The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1892-06-24
EXCITING ADVENTURE.
How Ten French COnVicts Captured a
Brig at Sea.

The brig ia which L shipped to
make voyage from Jamaica to Fer
nambuco and return, calling at
Georgetown en- route. was called The
Little Queen. She was trim, new
craft, Just out from England, and was
commanded by one of the Oldest
mariners ever saw in active service. !
His name was Rothsay, an English
man, and he was hale and hearty at
~ years Of age. 1t may be recorded as
a curious thing that he was the only
Eng lishman aboard of an English
craft. Both mates, cook and all fore
mast hands were Americans, and
three of the men were Cape Codders
The explanation was that we hao
been wrecked in a sugar vessel In the
Caribbean Sea and picked up and
carried to Jamaica by a British
steamer. There were nine of US all
told as the brig left the island.
Georgetown, as you will see by the
map, is on the north coast of Brazil,
in the state or province of Guiana.
A strip of territory 800 miles long by
500 broad is divided up among the
British, Dutch and French, and the
TWO latter have established penal colo
MES there. We reached Georgetown
in due time and discharged apart OF
our cargo, and just as we were ready
to sail we were notified that ten con-
victs from the French penal settle
ment of Cayenne had got away to sea
in the yawI of French merchantmen.
Little attention was paid to this no
tice, as such escapes were by no means
rare, and when we began our run
dow the coast the incident passed out
of our minds. One day at noon, when
we were to the south of Cayenne and
about forty miles off the coast, man
aloft discoveded a ships boat two
miles away and heading down across
our course. AS sac was standing In
from seaward our first impression
was that she carried shipwrecked
crew. / had just come on watch
when the boat was reported. AS soon
as leveled the glass at her detect
ed the clothing of French conVlcts
and counted an even ten men. The
craft was under sail, but the breeze
was light aud the sea smooth. she
was on our port quarter, and II we
held on she would intercept us.
AS soon as the captain was notified
of the discovery he ordered the brig
kept off four or five points, aud then
called the crew aft and notified them
that il the cOnvicts got aboard they
would not hesitate at murder. Hall
a dozen muskets would have given us
/
sing barrel pistol in the brig. LII II
came to fight we could only arm
| ourselves with capstan bars and be-
laying pins. We had hopes, however,
| OF getting off without coming to close
quarters. While the wind was light,
! we had all sail on the brig, and there
was no question but that we could
out-sail the yawl. AS soon as we
shifted our helm the yawl raised
signal of distress and the cOnVlcts
shouted in chorus. We paid no at
! tention, of course, and she swung i'll
! TO our wake about a quarter OF
mile astern. They must have rea-
lied that we had established their
identity, for half a dozen of them
sprang up and shOok their fists at us
and rOared like wild beasts. l got
a plain view of the visages OF thre
or four OF the lot under the glass, and
more williamson countenances | never
saw. We were rapidly leaving them
behind and cOngratuiatlng ourselves
on the fact, when the breeze began 10
puff and die, and in the course or
quarter of an hour it fell fiat. When
his occurred we heard a faint cheer
from the convicts, and they shortly
doused their sail and put over two
pairs of oars.
at seems that we have got to fight
for II after all observed the captain,
after look through the glass. "Mr.
LenOx, YOU will arm the crew and
hold them up to their work. Inc
boat can only board us at the bows.
See that the cook has plenty OF hot
water ready. Give every man to I'M
derstand that he must fight for his
life"
A quarter of an hour later the yawl
Law off our port quarter within speak
ing distance. Every man OF the ten
looked the villain. Only desperate
men could have attacked and over
powered the guard, and escaped as
they'd There was neither young
nor an old face among them, but all
were mIddle-aged men. Some were
in full convict uniform, while others
had thrown away their Jackets.
Their leader was a short, stout man,
so dark complexioned that he seemed
to be a SpaDiard, and as the boat
drew near he stood up in the stern
sheets and called out:
"HellO, captain! Why you run
away from poor, shipwrecked sailor
men? Cur ship go down off mere (tC
the east) yesterday afternoon"
81 know you :" shouted Capt. Roth
saw in reply. "You are escaped con-
victs from Cayenne. If you attempt
to board US you will find us well pre-
pared!"
They could not know how well OF
how poorly armed we were, and we
were nine to their ten.
yes, captain, you speak truly
said the leader, after brief consuIta
ton with his men. 1--WE are con
yicts from Cayenne, but we are limo
cent men. We do not wish to bOarC
YOU. We have neither food nor drink
and we ask you in the name OF hui
mainly to supply us"
The captain consulted with me IL
regard to it. They must come along
side in order to receive supplies, anC
when they had once hooked on wht
could say what they might attempt
Resides, we had little or nothing Il
spaIe. They had been afloat five oil
ak DAVIS and none of their faces eX-
hibIted evidences of suffering.
Il have nothing to spare, and
warn YOU to keep off :" shouted thu
cautain in answer to the request.
We had seen no arms among them
and supposed them to be without arms
of any sort. TO our great surprise
five muskets, taken from the quart
when they escaped, were suddenly
lifted into view while four oars drop
ped into the water and the yawl made
Tor our bowe. There was fierce vel
from every convict, and those will
muskets opened fire. Capt RothsaN
was killed and the second mate
wounded even before they had hook
ed on. We scalded them with bell
ing water and fought them with what
ever we could lay hold of, but with
in five minutes the brig was captur
ed. We had n foremost hand kilie'
in the fight on dSck, and none OF u:
escaped injury. AS an off7et we kill
ed two of the cOnvicts while Ghe1
we're trying to board. They had bayo
nets to their muskets, and it wa
either surrender or be killed. 1t i
but Justice to the fellows To say tina
they were not particularly bIOOdthirs
tv, and that as soon as they were II
moss ession of the brig their attitude
became almost friendly. AS chic
officer | was asked about our cargo
and destination, and on the othe
, hand the leader informed me tina
they were sorry to interrupt our vOy
age, but intended to use the brig t.
MAKE good their escape.
The first thing was to get off the dead
bodies. They allowed us to sew them
in canvas before they went overheard