PICTURESQUE EPISODE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18317, 6 February 1923, Page 9

PICTURESQUE EPISODE.

SLAVE CLAIMS FREEDOM.

MEMORY OF MR. \I. HOPKINS.

An incident in the experience of < Mr. Isaac Hopkins, of Owen's Road, Epsom, furnishes a singularly exact parallel to that related in a nautical song which was extremely popular 20 or 30 years ago. ,The ballad in question described the ap-< pearance on the deck of a British vessel of a negro slave chased by his plantermaster, : -' and went on to narrate how the captain of the ship ( took the fugitive under his: protection, as one who had ; come upon British property, and how the slaveholder " Vke :' a • ctir * turned tail, '. and quickly down the side went he." i; In : ; his early life, Mr. /Hopkins ;: was - a sea-faring man. On one occasion his ship lay in the Bay of Suez. This was before the great ■ cpnal had been' formed— while, in fact, De; Lfissepa was actually engaged in itsl excavation. ; Mr. Hopkins' narrative is as follows:" One" day, when I was in charge of the deck, an ArcJb merchant came off to the vessel as it was anchorea in the roads. His boat was pulled -by' a slave, a native of East Africa. After the trader bad gone below, to :do some business with our captain, the slave appeared on deck, and , began to move around in a singular way. I watched him closely, and noticed that he made for the after portion of the deck; for what pur pose I ; could not at' first "understand!, The British flag was, of course, flying at the stern. jy, As soon as the native reached the grating under the flagstaff,; he ; made ges- ; ticulations ' toward the , flag, - and immediately seized and clung to the , staff, end showed that he - meant Zto stay them Then -I; realised the significance of >: his gestures he had " heard ! that if once he trod a British deck, and put himself under the protection of our flaer, his days of slavery were over. ! Accordingly, I refrained from interfering, and waited to. see what would happen. ~' ' : Presently, his business being finished, the trader returned to the deck, accompanied: by our captain. Glancing ovfir the 'side of the- vessel at ' his boat, the Arab .noticed that it was empty. He then looked round the deck, and spying his servant at the stern, advanced menacingly toward him. I had in the meantime directed the attention of the. contain to the bid for freedom silently made by the slave. Accordingly, when the trader stepped forward, the master asked where he was going. He indicated that he wanted to get his.slave.'..;.',' Then you are not going to have him,' answered the captain, or words to that effect, and he went on to ' exriound the doctrine dear to Britishers of the effect upon; the rights of the enslaved of their appearance upon ,F- ; * territory- The trader . was bafiled and enracred, but saw the wisdom of accepting the situation. In a few minutes he / had stepped .down the accommodation ladder into his boat, and - had what was to him the' humiliation' of \ being obliged to row himself "ashore."' •-. ', , . ,• ; The sequel to the incident was that the manumitted slave was taken : into .* the crew of the vessel, and sent to the stokehold to work. '-'■ On the arrival of the ship at Mauritius, her.next port of call, a photograph was taken of the coloured man clinging to the mast, in the. dramatic; attitude in which .; he had claimed his ■/. freedom, and a copy of the interesting print was for a long time in Mr. Hopkins' pos- 1 session. ' J