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The
Africans of the Slave Bark, Wildfire |
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The slave deck of
the bark "Wildfire," brought into Key West on April 30,
1860 |
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| The
Africans of the Slave Bark, Wildfire |
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Key West, Florida, May 20, 1860.
On the morning of the 30th of April last, the United States steamer Mohawk, Lieutenant Craven
commanding, came to anchor in the harbor of this place, having in tow a bark of the burden of about
three hundred and thirty tons, supposed to be the bark Wildfire, lately owned in the-city of New
York. The bark had on board five hundred and ten native Africans, taken on board in the River
Congo, on the west side of the continent of Africa. She had been captured a few days previously by
Lieutenant Craven within sight of the northern coast of Cuba, as an American vessel employed in
violating our laws against the slave-trade. She had left the Congo River thirty-six days before her
capture.
Soon after the bark was anchored we repaired on board, and on passing over the side saw, on the
deck of the vessel, about four hundred and fifty native Africans, in a state of entire nudity, in a
sitting or squatting posture, the most of them having their knees elevated so as to form a
resting place for their heads and arms. They sat very close together, mostly on either side of the vessel, forward
and aft, leaving a narrow open space along the line of the centre for the crew of the vessel to pass to
and fro. About fifty of them were full-grown young men, and about four hundred were boys aged from
ten to sixteen years. It is said by persons acquainted with the slave-trade and who saw them,
that they were generally in a very good condition of health and flesh, as compared with other similar
cargoes, owing to the fact that they had not been so much crowded together on board as is common
in slave voyages, and had been better fed than usual. It is said that the bark is capable of
carrying, and was prepared to carry, one thousand, but not being able without inconvenient delay to
procure so many, she sailed with six hundred. Ninety and upward had died on the voyage. But this is
considered as comparatively a small loss, showing that they had been better cared for than usual.
Ten more have died since their arrival, and there are about forty more sick in the hospital. We saw
on board about six or seven boys and men greatly emaciated, and diseased past recovery, and about a
hundred that showed decided evidences of suffering from inanition,
exhaustion, and disease.
Dysentery was the principal disease. But notwithstanding their sufferings, we could not be otherwise than
interested and amused at their strange looks, motions, and actions. The well ones looked happy
and contented, and were ready at any moment to join in a song or a dance whenever they were directed to do so by "Jack" -- a little fellow as black as ebony, about twelve years old, having a
handsome and expressive face, an intelligent look, and a sparkling
eye. The sailors on the voyage had
dressed "Jack" in sailor costume, and had made
him a great pet. When we were on board "Jack" carried about in his hand a short cord, not only as
the emblem but also as the instrument of his brief delegated authority. He would make the men and
boys stand up, sit down, sing, or dance just as he directed. When they sang "Jack" moved around
among them as light as a cat, and beat the time by slapping his hands together, and if any refused to
sing, or sang out of time, Jack's cord descended on their backs. Their singing was monotonous. The
words we did not understand. We have rarely seen a more happy and merry-looking fellow than
"Jack."
From the deck we descended into the cabin, where we saw sixty or seventy women and young
girls, in Nature's dress, some sitting on the floor and others on the lockers, and some sick ones lying
in the berths. Four or five of them were a good deal tattooed on the back and arms, and we noticed
that three had an arm branded with the figure "7," which, we suppose, is the merchant's mark.
On the day of their arrival the sickest, about
forty in all, were landed and carried to a building on the public grounds belonging to Fort Taylor,
and Doctors Whitehurst and Skrine employed as medical attendants. We visited them in the
afternoon. The United States Marshal had procured for all of them shirts, and pants for the men, and
some benevolent ladies of the city had sent the girls and women gowns. Six or eight were very sick; the others did not appear to be in any immediate danger of dying. We
were very much amused by a young lad about fifteen years old, not much sick, who had got on, probably for the first time in
his life, a whole shirt, and who seemed to be delighted with every body and every thing he saw. He evidently thought the
speech of the white man was very funny. When a few words were spoken to him he immediately repeated them with great
glee. Pointing to Dr. Skrine, we said "Doctor." He said "Doctor." And then pointing to Dr. Whitehurst, we said
"Doctor too." He said "Doctor too." The doctors had selected from the bark a woman about twenty-four years of age
to assist the nurse in taking care of the sick. She had been dressed in a clean calico frock, and looked very respectably.
About sundown they all lay down for the night upon a camp bed, and were covered over with blankets. And now a scene
took place which interested us very much, but which we did not understand and can not explain. The woman standing up
slapped her hands together once or twice, and as soon as all were silent she commenced a sort of recitation, song, or prayer,
in tone and manner much like a chanting of the Litany in Catholic churches, and every few moments the voices of ten or fifteen others were heard in the same tone, as if responding. This
exercise continued about a minute. Now what could this be? It looked and sounded to us very much like Christians chanting
together an evening prayer on retiring to rest. And yet we feel quite assured that none of these persons had ever heard of
Christ, or had learned Christian practices, or possessed much, if
any, knowledge of God as a Creator or Preserver of the world.
