Horrors of Slave Trading

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1034, 26 July 1930, Page 18

Horrors of Slave Trading

Tragic Scenes at Sea

3E legal prohibition of an extensive and profitable trade invariably leads to its illegal continuance and the attempts to suppress the illicit commerce attract a race of desperadoes whose violence and cruelty eventually become so dreadful as to stagger humanity. So writes a contributor to ’’This and That,” who refers to the welter of bloodshed that has resulted from- the illegal pursuit of rum-running. The traffic had its parallel, says the writer, in the slave trade between Africa and America. This trade was abolished by the various European countries, led by Britain, at the beginning of the 19tli. century, but its prohibition only made it more profitable for those who were prepared to go to any lengths in run-

ning cargoes of slaves stolen from their African homes across the Atlantic. To make a slave-running expedition pay the slaves nad to be captured wholesale and Jacked in the hold as tightly as cases of whisky or barrels of rum are packed in a smuggling vessel today. A ship the size of a small coasting schooner would carry six or seven hundred negroes laid on their sides like spoons in a case, the knees of one fitting into the hamstrings of his neighbour, and naturally the mortality was terrible. One small ship carrying 747 lost 136 on its voyage. The condition of the ships can be better imagined than described. A British naval officer engaged in suppressing the dreadful traffic declared that one could positively smell a slave ship five miles down wind. British warships, of course, used to sail the seas watching for these slaving vessels, and when they saw one they would pursue it and, if possible, take possession. The penalties cf being caught were heavy, but the law,

made by men who had never realised the depths of crime and wickedness to which cruel and desperate villains would descend, declared that the ship could only be confiscated if the negroes were actually found on board. The result of this law was that many a captain of a slaver has thrown his negroes overboard before capture, so that the necessary evidence against him might be wanting. But for sheer cruelty and callous wickedness Captain Homans of the brig Brillante exceeded all his contemporaries. He was carrying six hundred negroes to America when he suddenly saw four warships approaching from four different directions. To escape them was impossible, and it was quite certain the officers would board his vessel. When the warships were first seen it was late afternoon, and soon afterward the breeze dropped, which delayed the vessels in their approach. Darkness fell before the first warship was near enough to fire across the bows of the slaver as a signal to stop.

Captain Homans did not hesitate for a moment. No qualms of conscience worried him; no feelings of humanity lingered in his soul. He gave orders fpr the largest anchor on the ship to be made ready for dropping. The chain cable which held it was hauled out through the hawse-pipe and stretched round the ship on the outside of the rail. Then under cover of the darkness the slaves were brought up from below—six hundred of them, all living men of flesh and blood—and placed ro->- 1 the rail of the ship in piles. Each man or group of men w >ou the anchor chain by strong ropes fastened to the manacles. This had hardly been done when the splashing of oars was heard and it was realised on the Brillante that the boats from the warships were approaching. Captain Homans immediately set about removing the evidence from his vessel. He gave orders to his men to cast loose the anchor. There was a grinding sound as the

chain followed the anchor, groans rang out, and thena P |D , a ail that was soon silenced, an moment or two six hundred n negroes had gone overboard ana in the black waves. The Cry of Horror The cries of the slaves er ? n th» by the sailors approaching boats, and they knew what _ .he®The horror of it all appalled Tough as they were the wlcken the slaver captain made them For a moment they hesitated. rowed on and boarded the odour of the slaves, an odour could never be mistaken. clun ”, vessel in every part, soma , manacles were lying about, gr® contained the food prepared i next meal, but not a single •** of on board, and so no legal evid_ the captain’s crime existed, vv Homans jeered in the fac ®* , fpe boarding officers and he wen. ? «i»t* with his vessel. Such was tn trade of less than 100 years ago-