The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1886-08-03
A CARGO OF SLAVES.
a MERCHANTS STORY OF A MEETING
INTHE SOUTH ATLANTIC.

Only Twenty-Eight Years Ago.
Z merchant said the other day, i
never see a coIored cretv with a white (
mate going down the pier that don +
think of my first trip 70 Rio and the slaves I
I saw on the way there 1t was IN Uhe .
early part Of 1919. It's hard TO realize II /
now. but the slave trade was then most /
profitable business In spite of its difficult /
les The vigilance Of the British cruisers 4
had driven the Infamous Dagoes who /
manned the sIayers into all sorts OF de /
vices to escape detection, but the faYor1te |
method just then seemed to be TO resort 10
small schooners and coasters which, on
account of their size, could be run up the
small creeks, where the slave marts were
located in Africa out of sight of the
cruisers and there loaded safely and
quickly, and then sent TO sea at the hr5t 1
moment when the coast was clear. A
little schooner of some thirty tons once
escaped a British frigate in calm by get
ting out sweeps which the slaves were
compelled to work.
an this voyage Pm telling you about we
had fine run of luck, crossing the dold-
runs and catching the southeast trades
much sooner than we had expected Al
though we there found the wind light,
every one was in good spirits over the run
1t was just after dinner one day, when a
man who was Selling some new chafng
gear on to the foretopmast rigging in the
wake of the yards hailed the deck, and
said that a small boat seemed to be adrlft
about three points on the weather bow,
and that a signal of distress was Tying
over it.
FILLED WITH NEGRO CHILDREN
GAS soon as attention was attracted to
it, it could be plainly seen from the
weather rail The captain examined 1t
closely with glass, and told the second
mate that there were three men on 1t
alive and that there seemed to be others
living under the thwarts. The boat APP
parently contained the last of some ship
wrecked crew, and our captain at once
headed the ship up so as to bring the small
boat little on the lee. We were running
about five or six knots an hour, and in the
course of fifteen minutes we had ap-
preached so near the drifting boat that 1t
could be very plainly seen with the naked
eye The captain had been growing eX-
cited as he looked at it, and finally put
down his glass and said with an oath thaC
the boat was from the wreck OF shaver,
and was filed with negroes. He declared
he would hang the white men to the yard
arm Just then one of the owners OF the
ship who, unfortunately, was making the
voyage with u.s. put his hand on the cap
tain's arm and said something that made
the captain bite his lip, but no more was
said about the hanging.
DEODaDlJ
time we saw the boat until one OF the
white men in it caught the end of heav-
ing line and had dropped the boat under
the stern of our ship, where she toWed
very comfortably. A more pitiful sight
never met the eye than the people of that
ships boat. Half the thwarts had been
taken out, and between and under those
that remained were forty children. rang
ing from about TO II years of age. The
Oldest OF them were girls. All were STARK
naked, and apparently more then hail
dead II Is useless to try TO tell you how
much their sufferings had affected them
Some of them never looked up when the
talking was going on, while others moaned
aloud. One of the white men asked Tor
supplies He said he wasn't begging; he
was ready to pay. He hoped we would let
hill have water. AT that word many OF
the children raised themselves up with
eager looks, for he talked in Portu guese and
they were accustomed to it enough to
know what was said. They began to talk
all at once, but the man picked up big
blacksnake whip and then they cowed
down instantly. But there were three or
four of the children who were unable to
raise themselves up or to realize that they
were near to help. One was a boy VINO
had been horribly beaten with the whip
and was dying
CROSSING THE OCEAN.
Our captain was for taking the entire
lot on board and delivering them to the
first British cruiser we should meet. The
owner would not hear of it. He was will
ing to take the gold. Then both began to
question the Dagoes.
"How long have you been in that boat?"
said the captain.
'Twenty-elght days.
"'Where did you take to herr"
&c AT Inhambane'
No n
started out to cross the western ocean in
that boat with all those children?'
"Such was the fact They had rowed
away from the coast almost under the jib-
boom of a British cruiser, with fifty
slaves on board, the Oldest OF whom was a
girl not above Is. Ten of the children
had died from exposure and i'll treatment
The boat was just twenty-four feet long
over all. seven feet wide, and three feet
nine inches deep Their supply of water
had run so low that for several days only
about four tablespoonful had been given
to the children three times day. have
read that in then native jungles these
children drank a gallon or more of water
a day. You can imagine their sufferings
under that boiling sun with only half a
teacupful in twenty-fiour hours. The up
shot of it all was that we gave them al
they wanted. saw that every child had al
it could drink safely for once at least, and
then headed off on our course. The sight
of those children almost made mutiny
when it was learned that they were to be
left in the boat. but then it was some
thing akin to crime against the flag in
those days to express abolition senti-
ments, and the anger of the men soor
passed away"
"Was the boat ever heard of again?"
ayes, she landed at Bahia about two
weeks later, having lost five more of the
children Those three Dagoes wer,
counted heroes there, so Mr.. Edward Por
ter, the British consel at Bahia, told ouE
captain when we stopped there for re
turn cargo of coffee. They had crosse
the Atlantic in the smallest boat that ma
ever tried the passage, and had landed
large a proportion of their cargo as +
biggest vessels usually did. The childr
were sold at a net profit of about 500 e.v
the market being rather brisk when Il
arrived. To appreciate the strides Of q
ilization during recent years one has q,
to consider that such things happo
only twenty-eight years go"-New y
Sun