Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1902-01-27


civil war.
Corrie sailed south with the Wan
derer, ostensibly for pleasure cruise,
although as matter of fact he went
to Charleston and put a slave outfit in
her hold. From there he sailed to
Trinidad Capt. Egbert Farnham, a
man of an adventurous career, went
along. The Wanderer put into ST.
Helena and thence sailed to the Congo
river There Gle met the British war
ship Medus liking for slaves, but as
the Wander vas flying the American
flag and that of the New York yacht
club, the British officers never sus-
pected her designs.
Indeed, Capt. Corrie ran alongside
the Medusa and remained there for
several days, paying calls upon the
British officers and actually entertain
ing them in the cabin OF the yacht.
Together they visited places of inter-
est ashore, and one day, by way of a
Joke Capt Corrie asked them why
they did not search the Wanderer to
see if she. was not a SLAYER. The
British officers laughed at this sally.
AS soon as the Medusa put to sea the
Wanderer sailed up the Congo to the
barracoon. Among her owners at this
time, besides Corrie, were Charles A.
L.. Lamar of Savannah, N. G. Trow-
bridge of New Orleans, Capt. A. G..
M Of I'll h1yc 90 nhaY nd
Dickerson of Richmond, Va, and
BENJAMIN Davis of Charleston, S. G.
Capt. McGhee was authority for the
statement that she took on $50 negroes
between Ii and Is years of age. She
got away safely with this cargo, and
is thought to have reached the coast
of Georgia December 2, 1858. The
Savannah Republican stated a few
days later that she had landed her
slaves on Jekyl island, for which priv
lege the negro traders paid $4,000.
She great difficulty was to-get the
slaves up the river past the frowning
muzzles of the guns at the fort Com
munication was opened with Lamar in
Savannah. He thereupon announced
that he was going to give great ball
in honor of the officers of the garrison,
and insisted that the soldiers as we'll
should come. When the ball was at
it's hight and the fort abandoned, the
river steamer Augusta steamed past
with the negroes from Jekyl island.
The affair caused a public scandal.
Congress took the matter up. The
Wanderer was seized and condemned,
but the smugglers escaped through
technicalities. The yacht was sold at
auction and bid in by her former. own
ers. 1t was shown that slaves, pur-
chased for few beads and bandanna
handkerchiefs, were sold on the mar
ket for $500 apiece; the owners
cleared $4,000 apiece on the ven
ture.
But within a year the Wanderer had
again gone to the Congo and come
back with another cargo of slaves. In
attempting to enter Jekyl creek she
ran aground, and a number of the
captives jumped into the water and
WOAC N4OWuCO' AS 1851 VI I1O Col 81
reached land in terrible condition.
Most of them were sick and many
dying. 1t was said that several MUIR
ders had occurred on board, dying
slaves being thrown overheard to get
rid of them This was the last cargo
of slaves landed in America
When Savannah was blockaded, at
the outbreak of the civil war, the
Wanderer was hemmed in, and was
finally sold to the confederate govern
ment. She was eventually captured
by the Union forces, and was for a
time used as a revenue cutter at
Pensacola. Then she was sold at
auction and put into the cocoanut
trade, being finally wrecked at Cape
Henry.
Previously, however, the New York
yacht club had taken action in regard
to this fragrant abuse of it's flag. At
a meeting of the club held February 9,
1859, Corrie was expelled from the
club and the name of the Wanderer
was erased from the club list.