Captain Canot; Or, Twenty Years of an African Slaver
I answered with so much _bonhommie_, that we soon became the best
friends imaginable, and chatted over all the scandal of Cuba. I
learned from this man that a cargo had recently been "run" in the
neighborhood of Matanzas, and that its disposal was most successfully
managed by a Senor * * *, from Catalonia.
I slapped my thigh and shouted _eureka_! It flashed through my mind to
trust this man without further inquiry, and I confess that my decision
was based exclusively upon his _sectional_ nationality. I am partial
to the Catalans.
Accordingly, I presented myself at the counting-room of my future
consignee in due time, and "made a clean breast" of the whole
transaction, disclosing the destitute state of my vessel. In a very
short period, his Excellency the Captain-General was made aware of my
arrival and furnished a list of "the Africans,"--by which name the
Bosal slaves are commonly known in Cuba. Nor was the captain of the
port neglected. A convenient blank page of his register was inscribed
with the name of my vessel as having sailed from the port six months
before, and this was backed by a register and muster-roll, in order to
secure my unquestionable entry into a harbor.
Before nightfall every thing was in order with Spanish despatch when
stimulated either by doubloons or the smell of African blood;--and
twenty-four hours afterwards, I was again at the landing with a suit
of clothes and blanket for each of my "domestics." The schooner was
immediately put in charge of a clever pilot, who undertook the formal
duty and _name_ of her commander, in order to elude the vigilance of
all the minor officials whose conscience had not been lulled by the
golden anodyne.
In the meanwhile every attention had been given to the slaves by my
hospitable _ranchero_. The "head-money" once paid, no body,--civil,
military, foreign, or Spanish--dared interfere with them. Forty-eight
hours of rest, ablution, exercise and feeding, served to recruit the
gang and steady their gait. Nor had the sailors in charge of the party
omitted the performance of their duty as "_valets_" to the gentlemen
and "_ladies' maids_" to the females; so that when the march towards
Sant' Iago began, the procession might have been considered as
"respectable as it was numerous."
The brokers of the southern emporium made very little delay in finding
purchasers at retail for the entire venture. The returns were, of
course, in cash; and so well did the enterprise turn out, that I
forgot the rebellion of our mutineers, and allowed them to share my
bounty with the rest of the crew. In fact, so pleased was I with the
result on inspecting the balance-sheet, that I resolved to divert
myself with the _dolce far niente_ of Cuban country life for a month
at least.
But while I was making ready for this delightful repose, a slight
breeze passed over the calmness of my mirror. I had given, perhaps
imprudently, but certainly with generous motives, a double pay to my
men in recompense of their perilous service on the Rio Nunez. With the
usual recklessness of their craft, they lounged about Havana, boasting
of their success, while a Frenchman of the party,--who had been
swindled of his wages at cards,--appealed to his Consul for relief. By
dint of cross questions the Gallic official extracted the tale of our
voyage from his countryman, and took advantage of the fellow's
destitution to make him a witness against a certain Don Teodore Canot,
who _was alleged to be a native of France_! Besides this, the
punishment of my mate was exaggerated by the recreant Frenchman into a
most unjustifiable as well as cruel act.
Of course the story was promptly detailed to the Captain-General, who
issued an order for my arrest. But I was too wary and flush to be
caught so easily by the guardian of France's lilies. No person bearing
my name could be found in the island; and as the schooner had entered
port with Spanish papers, Spanish crew, and was regularly sold, it
became manifest to the stupefied Consul that the sailor's "yarn" was
an entire fabrication. That night a convenient press-gang, in want of
recruits for the royal marine, seized the braggadocio crew, and as
there were no witnesses to corroborate the Consul's complaint, it was
forthwith dismissed.
Things are managed very cleverly in Havana--_when you know how_!
CHAPTER XXXVII.
Before I went to sea again, I took a long holiday with full pockets,
among my old friends at Regla and Havana. I thought it possible that a
residence in Cuba for a season, aloof from traders and their
transactions, might wean me from Africa; but three months had hardly
elapsed, before I found myself sailing out of the harbor of St. Jago
de Cuba to take, in Jamaica, a cargo of merchandise for the coast, and
then to return and refit for slaves in Cuba.
My voyage began with a gale, which for three days swept us along on a
tolerably good course, but on the night of the third, after snapping
my mainmast on a lee shore, I was forced to beach the schooner in
order to save our lives and cargo from destruction. Fortunately, we
effected our landing with complete success, and at dawn I found my
gallant little craft a total wreck on an uninhabited key. A large tent
or pavilion was quickly built from our sails, sweeps, and remaining
spars, beneath which every thing valuable and undamaged was stored
before nightfall. Parties were sent forth to reconnoitre, while our
remaining foremast was unshipped, and planted on the highest part of
the sandbank with a signal of distress. The scouts returned without
consolation. Nothing had been seen except a large dog, whose neck was
encircled with a collar; but as he could not be made to approach by
kindness, I forbade his execution. Neither smoke nor tobacco freed us
of the cloudy swarms of mosquitoes that filled the air after sunset,
and so violent was the irritation of their innumerable stings, that a
delicate boy among the crew became utterly insane, and was not
restored till long after his return to Cuba.
