Sentinel of the valley. [volume] (Woodstock, Va) 1841-1848, 1846-03-26
THE CAPTURED SLAVE SHIPS.
Letter from Capt. Bell to the Secretary
of the Mary.
UNITED STATES SHIP YORKTOWN,

Letter from Cdp!. Dett ~ tHe ceoief0fy
Of the Mary.
UNITED STATES SHIP YORKTOWN,
KAB1NDA, (Arica, Dec. 16, l045.
SIR: have the honor 10 inform you
that addressed letter to you on the
3oth ultimo, giving an account of the
capture of the American barque Pons.
of Philadelphia, with eight hundred
and ninety-six slaves on board, du-
plicate of which / now enclose. |
was so anxious to dispatch the vessel
in the shortest time for Liberia, in or
der to land the slaves, and relieve them
from their miserable confinement, that
ii was not in my power to i've you a
more particular account of this vessel.
| will now endeavor to do so, and also
state some facts which have since come
to my knowledge.
The Pons, under the command of
James Berry, was at anchor at kabln-
da for about twenty days before she
took on board the slaves, during which
time she was closely watched by her
Britannia Majesty's brig Cygnet, Com
mander Layton. AT about nine o.
clock the morning Of the 9th No
vember the Cygnet got under way and
stood to sea. Immediately Berry gave
up the ship to Gallano, who ccmmenc-
ed getting on board the water, provl-
sions and slaves; and SO expeditions
We're they in their movements, that at
eight O'Clock that evening the vessel
was under weigh, having embarked
nine hundred and three slaves. In
stead Of standing directly TO sea, she
kept in with the coast during the night.
At daylight they We're off kacongo,
about twenty five miles TO the north of
Kabinda, when they discovered the
Cygnet in the ofing. They lmmedi-
atsly furled all their sails, and drllted
so neas the shore that the negroes lin
ed the beach in hope of shipwreck.
They continued in this situation until
mirldian, when, finding they had not
been discovered, they set their lower
sails in order to clear the shore, and,
as the Cygnet drew off from the land,
they afterwards set their more lofty
ones. Two days afterwards we cap
tured her. Her crew consisted OF
Spaniards, Portuguese, Brazilians, and
some from other countries; and, al
though continuing under the American
flag, with probably American papers,
not one American was on board.
AS l could not dispatch her the eve
ming OF her capture, she kept compa-
ny with US that night. The next
morning regretted tolearn that etgh-
teen had died and one jumped over
board. SO many dying in so short
time was accounted for by the captain
in the necessity he had of thrustlng be-
low all who were on deck, and closing
the matches, when he first fell in with
US, in order to escape detection.
The vessel has no slave-deck, and
upwards of eight hundred and fifty
We're piled. almost in bulk, on the wa
ter-casks below. These were males.
About forty or fifty females were con-
fined in one half of the round house
cabin on deck; the other half of the
cabin remaining for the use of the ofi-
GERS. As the ship appeared to be less
than three hundred and fifty tons, 1t
seemed impossible that ne-half could
have lived to cross the Atlantic. A
bou, two hundred filed up the spar
deck alone, when they were permitted
to come up from below, and yet the
captain assured me that ii was his ln-
tention to hive taken. four hundred more
on board if he could have spared the
time. f.yss
The stencil from below Was so great
that it was impossible to stand more
than few moments near the hatch
WayS. Our men who went below from