1835 May 16. Joseph Allen to Buxton describing what he saw of the slave trade off the west coast of Africa when serving on 'H. …
1835; Gale Group;
Autores Resumo
E 45. pp 277-88 1835 May 16. Joseph Allen to Buxton describing what he saw of the slave trade off the west coast of Africa when serving on 'H.M.S. Sybille' for two and a half years from 1827 to 1829 and his experience of taking a captured slaver to Sierra Leone, a voyage of three weeks, during which they lost 35 slaves. He comments on the lack of encouragement received by the men in the squadron on the west coast, the mistaken inducement of head money offered to them on the number of slaves actually carried, proposing the substitution of head money for the number of slaves the vessels were fitted out to carry - this proving a greater inducement to capture the vessels. The naval squadron was not strong enough to be really effective and when he had been on it they had had to release slavers not in process of carrying slaves, whereas if the law was changed and head money given for their capacity the men would be eager to capture the empty vessels, the cost of keeping the slaves after capture would be avoided and the process much more speedy. His remedy was to allow search of every vessel, including the French and to condemn every one carrying the implements of the slave trade, destroy it and pay the captors head money for capacity. He insists that what he has written should be considered as confidential because of his youth when serving in the squadron and his obligation to his commodore which made him loathe to cast any aspersions on his service. He was at that time working as a Master at the Royal Hospital at Greenwich having lost both legs in an accident in an encounter with a slaver.
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