Land of Living Death

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 20110, 31 March 1928, Page 13 (Supplement)

Land of Living Death

On Devil’s Island

PeimaE CoEoimy off LMe=lkim©wim Horrors

In this article by W. E. Booth, who holds a second mate’s certificate, has just returned to England after spending several weeks in the notorious French convict settlement, tells simply but graphically of the terrible existence on Devil’s Island.

T FIRST saw Devil’s Island, the notorious French convict settlement in the Caribbean Sea, from the deck of a'small freighter that was carrying stores. I was a member of the crew. We had proceeded up a typical tropical river, the Marohi, for about 40 miles. The dense jungle seemed to close in on the river, and the air was noisy with the screeching of parrots and the chattering of monkeys. Then came a bend in the river, and the settlement was in sight. Immediately the ship was made fast to the wooden jetty a party of unkempt and half-naked men were herded aboard by a few French soldiers. These were the convicts. Most of them were clad in a kind of dungaree pants and shirt, generally in rags. Although a fierce, tropical sun beats clown upon the settlement, few of the convicts possess hats or boots. Many suffer terribly from sunstroke and fever. STAYED ON THE ISLAND. In order to make a close study of the settlement I deliberately missed my ship as it sailed away. Another member of the crew stayed with me, and as soon as the ship had departed we reported to the French commandant. After hearing our story he shrugged his shoulders and said we would have to make the best of conditions there until another ship arrived to take us away. Thus I lived, or rather existed, for several weeks in this convict settlement. Day after day I walked about watching the convicts toiling in the blazing heat, or, like worn-out beasts, creeping into the shade of a wall. Many precautions are taken to prevent them escaping when a ship is at the wharf. When a ship leaves all the convicts arc mustered and must be accounted for.

Once a convict evaded the search. He hid in the chain locker of a ship. I should explain that a very strong current runs in the river, and besides being tied to the jetty the ship drops its anchor. When the ship leaves, the anchor is heaved and the chain runs down to the chain locker.

At the next port of call, Cayenne, the escaped convict was found in the chain locker terribly mutilated through the chain falling on him. He was still alive, however, and confessed that he did not call for help for fear the soldiers took him back. He had to be put ashore at Cayenne

for medical treatment, and this being a French port the authorities returned him to the settlement. I remember one man to whom I used to give scraps of food and cigarettes. He had killed another! man in a street brawl in Paris, and was sent for solitary confinement on Devil’s Island. After three years he made a desperate attempt at escape. In the darkness one night he slipped away and floated a log that had been washed ashore from some wreck. Clinging to the log, he got clear of the island. This part of the Atlantic is infested with sharks. He told me of the narrow escapes he had had from sharks. At moments the leg would roo] over, and he would be plunged into the sea, and then have to scramble back again. For two days and nights he was at the mercy of the sea and tropical sun. Then he was picked up by a tramp steamer. But his freedom was short-lived, for a French patrol boat received a message that a convict had been saved. In a week’s time he was back again on Devil’s Island. For this attempt he was confined to a dark, underground dungeon for two years. When he was eventually allowed again in the open it was weeks before he recovered his sight. AFTER THE WAR. During the war the French Government appealed to certain prisoners to fight for their country, with the promise that if the prisoners conducted themselves well they would be pardoned at the termination of the war.

Naturally many prisoners jumped at the offer. They saw, to their joy, a chance of being reunited to their families. At the end of the war the few who were left alive were entrained from the front. They wore fully expecting to be set free. Instead, they were taken to Marseilles, placed on a convict ship, and returned to the settlement. I could hardly imagine any Government would be so cruel. Yet I actually talked with men on Devil’s Island who fought under these conditions.

Later, I and my companion were wrongfully accused of helping a prisoner to escape. For three days were were confined to a cell. Eventually we were released, and the next ship saw us aboard and bound for the free world outside Devil’s Island. And no one was more thankful than Ito see the last of the land of living death. I only wish its horrors were known more widely to civilised peoples.