I became.

inbn- rerj quiAlj- brought matters to

,''Gig there.".-. .: " Sir," replied the coxswain. ■•" Go oq:board ani get your diofiers aud tell the first lieutenant to send £ boat back with some more cigars in an hour s -time, and s ,y that T have found the captam such a remarkable agreeable man that I intend to spend the afternoon with him. D youuuderstaud?" .'' t " AJ> aJ. sir." When our friend the Yankee''heard this, he let fly a volley of oaths, and then said resignedly—• Itz " Guess it's no.use, captain. I'm fairly smoked out this time..; the ship's-youra, I reckon and then, turning to the'mate Here, Nathan, haul devrn that flag and git .them hatches up and let them unfortnit cusses git some air, for I reckon they're smothered.pretty cosiderable. fhis is a dodge as I never heerd tell on a.'ure." ....

~he had nearly six hundred slaves on board. -I -«m-glad "to say none died ot suffocation -tiu-ough my ruse, ahe was the the best prize that'we took durliig that commission. ~