Africa and the American Flag

by Andrew H. Foote

Both vessels having arrived, a letter to the following purport was addressed to the commodore: “One hundred bags of farina, a large quantity of plank, sufficient to lay a slave-deck, casks and barrels of spirits, in sufficient quantity to contain water for a large slave-cargo, jerked beef, and other articles, were found on board the Chatsworth. These articles, and others on board, corresponded generally with the manifest, which paper was drawn up in the Portuguese language. A paper with the consular seal, authorizing the shipment of the crew, all foreigners, was also made out in the Portuguese language. In the register, the vessel was called a brig, instead of a brigantine. A letter of instructions from the reputed owner, a citizen of Baltimore, directed the American captain to leave the vessel whenever he should be directed to do so by the Italian supercargo. These, together with the report that the vessel on her last voyage had shipped a cargo of slaves, and her now being at the most notorious slave-station on the coast, impressed the commander of the Perry so strongly with the belief that the Chatsworth was a slaver, that he considered it his duty to direct the boarding-officer to take her in charge, and proceed in company with the Perry to Loanda, that the case might undergo a more critical examination by the commander-in-chief.”

The commodore, after visiting the Chatsworth in person, although morally certain she was a slaver, yet as the evidence which would be required in the United States Courts essential to her condemnation, was wanting, conceived it to be his duty to order the commander of the Perry to surrender the charge of that vessel, and return all the papers to her master, and withdraw his guard from her.

The captain of the Volusia now suddenly made his appearance at Loanda, having in his possession the sea-letter which the British commander who had captured him called a register, written on a sheet of foolscap paper, which from misapprehension he erroneously stated was destroyed by the master. This new matter was introduced in the discussion between the two commodores. The captain of the Volusia claimed that his vessel was bonâ fide American, stating that the sea-letter in his possession was conclusive evidence to that effect. No other subject than that of the nationality of the vessel, while treating upon this matter with an English officer, could be introduced. The sea-letter was laid before the commanders. This document bore all the marks of a genuine paper, except in having the word “signed” occurring before the consul’s signature, and partially erased. This seemed to indicate that it had been made out as a copy, and, if genuine, the consul had afterwards signed it as an original paper. The consular seal was impressed, and several other documents, duly sealed and properly certified, were attached, bearing strong evidence that the document was genuine.

The British commodore argued that the erasure of the word “signed,” even if it did not invalidate the document, gave good ground for the suspicion that the document was a forgery; and she being engaged in the slave-trade, the officer who captured her regarded the claim first set forth to American nationality as groundless.

The American commodore could not permit the character of the vessel to be assigned as a reason for her capture, and confined the discussion to the papers constituting the nationality of the vessel. He regarded the consular seal as genuine, and believed that, if the paper had been a forgery, care would have been taken to have had it drawn up without any erasure, or the word “signed.”

The discussion in relation to the Volusia and the Navarre, was renewed with the Chief-Justice and Judge of the Admiralty Court, soon after the arrival of the Perry at the island of St. Helena.

[8] The following letter from Viscount Palmerston to Sir H. L. Bulwer, then British Minister at Washington, appears in the Parliamentary Papers of 1851. LVI. Part I.

“Foreign Office, November 18, 1850.

“Sir,—I herewith transmit to you, for your information, a copy of a dispatch from the commodore in command of H. M. squadron on the west coast of Africa, respecting the circumstances under which the ship Martha was captured, on the 6th of June (1850) last, fully equipped for the slave-trade, by the U. S. brig-of-war Perry, and sent to the United States for trial.

“I have to instruct you to furnish me with a full report of the proceedings which may take place in this case before the courts of law in the United States.