The Sun.
London, England, 1866-04-19 00:00:00

English Captives in Africa.

A painful interest has lately been excited by the
publication of narratives whichwarrant a belief that
a number of Englishmen have been for more than
10 years past, and probably some of them still are,
held as captives by the barbarous native tribes of
Eastern Africa, whose cruelty and treachery were
exemplified in the murder of the Belgian traveller,
Baron Yon der Decken, who a few months since
met his death at the hands of the Somali tribe.

The subject to which we have now to call the at-
tention of our readers is very painful, not only on
account of the numerous sufferers themselves, but
also by reason of the prolonged anxieties, uncer-
tahties, and sugpense which have been endured by
their relatives in this country. The facts are these :
—ln June, 1855, a ship called the St. Abbs, while on
a voyage from London to Bombay, struck on the
island of San Juan de Nuova, off the eastern coast of
Africa. In attempting to launch them all the boats ex-
\
cept onewere swamped. The remaining boat was taken
by the captain and two of the crew, who landed on
the island, where they were afterwards joined by one
of the passengers, who swam ashore (another being
drowned in the attempt), and by two others of the
crew. The rzmainder of the crew. numbering with

four young cadet passengers, 2G in all, continued
on board the dismasted ship which, after hanging
on the reef for two days, disappears 1 in the course
of one night, and was reported by the survivors on
the island to have broken up. It afterwards, how-
ever, became known that the hull of the St. Abbs
had. gone to pieces on the island of San Juan de
Nuova, but had been swept off by the current and
had drifted to the coast of Africa near Magdesho,
where she was boardedby the natives, who possessed
themselves of everything on the wreck. A great
many articles known to have been on board the St.
Abbs were afterwards brought to Zanzibar and dis-
posed of by the natives of Magdesho. The St. Abbs
was taking out Government stores, and among the
articles brought for sale were light infantry bugles,
cases of surgical instruments, &c., all containing
the Government mark, also boxes of books, ivory
billiard balls (the St. Abbs was taking out several

billiard tables), surveying instruments, officers'
epaulettes, &c. As the wreck occurred at the sea-
son when vessels all go north from the coast of
Africa, most of the articles recovered were conveyed
to the Red Sea and Persian Gulf to be disposed of,
and only those articles for which there was no sale
in native markets were brought to Zanzibar to be
disposed of among the European residents. No cause
for doubting that those on board the vessel had
perished with her was entertained until four years
later, when reports reached Ceylon and the Mauri-
tius that a number of Englishmen were in captivity
somewhere on the coast of Africa. Colonel Rigby,
who was then consul at Zanzibar, instituted in-
quiries, which convinced him that the hull of the
St. Abbs had been driven ashore near Magdesho,
and the persons on board had been captured by
the 'Abghal Somalis and carried into the in-
terior. Colonel Rigby learnt that a caravan of
pilgrims to Mecca from Magdesho had seen seve-
ral white prisoners at one place, but upon arriving
at Jeddah the pilgrims found that the British Con-
sul and all the Christians had been murdered, so
that there was no means of forwarding intelligence
to Europe, but they mentioned the circumstances to
pilgrims from Ceylon and the Mauritius, through
whom they were made known to the British autho-
rities. The Governor of the Mauritius issued a
proclamation in various languages offering a reward
of £lOO for each white prisoner who should be re-
stored, and a native of Magdesho, who had himself
been on board the wrecked ship, incited by the re-
ward, started for the interior, but was stopped and
imprisoned at Lamoo. This circumstance is with
great force urged by those interested in the subject
as strong evidence of the truth of the statement that
white men were actually kept prisoners in the inte-
rior. From information obtained by Col. Rigby at
Zanzibar there appears no doubt that the survivors
of the St. Abbs were divided into two parties----one
of w
taken a long distance into the interior,
and thehich o wasthi,
consisting of three persons, was kept
by the Abg
hal tribe of Somalis, not far from Mag-
e
desho. Attention recentlyhas
tt beena b calledll
kt,os
had%l ii this
subject from the circumstance
brought from Magdesho
been purchased from a caravan of Somalis, just to Zanzibar, which
ar-
rived from the interior, was found
i English letters carved on it. The
eZhaanszeidb Zanzibar et
o manto whlai ho have
hadselp.eurra-1
hoikdeitptoutmietssalid. aside,
swanalddoannhdissaorrnsiv, awho
t
gave it to Col. Play fair, the British Consul. He
further stated that he had seen other hides with let-
ters cut on them. Thoselettrgwere,noelonht, carved
by one of the captives, perhaps in the faint hope
of their meeting the eye of some European. Colonel
Uigby, who recently read a very interesting paper
upon the subject before the Royal Geographical
Society, states that the part of Africa inhabited by
these Somali tribes is very salubrious and fertile.
The natives possess large herds of cattle and the
hides are brought to Zanzibar for sale. There is
communication with this Part of Africa from Zeyla
and Berbera on the Gulf of Aden. The Oghaden
caravan to the great annual fair at Berbera tra-
verses a great part of the country to the banks of

