The Sun.
London, England, 1808-01-12 00:00:00

OLP DAILEY.

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.

.
Yest,Jdiv tin, adjourned Admiralty SessiOn Nits
`held at the '01(1 1; before S:r \V", Jtidge
-of the Achuiratt , Lord 0-lid I;aron
ppNAt,ii, and Sir BL'ANc. •
• _
Ifi
Jaunt Chuimunh intik:lv:l for the touider,of
Robert Dunn', a hicl tit JB., near'New„Calabar, on the
Coast of Africa; by a continued series uitmge,
itt cottsmuence of wads the said 11: Dunn languish-
for a ntuulse,r of days; and at lastdied 9}l the 313 t
tOf Afarell, 1807.
counsel for the Crown, the SoLtctroit-GuNEttAL
and Nit-, Jtaivis ; for the Prisoner; Air. GLIIINEY 'and
,
,Mr, PLomuit, the Solicitor, General, opened the

case for the prosecution. the Prisoner, he said, was
,Captain.of the Aeollo, of Liverpool,
,engaged in the
;. friean Skive Trade. Robert Dunn, the deceased,
,As•-•is. a .lad of tB, and the brother-in-law of one cf
;the pwners of the vessel. He Nati hot ih the capacity,
of.a,sailor, hot ptit on beard probably to gain,a •
knowledge of the trade. In A,pgust„ the. Ship
sailed (tom Liverpool, and in 00ober arrived on the
,coast of" New Calabar. On this.coast they remained,
taking in n cargo of slaves, and sailed. in March,
I 807, pit. the j Ist of , which rnonth, the lad Dunn
in-vonseenence, as 'was charged, of a series of
ill treatment which he had received. The Learned:
Counsel then proceededin detail the circumstances:
of that treatment, ,which shall be afterwardide-:
set ibed in I he .words 'oFthe Witnesses, and:observed
to. the Jury, that before they could, bring the Pri-!
boner it; guilty, they Must be sore: of two things
;.Ist, that, the "fatts were -truly represented; and,.
secondly, that the .ciretunstsnees..so detaileo pro-:
• loved or. accelerated the, d'eath of the deceased... It
was true that imputations and charges of this kind.
,wete mily made, and were too often produced by •
'.resentment arising•from the discipline necesiarY An' •
~he kept up by the Captains of ships. They were
not, therefore, to receive too easy or , credulous a
-.baief; bait, on the ;other hand, it was the Any of
the Jury to discot-uage the •immoderate use of aotho-'
rity, and to protest-.those who were so completely
placed at the Aitpogakind.rriercy of their superiors,
as seamen must necessarily be. He then proceeded :
to call thelyVitnesses.furlhe prosecution.
• 'John Scott, the Surgeon of the Apollo, was first
examined. He said, that .when Dunn came on
-board, at Liverpool, he was in good health. The
tteatment•which he received on_the,Outward passage
,was not very severe. They arrised,on the coast of
hew Calabar in Oaober 1800, While there, -lie
1:;.!(1 seen the Captain give Donn five dezenlashes
~,at onetime, aria at miler :ticues.ent his head with
the, handle
.01 the eet,. which .w3s .made of hie-
.cory, He could not.fix the dates ; but.these aasOf,
4everity might happen about tmo months after their
r • .arrival on the. African coast, Ile .had. beard the Pri-
loner say, that the 14d Dunn was sent as a spy on his
condua ; that it was stickaft.,he that pie, the trade
re bad name, anal In hoinust get rid .of him. He had
,n4o known the Captain. to hang him.up by the heels,
~with his head downWards,and- his hands just ranching
the deck, and keep him in that position for three or
-lour hours together. On -;mother occasion,. he mu-
Tended him by area: of his' wrists, and in this position
.lte remained to an hour or.. two. The lad was •
,punished, in thig,manner for, slightoffences—sneh as
sugar or molasses, or not cleaning, oat
.the necessary nibs of the, negroes, which the Cap.

t.;in employ, 11 him to do ; sou etimes for no offence
at. ail. He had 4140 known .him kept caked at the.
deer, Avith a chain round his ueck or body,
and exposed fOr a whole day to the heat of the sun,
.svith his head one hail shaved, and his body tarred, •
as an object of derision to the negroes. By all •
this usage the boy was • much debilitated and
gearly emaciated. rase day, while employed in
emptying the necessary, tubs, the bay happened
to overset oue al them an the deck ; when the •
Caetain ..came up to hint, and knocked him
Oaken with the heavy end of a handspike ; he
then proceeded to punch him 'with the. handspike,
and jumped upon hint with his feet. This happened,
not more than throe weeks before his death. He then
also even forced him to swallow some of the ordure,
ivashing it down with salt water. His head had a
'mother of bruises Upon it, and also his body. (the
-Witness) howeves, did not dress it, because the sante .
ustiage was received. 'so frequently, 'and having 236
slaves On board, his time was.much taken up by his
attention to them. In consequence of. the I;Int Liam-
liMed•treattliC•lll, the boy's heed and face wt-re very
much swelled, and seemed to rise froM the
.skull
like a 'aponge, and his eyes were closed up, so
that. he could not see: • The 60y was also Stinted is)
provisions, and fOr several weeks together, he was
allowed no animal food, but only about a pound
of yams or bread.. had also only about a
pint and a half of water per, day Four or five days
before his death, be saw him lying on the fore-
castlst, covered only with his great coat. fore-
lead appeared soft and spungy, and his fice was
,swelled to twice its natural size. Ile saw him after
hit death, and his breast bone then stuck out like a
wedge, his belly was shrunk in, and his back seemed
.humpeti.. There were'then marks of bruises on his
back, head, and breast, and blood was stickin in his '
.'hair. The Witness kept the Ship's mortality list, and
had made three entries with regard to theboy's illness
and death. In this rec,nister, to which the Witness had
sworn as comet, the boy's death was ascribed ton kind
of nervous fever, produdive of ,great- dejAlity; but
nottention was at this brutal, usage ; 'and in
opposition to IA hat lviures had said of his provisions
being stinted; it was said in the mortality list that he
bad eaten too much fruit and animal feed. Tarecon-
cite this, the'sviiiiess -said, that all the entries were
made in presence of the andhe dorm not
snake them hiller or more eiirred, as ho -hail reason
to apprehend his 'Ain's) life was in danger flmu the
Captain. He J;,,AI :tiro paid little atrentif,e, to !h.. ha,•
during his from tar that the Would
charge hiroi'ssii.h neglekthig the slaves, and beat hint
in consequence of it: lad.died on the 31 St of
rslarch, when they were about a league—from New
—Calabar lit their to the We-st Indies. -pu tbe
“ith of .lutte they ;Arrived at Montserrat, aad when
.-witneAs went ashore, be gave int, irneition ,our the
anbje6t di the boy's de-.:tit to A ...\l:l!!*;trite, in coo-
- '
.scgitpnct., c.f :!lc:; tv:ts i.W.(11 into eu:;-
tody.i When 141' that tiland, he• received letter `,