As for ourselves, the leads-men’s cry of a “half-three” told us that we were just on the reefs. By stopping and reversing the engines quickly, the “Hermes” was saved; but a few yards further, and we would have been on the coral reefs outside of Inhambane harbour.
As soon as the safety of H.M.S. “Hermes” would allow, a boat, with a lieutenant in command, was sent to board the stranger, which, now that she was at anchor, was observed to display the Portuguese ensign and pennant.
On the return of the boat, we learned that the stranger’s name was the “Zambesi;” that her rig was that of a patacheo or brigantine; that she was a vessel of war, belonging to His Most Faithful Majesty Don Pedro the Fifth, King of “Portugal and Algarves;” and that she had on board of her a Moor, who stated that he was in temporary command of her, while embarked with him was no less a personage than His Excellency the Ex-Governor of Inhambane. The Moor appeared to be entirely under the orders of the Ex-Governor of Inhambane, who wore the uniform of a Portuguese naval officer; and, when asked why he had not hove-to and communicated with a steamer, which, from her English ensign and appearance, must have been known at once for one of Her Britannic Majesty’s cruisers, he referred the lieutenant to the Ex-Governor of Inhambane. This officer, who was very much confused, could, or would not, give any explanation of his personating a slaver, by which we had lost valuable time, and perhaps a prize, and Her Majesty’s ship had been greatly jeopardized.
We subsequently learned that the Ex-Governor of Inhambane was Señhor Leotti, a Capitain de Corvette in the Portuguese Navy, and that he had left Inhambane that morning, after an ineffectual attempt to usurp the government from his successor, Major Olliveira.
It will be further shown, during the course of this personal narrative, that this Captain Leotti, a commander in the Portuguese navy, had in the “Zambesi” schooner, belonging to the Royal Navy of Portugal, communicated with the “Minnetonka” slaver that we were in search of on the first of July, the very day, it will be recollected, that we anchored off Port Natal, in the “Hermes.”
It will be proved by the clearest evidence, taken on oath, in documents laid before the British Parliament, that this slaver, the “Minnetonka,” lay at anchor off Barrow Hill, outside of Inhambane harbour, flying American colours; that while so lying at anchor off Inhambane, where she had anchored for a cargo of slaves, the Portuguese schooner “Zambesi,” with the ensign and royal pennant of Portugal flying, approached the slaver “Minnetonka,” and instead of capturing her, as she was bound to do by treaties with Great Britain (for the slaver was within gun-shot distance of the beach), made arrangements for supplying the slaver “Minnetonka” with slaves.
And it will be shown that when the British consul asked the Governor-general of Mozambique for a copy of the sentence of the court which had acquitted the Ex-Governor Leotti, and the Moor commanding the “Zambesi,” of the charge made against them, the consul’s house was mobbed by natives sent by the slave-dealers to endeavour to intimidate him; and during the stoning, which was indulged in by the natives against his house, his wife was wounded. All these things will be seen; and the reader is only now advised to bear in mind what has already been seen of the “Zambesi,” and those on board of her.
The harbour of Inhambane forms the mouth of a large river which has hitherto been unexplored, and is by some believed to be the Limpopo.
Sufficient is, however, known to justify one in stating that it communicates with the interior for a great extent, and that the country through which it has its course is rich in all the products of Eastern Africa.
Timber, of a large and superior quality, may be had in considerable quantities, while the harbour offers every facility for loading vessels with it. But, at the same time, it is proper to state that a cargo of timber has not been sent from this harbour within the memory of man; the only trade carried on being that in human beings.