The Sufferings and Escape of Capt. Chas. H. Brown From an Awful Imprisonment by Chilian Convicts

by captain of the bark Florida Charles H. Brown

The next three hours we spent in anxious listening to what was going on without; Mr. Dunn and myself now and then exchanging a word in a whisper. Every attempt that we made to look from our little window was prevented by our guard, who stood closely gathered about both door and window, every now and then looking in upon us. Without, all was very still and orderly; no noisy rioting to be heard, nothing, save every now and then the tread of soldiers, or the usual noises attending the regular military duty of a barrack yard. We expected every moment to hear the noise of firing, or some shout of exultation, if the officers of the Virago were entrapped as we had been; but all was quiet.

Towards the middle of the afternoon, the English mate and myself were taken out, and conducted to our old prison. All was quiet in the yard, and as I glanced around, I saw no new faces, no change in the arrangement of the soldiers, no building guarded but those which I had been accustomed to recognize as prisons for my crew, the crew of the E. Cornish, and the room where captain Avalos, and the prisoners with him, were confined.

Arrived at our old home, the guard became more communicative, and told me that our prison had been changed to keep us out of sight of the English officers, who had come on shore, visited the barracks, and the Florida, and had left the harbor without having their suspicions excited. This chance of escape was lost to us then. I felt very indignant at what seemed to me the unparalleled stupidity of the officers of the Virago, and yet it is very possible that had their suspicions been excited, we might all have fallen victims to the revengeful spirit of the rebels, before any thing could have been done for our rescue.

During that evening and the next day, I managed to extract from my guard and from one or two of my fellow voyagers, the Chilian prisoners, who had now become almost regular visitors to my room, an account of all that had occurred during the visit of the Virago to the colony.

On the steamer’s casting anchor, Cambiaso had manifested a great desire to capture her; probably expecting something of a prize on board of her, and perhaps wishing to have in his hands so powerful a vessel. He had called a meeting of his officers, to consult upon the most advisable plan to pursue, to accomplish the capture. The first plan proposed, was that which had been so successful in our case and that of the English brig: to seize the officers as they came on shore, and kill them at once, to avoid the necessity of employing men to guard them; then to board the steamer and take her, having first enticed away as many of the officers and crew as possible. The sight of the big guns, which showed their teeth all along the side of the steamer; their knowledge of the excellent discipline on board a British man-of-war; of the capability of even the smallest midshipman to take command of the crew in case of the absence of the superior officers, all deterred the pirates from attempting this plan of capture.

The difficulties in the way of the capture were, I heard, discussed very freely; general Garcia being most earnest in insisting upon them. The chief, or rather the first difficulty suggested by him, was that the officers might come on shore so well attended that a fight might be necessary, to overcome them; and that the noise of the struggle might excite the suspicions of those on board, when the whole colony would be at the mercy of the guns of the Virago. This plan was put to the vote among the officers, and after voting upon it nine times, it was rejected. Once, I was told, it came within one vote of being accepted.

The next proposition was worthy of the blood-thirsty wretches. It was that such officers should be invited to dine with Cambiaso, he supporting the character of governor of the colony; and that poison should be mingled with some of the dishes of which the officers were to partake; but this plan also was rejected. The rebels must have felt that it was too uncertain, even if human nature did not make them feel something revolting in it. It was then proposed that some of the officers of Cambiaso should be sent on board the steamer, with an invitation to the captain to land, and that they should, on their return, report the appearance of things. This was agreed to, and the spies were sent; but their report of the order and discipline on board, the well manned guns, the well drilled marines, determined Cambiaso to give up all hopes of capturing the vessel, and to confine himself to attempting to elude suspicion. The officers of the Virago landed, and were shown through the fortification and the colony, Cambiaso attending them. I was told that one of the prisoners, Mr. Dunn, who talked both English and Spanish, was taken from his prison, and after being threatened with instant death if he revealed the true state of things, was employed to interpret for Cambiaso; while at the same time two of the rebels who had some knowledge of English, were ordered to watch him, and report any thing which might sound suspicious.

The captain of the Virago asked what vessels those were lying at anchor. Cambiaso answered that they belonged to him; remarking that the brig had prisoners on board of her—some of the convicts whom he had not the conveniences for keeping in close confinement on shore; and that as the vessel was only used as a prison, there would be nothing interesting to them in going on board of her.

The captain and officers afterwards visited the Florida, from which all my crew had been removed except the steward, a negro man, and on board which were living five or six of Cambiaso’s followers. How the English officers could be so blind as not to read on the stern of the barque the name, “Florida, of New Orleans,” and on the brig, “Eliza Cornish, of Liverpool,” or not to have their suspicions excited, if they did read those names, is incomprehensible to me. It would seem that their own common sense would have told them that such a colony could not hold vessels; or if it did, that the vessels would be Chilian—not American, or English. I was told that Cambiaso made the captain a present of eighty or ninety tons of coal, of which the Virago was in need; but I could not but think there must be some mistake about this. The coal was perhaps bought by the Virago. Surely, Her British Majesty’s vessels do not accept such presents as that from the governor of a small penal colony, on the shores of Patagonia. So large a quantity of coal would be a very valuable gift in such a place as that, where all the fuel, except the brush-wood from the scrubby forests around, must be brought from abroad.

Cambiaso told the captain, whose name I afterwards learnt was Stewart, that several of his prisoners had escaped, and were now lurking about the woods at Port Famine; and if, on the steamer’s anchoring there to take in some of this coal, which lay on the shore, any of these prisoners should wish to be taken on board the Virago, he wished captain Stewart to order his men to drive them away, and to hold no communication with them. Some of the soldiers who escaped with the governor, had, it appears, never been re-taken, and Cambiaso feared their report to the English vessel.