Several sad and weary days passed over us on this desolate key, where
our mode of life brought to my recollection many a similar hour spent
by me in company with Don Rafael and his companions. Vessel after
vessel passed the reef, but none took notice of our signal. At last,
on the tenth day of our imprisonment, a couple of small schooners
fanned their way in a nonchalant manner towards our island, and
knowing that we were quite at their mercy, refused our rescue unless
we assented to the most extravagant terms of compensation. After a
good deal of chaffering, it was agreed that the salvors should land us
and our effects at Nassau, New Providence, where the average should be
determined by the lawful tribunal. The voyage was soon accomplished,
and our amiable liberators from the mosquitoes of our island prison
obtained a judicial award of seventy per cent. for their extraordinary
trouble!
The wreck and the wreckers made so formidable an inroad upon my
finances, that I was very happy when I reached Cuba once more, to
accept the berth of sailing-master in a slave brig which was fitting
out at St. Thomas's, under an experienced Frenchman.
My new craft, the SAN PABLO, was a trim Brazil-built brig, of rather
more than 300 tons. Her hold contained sixteen twenty-four carronades,
while her magazine was stocked with abundance of ammunition, and her
kelson lined, fore and aft, with round shot and grape. Captain * * *,
who had been described as a Tartar and martinet, received me with much
affability, and seemed charmed when I told him that I conversed
fluently not only in French but in English.
I had hardly arrived and begun to take the dimensions of my new
equipage, when a report ran through the harbor that a Danish cruiser
was about to touch at the island. Of course, every thing was instantly
afloat, and in a bustle to be off. Stores and provisions were tumbled
in pell-mell, tanks were filled with water during the night; and,
before dawn, fifty-five ragamuffins of all castes, colors, and
countries, were shipped as crew. By "six bells," with a coasting flag
at our peak, we were two miles at sea with our main-topsail aback,
receiving six kegs of specie and several chests of clothing from a
lugger.
When we were fairly on "blue water" I discovered that our voyage,
though a slaver's, was not of an ordinary character. On the second
day, the mariners were provided with two setts of uniform, to be worn
on Sundays or when called to quarters. Gold-laced caps, blue coats
with anchor buttons, single epaulettes, and side arms were distributed
to the officers, while a brief address from the captain on the
quarter-deck, apprised all hands that if the enterprise resulted well,
_a bounty_ of one hundred dollars would be paid to each adventurer.
That night our skipper took me into council and developed his plan,
which was to load in a port in the Mozambique channel. To effect his
purpose with more security, he had provided the brig with an armament
sufficient to repel a man-of-war of equal size--(a fancy I never gave
way to)--and on all occasions, except in presence of a French cruiser,
he intended to hoist the Bourbon lilies, wear the Bourbon uniform, and
conduct the vessel in every way as if she belonged to the royal navy.
Nor were the officers to be less favored than the sailors in regard to
double salary, certificates of which were handed to me for myself and
my two subordinates. A memorandum book was then supplied, containing
minute instructions for each day of the ensuing week, and I was
specially charged, as second in command, to be cautiously punctual in
all my duties, and severely just towards my inferiors.
I took some pride in acquitting myself creditably in this new military
phase of a slaver's life. Very few days sufficed to put the rigging
and sails in perfect condition; to mount my sixteen guns; to drill the
men with small arms as well as artillery; and by paint and sea-craft,
to disguise the Saint Paul as a very respectable cruiser.
In twenty-seven days we touched at the Cape de Verds for provisions,
and shaped our way southward without speaking a single vessel of the
multitude we met, until off the Cape of Good Hope we encountered a
stranger who was evidently bent upon being sociable. Nevertheless, our
inhospitable spirit forced us to hold our course unswervingly, till
from peak and main we saw the white flag and pennant of France
unfurled to the wind.
Our drum immediately beat to quarters, while the flag chest was
brought on deck. Presently, the French _transport_ demanded our
private signal; which out of our ample supply, was promptly answered,
and the royal ensign of Portugal set at our peak.
As we approached the Frenchman every thing was made ready for all
hazards;--our guns were double-shotted, our matches lighted, our small
arms distributed. The moment we came within hail, our captain,--who
claimed precedence of the lieutenant of a transport,--spoke the
Frenchman; and, for a while, carried on quite an amiable chat in
Portuguese. At last the stranger requested leave to send his boat
aboard with letters for the Isle of France; to which we consented with
the greatest pleasure, though our captain thought it fair to inform
him that we dared not prudently invite his officers on deck, inasmuch
as there were "several cases of small-pox among our crew, contracted,
in all likelihood, at Angola!"
The discharge of an unexpected broadside could not have struck our
visitor with more dismay or horror. The words were hardly spoken when
her decks were in a bustle,--her yards braced sharply to the
wind,--and her prow boiling through the sea, without so much as the
compliment of a "_bon voyage_!"
Ten days after this _ruse d'esclave_ we anchored at Quillimane, among