Sketches From My Life

ngland, but to be again immediately appoi

hat the state of the savage African black population was infinitely bettered by their being conveyed out of the misery and barbarism of their own country, introduced to

oast to the other. I say if, because the risk of capture was so great that the poor wretches, men, women, and children, were packed like herrings in the holds of the fast little sailing vessels employed, and to such a fearful extent was this packin

have taken precautions against overcrowding and disease. Now, let us inquire as to the origin of these poor wretched Africans becoming slaves, and of their being sold to the white man. It was, briefly speaking, in this wise. On a war taking place between two tribes in Africa, a

in irons to prevent escape, were bundled like cattle, there to await e

slaves, as it was on the Brazilian side, to prevent their being landed, the poor wretch

e on her way she was chased by an English cruiser, in which case, so it has often been known to happen, a part of the living cargo would be thrown overboard, trusting that the horror of leaving human beings to be drowne

he principal slave-owners. It was there that all arrangements were made regarding the traffic in slaves, the despatch of the vessels in which they were to be conveyed, the points on which they were to land, &c., and it was at Rio that the slave-vessels made their rendezvous before and after their voy

r my existence, and so keenly did I join in the slave-hunting mania that

ouraged me by placing me in a position that, as a humble midshipman, I was scarcely entitled to, gave

e capture of a celebrated craft called the 'Lightning,' a vessel renowned for her great success as a slave ship, whose captain declared (this made our

neteen men, well armed and prepared, as I imagined, for every emergency. The night we left our ship we anchored late under the shelter of a small island, and all hands being tired from a long row in a hot sun, I let my men go to sleep during the short tropical darkness. As soon as the day was breaking all hands were alert, and we saw with delight a beautiful rakish-looking brig, crammed with slaves, close to the island behind which we had taken shelter, steering for a creek on the mainland a short distance from u

ion of the deck in no time, but on looking round for someone to fight with, saw nothing but a small black boy who, having been roused up from a sort of dog-kennel in which he had been sleeping, first looked astonished and then burst out laughing, pointing as he did so to the shore. Yes, the shore to which the slaver brig was lashed was the spot where seven hundred slaves (or nearly that number, for we found three or four half-dead negroes in the hold) and the crew had all gone, and left us lamenting our bad luck. However, I took possession of the vessel as she lay, and though threatened day and night by the natives, who kept up a constant fire from the neighbouring heights and seemed prepari

fore the dawn, I ran accidentally right into a schooner loaded with slaves, al

given time for reflection or resistance, I took possession of this vessel, put the crew in i

isions; three distinct diseases-namely, small-pox, ophthalmia, and diarrh?a in i

mong them we found in that fearful hold eleven dead bodies lying among the living freight. Water! water! was the cry. Many of them as soon as free jumped into the sea, partly from the delirious state

t cargo of slaves I made the acquaintance of, and by which I was so deeply impressed, that I have ever since been sceptic

fortunate creature was delivered of a child close to where I was standing, and jumped into the sea, baby and all, immediately afterwards. Sh

he slaver's crew to escape in the schooner's boat, as I considered these lawless ruffians an impedim

ities, who had a special large and roomy vessel lying i

olony, such for example as Demerara, where they had to serve seven years as apprentices (something, I must admit, very like slavery), after which they were free for ever and