Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-11-04

SLAVE
SHIPS
MADE
FORTUNES


says Charles F. Lummis in Down the
Western Coast" have we kept the
buccaneers aloft? There is not in
the history uf all the Americas an
other so damning black and vile.
still there is another quite as damn
ing. as black and as vile, and while
the semi-pirates who figure in those
pages did not "wallow in the blood
of children, priests and babies they
held the suffering and death OF the
African men. women and children
whom they transported to bondage on
the shores of the Americas-North
and South-but lightly, and with
comparative indifference. These men
were those engaged in the slave
trade, Britons. Americans, French
Spaniards and Portuguese, whose YES
sells. fitted out by merchants in the
seaports of foreign lands, and in Bos-
ton. New York and Baltimore how
cred over the Guinea coast like the
Biblical eagles. for they were gather
ed together around the carcass. they
purposed converting into gold. for
does not Thomas A. Janvier in his
Colonial Privateers" tell us that even
in those days "slave trading was also
profitable and was the basis of many
respectable New York fortunes, but
the profits were by no means GER
tain These profits were great
enough and certain enough, however
to induce the fitting out of many YES
sells.
Rio Janeiro became a great port
for the disembarking of the thou
sands of slaves destined to labor III
the plantations Of Brazil. Admiral
Andrew Hull Foote, gallant and
highly religious American naval Off
Ger. who was in command Of the brig
of war Perry on the African station
for two years and a half operating
against slavers, wrote:
IF there was anything on earth
which for revolving cruelty, and heart
less atrocities might make the devil
wonder and hell recognize its own
likeness. then it was on any one OF
the decks OF an old SLAYER. The coast
fever of Africa is bad enough where
it has its birth and in these vessels.
No fairer sky or healthier climate
were there on earth than in the beau
tiful bay, amid the grand scenery OF
Rio Janeiro in Brazil. But it be-
came the haunt of slavers, and the
dead of Africa floated on the glitter
ing waters and were tumbled upon
the sands of it's harbor. The shipping
found in the summer of 1S49 that
death had come with the slavers
Thirty or forty vessels were lying
idly at their anchors because their
crews had mostly perished. The pes
thence swept along the coast of the
empire with fearful malagnity. Cuba
for the same crime met the same ret
ribution."
Captain Hugh Crow, a noted one
eyed mariner of Liverpool, boasted
that he had run numerous cargoes of
Africans. without losing single
soul. but he was about the only one
on most of the vessels the mortality
was great Another marine master
named Collinwood threw some thirty
or forty sick Africans overheard in
the Atlantic and let them drown. AS
this was in the days when the trade
was legalized he made a claim on the
underwriters for the insurance, al
leging that the safety of the vesse
and the rest of the freight rendered
it necessary to jettison the slaves
The payment Of the claim was refused
and the matter was taken into the
English courts. The action of Col
lingwood in casting these sick Afri'
cans into the sea probably gave rise tc
the story that was prevalent in the
compiler's boyhood to the effect thai
some forty years ago Appleton Oak
smith. a noted slave ship captain
while being chased by a man-Of-war
had fastened a number of negroes tC
a chain cable and had cast them over
board to sink to the bottom. The
story. while once widely curren
among seamen. is probably a myth
At one time il was considered the
proper thing to serve the Lord a
we'll as to serve mammon, fol
one British Shipmaster returned
thanks i'm the churches to the Al
mighty for permitting him to make
an African voyage without the los
of q man. This worthy also stated
that i'm answer to prayer addressed
to the throne of grace he had some
remarkable deliverances from dan
gers. This master mariner, whos'
name was Newton. is spoken Of a
having been "a highly religious SLAYER
who eventually became n preache
and opposed the traffic"
The slaves confined in these vessels
were fed on yams. beans and rice
with moderate allowance of water
In the best ships the Africans haC
from twenty-four to twenty-sevel
cubic feet of air space i'm the hold o
the vessel. where they were chained
for from eighteen To twenty hour
eacn day. but i'm many of the vessel
they were packed as closely as posi-
BILE. During pleasant weather the
would be brought on deck for Il fey
hours at a time and allowed littl
fresh air. In the last century chill
dren ranging from ten to sixteen year
were taken in preference To the adult:
as being more tractable and easie
TO handle.
One Of the strangest of the man
stranG. happenings OH the sea is tn
story of the French SLAYER lie Rodeul
which sailed from Bonny on the wcs
coast Of Africa in April. 1919, wit
crew of twenty-five men and carg
of 100 slaves The fate overtakin
the crew formed the theme on whic
John G. Whittier based his pOer
entitled The Slave Ships" i'm whic
these lines occur:
I'm the sunny Guadaloupe
\ dark hullcd vessel lay,