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, APRIL 10, 1866

a lower point than it has before reached for three
years. The good work is going on, and, surely,
the day is not far distant when an American green-
back will be worth its face in gold.—.4nglo-Ameri-
can Times.

Naval and

telligence.

Yesterday Major-Gen. Sir R. Walpole, K.C.8.,
commanding the forces in the Chatham district, ac-

companied by the officers of his staff, inspected the
_. • _ __. _ .. . . _

;er screw steamer Lady Jocelyn, which has been

taken up by the Government for the conveyance of

reinforcements for the various corps serving at
Gibraltar and Malta, the total number of officers
and troops conveyed to those stations being be-
tween 600 and 700 men of all ranks. During the
day the following troops embarked at Government-
quay, Gravesend, on board the Lady Jocelyn, un-
der the superintendence of Brigade-Maj orW. Lynch
and the officials connected with the Quartermaster's
department at Chatham garrison :—For Malta—
Lieut. Col. H. P. Yates, Lieut. M. F. 11. M'Caus-
land, Lieut. F. 11. W. Milner, Lieut. H. H. Crook-
enden, 75 non-commissioned officers and men, and
one woman, of the 3d Brigade Royal Artillery ;
Lieut. Short, 2d battalion Bth King's Regt. ; Lieut.
J. Tennyson, Lieut. W. R. Elliott, Ensign J. W.
Bazalgette, Quartermaster W. H. Martin, one
officer's wife and three children, one armoury-ser-
geant, one woman and five children, of the 29th
Regt. ; Staff-Surg. P. M. Jackson ; Lieut. C. L.
M. Kinivan, 84th Regt. ; and Chaplain the Rev. T.
W. Burridge, M.A. For Gibraltar—Lieut. Wm.
Nangle, Lieut. W. J. Franks, 89 non-commissioned
officers and men, 8 women, and 9 children of the
2d battalion 16th Regt. ; Lieut. J. R. Watson, En-
sign S. B. Blyth, Ensign E. C. T. Stone, 51 men of
all ranks, 3 women, and 8 children of the 2d ,batta-
lion 23d Royal Welsh Fusiliers ; Ensign C. Roberts,
42 men, 2 women, and 4 children of the 42d Royal
Highlanders ; and L ieut. J. D. Brockman and wife
86th Regt. ; giving a total of 18 officers, 372 non-
commissioned officers and men, 3 officers' wives, 20
women, and 34 children. In addition to the above,
12 officers and 260 non-commissioned officers and
men of various regiments will embark on board the
Lady Jocelyn at Portsmouth. The embarkations
were effected yesterday in a very expeditious man-
ner, and the vessel will take her departure from the
Thames to-day. The Lady Jocelyn will bring home
the 38th company of the Royal Engineers and de-
tachments of other corps.

The B battery 4th Brigade Field Artillery, num-
bering five officers, seven sergeants, three buglers,
and 152 rank and file, with 25 women and 42
children, together with the whole of the materiel
of the battery, including six light 12-pounder
Armstrong guns, 93 horses, ammunition wag-
gons, hospital carts, and other stores, have arrived
at Chatham garrison from Woolwich, and have
taken up quarters in the North-square, Brompton-
barracks. The battery was under the command of
Col. N. 0. S. Turner, with Capt. the Hon. It.
Dillon, and three subalterns.
The Cameleon, 17, screw sloop, 952 tons, 200-
horse power, Commander T. M. Jones, arrived in
Sheerness harbour yesterday at noon, and saluted
the flag of Vice-Admiral Sir Baldwin Walker,K. C . B. ,
the newly-appointed Commander-in-Chief. The
vessel will be shortly taken into dock and dismantled,
after which she will be paid out of commission and
placed in the third division of the Sheerness Steam
Reserve.

The following appointments were made yesterday
at the Admiralty:—Commander C. J. Balfour to
the 'Winchester, vice Chapman, promoted ; Lieut.
E. W. Hereford to the Britannia, additional, for
service in the Dapper, tender.