We suspect that it was not understood by them as a religious exercise at all, but as something which they had been trained
to go through at the barracoons in Africa or on board the ship.
In two days after the arrival of the bark the Marshal had completed a large, airy building at Whitehead's Point, a little
out of the town, for the reception and accommodation of these people; and after getting them clad as well as he could in so
short a time, they were all landed on the fort wharf, and carried in carts to their quarters. On arriving there they all arranged themselves along the sides of the building, as they had
been accustomed to do on the decks of the vessel, and squatted
down in the same manner. It took the Marshal and his assistants some little time, and no small efforts, to
give the Africans to understand that they were free to move about, to go out and come in at will.
They learned this in the course of a few hours, however, and general merriment and hilarity
prevailed. We visited them in the afternoon, and have done so several times since; and we confess
that we have been struck, as many others have been, with the expression of intelligence displayed
in their faces, the beauty of their physical conformation, and the beauty of their teeth. We have been
accustomed to think that the civilized negroes of our own country were superior, in point of intelligence and physical development, to the native Africans; but judging only by the eye, we think it
would be difficult to find, any where in our own country, four hundred finer and
handsomer-looking boys and girls than these are. To be sure you
often saw the elongated occiput, the protruded jaws, and the receding forehead; but you also
often saw a head as round, with features as regular as any European's, except the universal flat
noses. Little "Jack" has a head as round as an apple. |
A number of these negroes -- perhaps twelve or fifteen in all -- have been more or less at and about
Loando, a Portuguese town on the coast, and have learned to speak a little Portuguese. Through an
interpreter we learned from them that some four or five -- perhaps more, but probably not many -- had
been baptized at the Roman Catholic missionary station at Loando. Francisco, a young man, says
he was baptized by a Franciscan friar in Loando; that he was a slave in Africa, and does not wish to
return there. He says he had rather be a slave to the white man in this country. Salvador, a bright-looking, smart lad, has been baptized. Constantia
says she was baptized in Loando. She does not remember her father; she was stolen away when
she was young, and was sold by her brother. Antonia and Amelia are both fine-looking young women, aged
about twenty, and were both baptized at Loando. Madia, a pagan, unbaptized, aged about twenty, has obtained among the
white people here who have visited the quarters the name of "The Princess," on account of her fine personal appearance and
the deference that seemed to be paid to her by some of her companions. The persons we have here mentioned, including some
eight or ten others, evidently do not belong to the same tribe
that the rest do. Indeed the whole number is evidently taken from different tribes living in the interior of Africa, but the
greater number are "Congos." The women we have named have cut or shaved the hair off the back part of their head, from
a point on the crown to the back part of either ear. It is the
fashion of their tribe. None of the other women are thus shorn.
Many of the men, women, boys, and girls have filed their front
teeth -- some by sharpening them to a point, and others by cutting down the two upper front teeth. The persons above named
have their teeth in a natural state. Perhaps fifty in all are tattooed more or less.
Travelers describe the natives of Congo as being small of stature, cheerful, good-humored, unreflecting, and possessed of
little energy either of mind or body. Negro indolence is carried with them to the utmost excess. The little cultivation that
exists, entirely carried on by the females, is nearly limited to
the manioc root, which they are not very skillful in preparing.
Their houses are put together of mats made from the fibre of the palm-tree, and their clothes and bedding consist merely of
matted grass.
The President, on receiving news of the capture of the Wildfire, sent a special message to Congress on the subject, from
which we give an extract below. The subsequent capture of another slave ship with more Africans will probably lead to
some enactment on the subject. The President says: "The expenditure for the Africans captured on board the Wildfire
will not be less than one hundred thousand dollars, and may
considerably exceed that sum. But it will not be sufficient for Congress to
limit the amount appropriated to the case of the Wildfire. It is probable, judging from the increased activity of the slave-trade and the
vigilance of our cruisers, that several similar captures may be made
before the end of the year. An appropriation ought, therefore, to be
granted large enough to cover such contingencies. The period has arrived when it is indispensable to provide
some specific legislation for the guidance of the Executive on this subject. With this view, I would suggest
that Congress might authorize the President to enter into a general agreement with the Colonization Society,
binding them to receive, on the coast of Africa from our agent there, all the captured Africans which may be
delivered to him, and to maintain them for a limited period, upon such terms and conditions as may combine
humanity toward these unfortunates with a just economy. This would obviate the necessity of making a new bargain
with every new capture, and would prevent delay and avoid expense in the disposition of the captured. The
law might then provide that, in all cases where this may be practicable, the captor should carry the negroes
directly to Africa, and deliver them to the American agent there, afterward bringing the captured vessel to the
United States for adjudication. |
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