There was at this time but little surgical knowledge, less skill, and no instruments at the settlement. Its dispensary was liberally furnished with James's powders and febrifuges; but for broken bones, and extracting pieces of pot-metal or copper ship-bolts from shattered limbs, there had been no provision whatever. A dull penknife or razor were substituted for lancets; and for probes there was nothing to be had but pieces of priming wire; the sufferings of those compelled to carry in their cankering wounds the corroding metal, were indescribably afflicting; and served to exemplify, most completely, the cruelty of placing men subject to the casualties of war, beyond the reach of surgical assistance.
A movement on the following night, supposed to indicate hostility, induced the officer, on duty at the western post, to open a pretty brisk fire of musketry, with several discharges from the large guns. This, however, proved a most fortunate circumstance, for it was not only the cause of bringing immediate relief to the settlement, but was finally productive of the most beneficial results.
The English colonial schooner, Prince Regent, laden with military stores, having as passengers Captain Laing of the Royal African Light Infantry, and a prize crew commanded by Midshipman Gordon, belonging to H.B.M. sloop of war, Driver, six days from Sierra Leone, bound for Cape Coast, was at the time in the offing (a little past the Cape). So unusual a circumstance as cannonading at midnight could not fail to attract notice, and the vessel lay to till morning, when a Krooman carried on board intelligence of the situation of the settlement, and was immediately despatched on shore with offers of assistance.
On the following day the officers landed, and kindly undertook to mediate on behalf of the colonists. An interview with the native Chiefs was without much difficulty procured, their warriors having dispersed, and themselves being overwhelmed with vexation and shame. After a little show of affected reluctance, they were easily induced to sign an instrument by which they became bound to observe an unlimited truce, and to refer all their future differences with the settlers to the arbitration of the Governor of Sierra Leone. It is scarcely necessary to remark that having no real grievances to submit, they never had recourse to this provisionary reference; from which time the colony has been considered invincible to native force, and consequently has been permitted to prosecute its plans in the utmost tranquillity, uninterrupted even by the semblance of war.
The death of the amiable and lamented Gordon, with eight out of eleven generous seamen, who volunteered their services to remain on the settlement to guarantee the truce settled by Captain Laing, was the first event that occurred to interrupt the general joy that prevailed after the consummation of peace; these gallant fellows all fell victims to the climate, within four weeks after the departure of the Prince Regent, on the 4th of December.
On the 8th of the same month, the colonists received fresh assistance through the friendly offices of Captain Wesley and his officers, whose vessel, a large privateer schooner, under Columbian colours, came to an anchor off the town. By the aid of mechanics, obtained from this vessel, the settlement was put into a superior state of defence, while the sufferings of the wounded were alleviated by the assiduous attentions of a skilful surgeon. After conferring upon the settlers countless obligations during a term of four weeks, Captain Wesley's vessel sailed, bearing with it the sincerest wishes of a grateful people.
The Agent's health, which had promised improvement, sunk into a state of hopeless debility, and by the 16th of December, medicines utterly failed to produce any beneficial effect. It was at this period that a remedy of the most singular nature was presented to him by a French charlatan, who, accidentally touching at the Cape, offered his services; a drowning wretch it is said will catch at a straw, and from despair rather than hope the Agent submitted to his adviser, and consented to try the effects of his prescription. A potion, was accordingly prepared, of which one ingredient was a spoonful of calomel! Having administered this, the Frenchman proceeded on his voyage, leaving the patient to abide the consequences of his docility. Such, however, was the weakness of his system, that he could neither throw it off, nor take it into circulation for five days. The crude poison was then voided, and a distressing salivation ensued, in the course of which all other morbid symptoms disappeared: by the middle of February, he was restored to health and the active duties of his station. Two out of the number of captive children had been delivered up for a small gratuity; five still remained, for whose release an extravagant ransom was demanded, terms steadily rejected by the colonists. It speaks well, however, for the humanity of the natives, that their first object had been to place these young prisoners in the care of experienced nurses. These protectresses so entirely won the affection of their charges, that when the chiefs determined eventually to restore them unransomed to their parents, they were obliged to be taken from their nurses by main force.
The long illness of the Agent, had relaxed the principle of industry and order, which he had been so anxious to establish; and on his recovery he found that it required all his influence to rouse the colonists into those exertions, which were necessary to secure their comfort, and the safety of their stores, during the rainy season. The huts were still without floors, and except the storehouse there was but one shingled roof, so that through the thatch of nearly all, the rain could easily penetrate in continued streams.
The store of provisions was now consumed, and still remained unreplenished by any shipment from America, while the neglect of effective financial arrangement on the part of the Colonization Society at home, rendered it difficult for the Agent to make purchases from occasional vessels, and he had already a larger pecuniary responsibility, than as an individual he could justify either to himself or others; the productions of the country had been rendered available, but the few disposable goods which the settlers possessed were now all exhausted in their purchases.
Matters had arrived at this extremity, when, on the 12th of March, the welcome intelligence of the arrival on the coast of the U.S. ship Cyane, R.T. Spence, Esq. was announced, by a Krooman from Sierra Leone. By the judicious and indefatigable exertions of that officer, the hulk of the dismantled and long-condemned schooner Augusta, was again floated, and metamorphosed into a seaworthy and useful vessel, on board which Captain Spence placed a crew and a quantity of stores for the new settlement, under the command of Lieut. Dashiell. Not satisfied with these important services, he rendered the Agent's house habitable, and caused the Martello tower to be completed, chiefly by the labour of his own crew, before the 20th of April; and it is to be deeply regretted that the sickness which had begun to make fearful inroads in the crew of his ship, during her stay at the Cape, terminated in the death of no less than forty persons, soon after her return to America.