Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1889-06-17
THE ARAB SLAVERS.

Of merchant vessels gave US Information cal 1
ciilated To assist our enenleAA
The Arab craft were not always com
r1anded by Arabs Renegade Americans, /
Frenchmen, Spaniards, and men of other na-
tionalties were Interested, and IL was these !
men who gave Us the most trouble. They /
were old hands in the business up TO all the
tricks and lodges, and they gave US many
useless chase and PLAYED many sharp
game The favorite slave craft was the
dhow, Of light drausht, great spread OF can
vas easily managed, and fast sailer In any
sort Of breeze but various syndicates had
purchased briggs schooners and small ships,
and they were flying all sorts Of coiors and
protesting all sorts Of occupations They
came down the east coast from Juba TO 50
fala, a distances Of thousand miles, measured
by the trend Of the coast For two years
England had only two slave catchers on this
long line, and it did not require much sharp
ness TO get out a coutrahand cargo.
The mouth OF every river on that coast has
from two to five outlets, and many Of them
spray out into long inlets and false channels,
trnverSing miles Of swamp or low land, and
twenty cruisers could not have kept the coast
under strict guard The Rover fast
sailing brig, but she should have been a
Steamer TO carry out the programme laid
down for her.
One day just AS we were ready to sail from
Masimba, after making some needed repairs,
an American merchantmen came in with
three blacks aboard. They had been picked
up Off a raft at sea hundred miles down the
const The Yankee captain brought them
aboard and turned them over with the obser
vation.
Tin standing neutral on this blackbird
question, captain 1t seems wrong to drag
these niggers OF and make slaves Of EN-, but
our constitution permits slavery. 1 never
owned one and never shall, but we've got to
have slaves or we can't have cotton and
sugar Theses poor devils have no doubt got
story TO tell Maybe it will furnish
pointer for you and maybe 1t won't I'm
a-siandDg neutral, as said before II you
can get anything out of them go ahead"
We had two or three interpreters aboard,
and 1t wasn't long before We learned that
brig called the Lion had put in ut the mouth
II the Xinga seventy miles down the coast,
and WINS loading a cargo The three men
had escaped from barracoon three miles
from the coast, reached the water and built
u raft, and, although realizing that there
was not one chance in hundred for then
lives if they drifted out to sea, they took it,
and had been afoat two days and two nights
when picked up The brig mad not begun to
load cargo when they escaped Indeed, this
barracoon held only about eighty captives,
while She wanted two hundred or over, and
il would be four or five days before her com
plemcnt ready.
The brig referred to professed TO be mer
chairman We had overloaded and boarded
her twice without finding anything suspt
cious, but yet We had been told several times
that she was one OF the luckiest crafts iii the
slave trade Here was golden opportunity,
and the story Of the blacks was hardly com
pleted before the Rover had made sail We
were in luck in carrying tine breeze with
US for fifty miles down the coast, then we got
cats paws and calms, a squall or two and II
was evening Of the second day before we
rounded the point and looked into the blight,
at the west side Of which was the mouth Of
the Znga This blight seven or eight
miles long by varying width, being shaped
like a pear, it'll the large end toward the
soa We stll had light breeze to work I'M
der, and a boat was sent ahead to take sound
ings, and we moved up the blight about two
miles Then we anchored to wait for another
day
About + O'Clock at night the tide began to
run out, and with it came land breeze, but
the latter blew itself out In half an hour, and
Just as two boats had been ordered down to
take their stations where they could intercept
and board the SLAYER if she should come out,
She might have completed her cargo and
might not, but having run in under our very
nose, as 1t W re her crew would be anxious
to get the blacks aboard and be off at the
earliest MON, 1t. As the wind died away the
boats were recalled, and half an hour later a
light fog settled down on the water and cir
cumscrbed our vision to a distance of fifty
feet Orders were given for strict silence
aboard, and during the rest OF the night
small boat might have pulled all around US
and heard nothing to indicate our presence.
When morning came the men were turned up
and with the least possible noise and we wait
ell for the sun to isperse the fog before pip
ing to breakfast
In that fog we were ghostly ship and .
ghostly crew, but after half an hours wait
ing the fog began TO break up into queer
shaped tongues and riffs and drift away, and
all Of a sudden it vanished and left US a clear
vision wild yell broke from every en-
listed man aboard, for there, hardly ulusket
shot away, almost stationary on the dead
tide, was the Lion the brig we were In
search of. She had left her moorings with
the wind and tide but the former had failed
her and the fog coming on had obliged her
to anchor for the night She bad been with
in a mile and half Of us all night, and had
lifted her anchor in the early morning to
drift down with the last Of the tide and be
ready TO make her otiing with the first OF TIE
land breeze
Tie yell Of surprise and satisfaction from
our decks was echoed by one Of establishment
and hate from thu slaycr Ilr,Iars xara o., yen
to drop our boats and board her, but at the
same moment her yawl dropped into the
water, and captain ami crew tumbled into it
to escape US There "A little delay in get
ting away, one of her men stopping behind
for a moment, but when the yawl headed up
the blight, it WAS at such pace to dis
courage us We had two boats down, but it
was the other one which pursued the yawl,
while WIS ordered to board the SLAYER and
take possession. We pulled straight for her,
but before we got alongside pandemonium
broke loos. The fellow who fingered behind
had knocked the fastenings Oft the gratings
which covered the two matches in her decks
and the blacks swarn,ed up and over the brig
like 50 many hornets
Those dusky fellows were submissive enough
when overawed but they came on deck to
find themselves in Possession they got rid Of
their light chains, and menaced US from
every foot of the rail They could not under
stand what had occurred. and all ships and
all crews we're alike to them They seized
whatever weapons they could get hold Of,
put themselves under a couple Of leaders who
had probably been chiefs and dared US 10
board pulled back to our craft for instruc-
tons, and was ordered to take one Of the in
terpreters back with me and let him explain
the situation II was impossible for him to
do 50 owing TO the yeils and shouts which
gre~ei Us They could see him, and see that
he was not one of US, but when he stood up
and made signs the confusion was increased
The other boat now returned from her vain
chase but We had as yet formed no plan when
the land breeze sprang up and the blacks b.
gan TO make sail on the brig There must
have been two or thrts, among them who had
been aboard of sailing craft or they were
sharp enough to study out the rig and din
cover which ropes 10 haul on None Of them
dared go aloft, but they let fall or hoisted
away until the breeze got purchase on the
hunts and fe~toons, and then the jibs were run
up and trimmed down almost as well as sail
ors could have done it. We sought to board
her while many Of the blacks were busy,
but there were enough left on guard to
thwart our efforts II we could have used
our pistols and cutlassss We ,ould have been
on her decks in two minutes, but our orders
were not to injure man of them our CAD