Daily Davenport gazette. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1854-1855, 1854-12-20
Thea ve Tighten W the rec. Of the

ters. Thsa We l'ghsen " vac se''o - wv
voyage"
nThey lie down upon the deck, on their
sides, body to body. There would not
be room enough for them oil to lie on their
hacks"
ADO many die.on the passage!" "Yes;
! lost good many the last cruise-more
than ever before. Sometimes We hnd
them dead when Ne 20 below in the
morning. Then We throw shen over
board. -
.Are the profits Of the trade vary large"
any brig cost $4,000 to 6t her up com.
pletely. Ny last cargo to Cuba was worth
e22O, 900. But il was seized By the late
Captain .General Pezuela. He did more to
break up the slave trade than any one else.
II he had remained in Office he would have
stopped il altogether. Bat now Concha 10
back again, andi goes on As fonrishiag a.
ever"
"But l thought Coacha was the great
enemy Of the slave trades" $50 he is--in
words. lie talks great deal, but PezueIa
acted From time imms porial, the plan
ter's estate has been sacred. Pezuela res.
pected nothing. He seized the negroes
wherever he could find them, even on the
plantations. BY this he incurred the enml-
" OF the planters; and he would probably
have been assinatsd il he had not been 70.
called"
.Did you ever have fights with the Eng
lish ships!"
"Yes; once . ship-ofwar chased two Of
u. We knocked the sticks out of her
We didn't stop TO look after the dead. AT
another time was captured. 1t was in
dead calm, and there was no chance to get
away. When saw thai we were gone !
went below and stove every cask of water
but one. The other ship was short, too
50 we had both to put into the land to get
water. They put on board ofus lieuten-
coast, and, as we dew toward land, he had
to make me pilot, threatening at the same
time to shoot me if ] ran her on shore.
took the helm and ran her into an inlet
No sooner had we passed the mouth than
we saw on the bank the barracoons of the
slave factors. They all knew me, and boat
put off from shore. The Lieutenant hailed
them in English and told them to keep off.
Atthe same time hailed them in Spanis oh,
and told them the vessel was prize. That
night they came off in force and re-captur-
ed her. We pnt the Lieut.. and his msn in.
to boat and sent them adrift, while
went down the coast and took in cargo OF
slaves, and carried them safely across the
ocean"
"Why, captain, this must be exciting bu-
siness."
His eyes flashed fire as he replied, "lts
splendid. makes a man jump to think Of
it. To be cutting away atthe rate OF eles-
en- knots an hour, with u ship in chase, and
walking right away from herr
That instant we saw in the prisoner the
rover of the sea, again standing on bis deck,
with the huge hull Of ship otwar looming
above the horizon.
but how did you get caught at last!"
The mate betrayed me. never liked the
man. He was scared. He had no heart.
You see it takes man of . partica lar con-
stitusioa to engage in our business. When
once at sea with Z cargo ofslaves we are in
free bottoms. We belong 10 no country
We are under the protection Of no law.
We must defend ourselves. A man must
have q great dealof nerve in such situation
when he is liable to be chased by ships of
war, or perhaps, find himself suddenly IN the
midst Of whole fleet.
The mate once served me a trick for
which should have been perfectly justified
in shooting him dead. We were running
in between the islands Martinique and Do
minique, whe suddenly there shot out from
behind the land an English steamer. The
mate thought il was ship of-war, and so
/. He was frightened to death, and in
stantly turned the vessel off her course
That was the very movement to bring down
the enemy in chase. saw the danger and
flew to the helm, and put her back again,
and we passed by in safety"
"But are you not tired OF this bust.
ness!'
"Why, I didn't want to 60 out, the last
voyage. tried to get another captain to
take charge ofmy ship. wanted to stay
at home and get married. But good men
in our business GRO scarce. And | had to
60"
But the noble captain seemed ambitious of
higher career. "What should like best
of ALL" said he, "would be, to go prirateer-
inc. To command a merchant ship, and TO
90 Numbering along loaded down with freight
that cannot bear. 1t kills me. Blu,
give me wen quit CiipPer, WIN siA guns
on side, and long Tom in the middle,
and letter of marque to range the ocean,
and wouldn't call the President my broth
err"
Such was the substance of Capt. Smiths
sory. We allowed him to run on with his
exploits to see what stuff SLAYER was made
of. Was there er a more perverted ma
ture, Here is q man whose boast is in the
gigantic char acter and the success of his
villanies. His courage is to show his pow
er over the weak and defenseless; to crowd
hundreds of human beisgs into close hold
where one hundred and Fifty die in few
weeks; and his greatest exultation to have