The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-26 00:00:00

CAPTURE O,F A SLATER.

-
The Cora, of New York, • unaer command of Hen derson
Eastman, sailing master of the Constellation,
—fl,kgehip of the
African squadron, arrived off this port on Saturday 11°,1:
Monrovia, and anchored off the Nati.) Yard at 4 p.m, °"
was captured on the coast of. Africa by the Constellatfal (41
the 26th September, with 705 slaves on Voard. The folleo-
ant
ing is a detailed account of the capture avid subsequ
events connected therewith :—The Constellatio•n left Boster
in July, 1859, with a crew of about 350, all told, officers and
men. She is a 22-gun sloop, and was rebuilt at N orfolk in ,
1853,.fr,m the old frigate that, in the war of 1812 .a.-tained
souse fame under the command of Commodore T.rux°rl;
She oracle one cruise to the Mediterranean in. l
For ne.•trly a year-and-a-half she has been actively' enj-
ployed ire cruising on the Western Coast of Africa, bet' peen
18 deg. south latitude end 32 deg. north. During the 06t
six months of her trip she captured, after ten hours' chase:,
a brig without- colours or papers, named the Delicia, which
was sent to Charleston. There were, however, no slaves 011
board. The Constellation left Loanda on the Bth of 6er
tember, and cruised off the Congo River up to the 2565'
On that day her course was shaped to return to that place
for the purpose of getting wood, water, and provisions. -At
half-past 7 o'clock in the evening, while 30 miles south of,
Congo, the cry was made of " Sail on the weather bow.'
At the time of making the sail, which was about five miles
distant it was thought she was a packet from Loanda bound.
for Boston, no slavers being supposed to cruise on that
part of the coast. The Constellation, however, immediatelY
gave chase, In an hour and a half the pursuers had gained
enough on her to make out from her rig that she was net
one of the regular packets. Afi er getting within about two
miles of the stranger a gun was fired for the purpose of
bringing her to ; but, tnstead of heaving to, she kept on
her course. At this time tie Co.o.stellation was going
eight knots an hour, and slowly gaining on the slaver.
After an interval of some 30 minutes another gun was fired
but to which no attention wee pat. 4 by the slaver. It was
then 11 o'clock, the breeze had fres;:ezted a little, and it°
Constellation was going at the rate of rti'ne knots by log.
The fugitive was now within range, and na arly ahead. .1e•
32- pounder was shifted to the bow port of the Constellation,
and another shot fired, but the slaver did not sk 'em to Mina
it, and kept on her cocrse. The pursuers then kept awe,'
a little to get ready to set their stun' sails. if neces. sary. BY
this time they had approached to within 500 ya."o-18 of the
vessel, and were still gaining on her, but she did uot hoe"
to. The Constellation now fired another gun loaded wah shot,
which cut away some of the slaver's port sturesail gear. Vie
bark then braced her mainyard aback, the Constellation rang-
ing up under her lee quarter, and Commander Eastman er'
dered her to haul up her courses. An armed boat was then
lowered, and the prize boarded. Commander Eastman'
asked what ship it was, and where was the Amerklan car
tai'. He was answered in Spanish, by a gentleman' Nate
received him very politely, that it was the barque Coro,
that the American captain had remained ashore,llknd that
he (the Spaniard) had command of the ship ; that she foci
705 slaves on board, was 24 hours out from Mangul Grande,
and concluded by congratulating Commander Eastman 011
the excellence of the prize. Commander Eastman then
called all the crew of the slaver to the gangway, and sent .
all of them except three Americans and five Spaniards, the
latter being retained to take charge of the Africans, in
boat to the Constellation. They numbered about 26 men,
and were made up mainly of Portuguese, with one China-
man and three Americans. Commander Eastman, assuming
command of the Cora, now began examining the ship and
cargo. She appeared to be new, handsomely fitted out, and
far superior to the class of vessels -that are generally em-
ployed in the slave trade. Those vessels engaged in the
Cuba trade are very poor as a general thing, and are
usually burnt after landing a, cargo. The .hold was filled
with men and boys, and her cabin with women. Two-
thirds of the whole number were under 15 years
of age. All were in a perfectly _nude state. They were
classified as follows :-172 mew, 106 women, 343
boys, 31 girls, and three boles at the breast.
Commander Eastman represents them to have been fat
and hearty, seemingly unconscious and careless of their
situation, and all gabbling 'at a great rate, while the ,
sounds emitted were void of any well-defined articulations.
Thirty tierces of rice, 90 barrels of bread, and a large quan-
tity of beans, with a light store of beef, Were found.
During the voyage two meals per day were given the
negroes. The morning meal consisted of a junk of bread
and some water, and at 3 p.m. a dinner of boiled beans one
day and boiled rice the next was served. Thedr appetites
appeared to be first-rate, and there was Mae necessity for
washing the dishes after a meal was over, for Me Negroes
displayed an expertness in licking the tubs that 'you'd defy
competition on the part of the most painstaking &v. The
five Spaniards who took special charge of the dining
arrangements would set the blacks in masses of 15 ,and 16
in a circle on deck, with a wooden tub of boiled rice or
beans in the centre of each group. After all were d.ulf
ranged round the smoking tubs, the Spaniards made thein
go through an exercise of clapping their hands and singiDO
which lasted about three-quarters of an hour. By this tirate
the repast would have partially cooled off, and the Negroes'
were allowed to "pitch in," the one having the largest
hands getting most. They seemed, however, very kind to
each other, and if a boy got an extra large piece of bread
he was always ready to share it with his companions, They
appeared contented and in good spirits throughout the
voyage. Arrived at Monrovia, the.captured Africans were
delivered over to the United States agent, Mr. Seyes, whose'
duty it is to apportion them out to families, a certain
amount being paid by Government for the support for one
year of the recaptured Africans. The Cora, with icerevr of
10 men, and the three Americans found in her at the three
she was taken, left Monrovia on the-18th of October, and
arrived at this port, as' stated above, last Saturday. MOW'
day she was to be put into the hands of Marikal Rynders.
who retains control of her until the propertirbunal shall
have declared her a lawful prize. The first, second, and
third officers, named Frederick Wilson, and Olson (the
three Americans referred to), are also to be put in the
Marshal's custody to await their trial. It will be remem-
bered that the Cora was detained in port for several days
last May on suspicion that she had been fitted out for the
slave trade; but was finally allowed to depart.—New York ,
Tribune.