The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-10-21
LAST OF THE SLAVERS.

est thing in all my seafaring life hap
pened. We were on the banks Of
Newfoundland, the home OF the fog
king, and the mist had come down on
us thicker than ] had ever seen it. 1t
lasted so long without lifting that the
captain lost all traces of reckoning.
We were off Halifax, Cape Race or
Cape Breton, we didn't know which
Finally he concluded to drop an an
chor ana wait.
There was q considerable swell roll
ing beneath us. but of course no wind
That would have blown away the fog
One night the watch heard the sound
of distant bell For an hour it
tolled faintly, then very slowly be-
came more distinct. 1t was evident
ly coming toward us. II must be
drifting, for there was no wind to
Of steam. At last the bell tolled dis
Oil sails, and we could hear no sound
mally within cables length of MS
We began to be anxious and rang
our own bell to let the stranger know
that we were in her course. There
was little chance of her crew being
able to turn her. for there was no
wind, but they might anchor. She
was coming so slowly as not to hurt
us much from fouling except for the
waves. If we should be rolled to-
gether in the trough Of the sea or one
should be let down on the other
there might be a terrible crash.
Our signal excited no reply, except
the tolling of the bell, which continu-
ed constantly. Fearing those on the
approaching vessel had not heard us,
we fired a gun. But this elected moth
ing. Presently we could hear the
hcll tolling right beside us and now
and then something black would aps
pear not twenty feet from us, hover
there for few minutes, then disap-
pear. Once II came near enough for
us TO distinguish the side of ship.
We were on a terrible strain for
awhile, fearing that we would clash
with the stranger; then we caught a
glimpse OF her stern under our bow
spirit. She had evidently passed us.
At eight bells the next morning the
fog lifted. There was no sign of land,
but on our starboard quarter was a
barkentine without sails, her foremast
gone. rolling with the waves. A wind
sprang up, and raising sail, we made
toward her. When we came near her
the captain sent a boats crew to in
vcstigate.
We found a derelict that had evil
IDENTIFY been floating a long while. The
only thing aboard that had ever had
life in II was the body of a woman,
and We had to stave in the door of
the captains cabin to find that 1t
was lying in a berth, and, notwith-
standing the many tossings the vessel
had received, it had not rolled out.
We looked on the log book for the
last entry. II was dated IS months
aSone, November 10, 1854.
We read the entry and went back
further for an explanation. No part
OF the log made mention OF anything
unusual transpirlng aboard Never
theless we traced what nust have
been something Of the story. A
bundle Of love letters from woman
TO the captain the last dated not
long before the log began, told us that
he and his wife must have made the
voyage a wedding trip The last OBJ
servation showed latitude 70 degrees
10 minutes north, longitude 1920 east,
or about 300 miles south of the Cam
airy islands and off the coast of Af-
rica The ships boats were gone,
which led MS TO believe that everyone
on board except the woman had left
the vessel and made for the land.
The period, 1854, was when the
slavcrs were running the last car
goes Of negroes from the African
coast 10 the United States. In the fore
castle we found scrap of paper on
which was written, "The old man
won't consent; do the job" We in
terpreted this 10 mean that the men
wished TO force the captain to take
the crew ashore 10 secure a cargo of
slaves. He declined, and they were
to kill him. All this accounts for the
captains wife being locked in his
cabin. The port anchor was gone.
This Indicated that the ship was at
anchor when the crew left her. We
found no evidence TO show whether
the captain was killed or went with
them. The cable had evidently part
ed and was blown offshore. Probably
while the men were ashore after ne
groes storm came up and broke the
cable. Likely the captain was killed
on the ship, and during the melee his
wife went to the cabin aud locked
herself in, Possibly she may have
lain on the berth, faint from fright
and died there,
And so II was that this womans
bier foated no one knew where. Like
ly II drifted southwestward eventual
ly turning northward possibly to the
northern end of the Atlantic ocean.
then caught winds or currents which
bore IL south again to where we
found 1t. The rope to the bell rotted