On the following day I received an intimation in writing from the city of Mozambique that a three-masted vessel was lying in Conducia Bay, shipping slaves; and having, on the 21st November, satisfied myself that two refractory slaves belonging to my neighbour, Brigadier Candido de Costa Soares, had been shipped on board a slaver in Conducia Bay, I no longer hesitated to address the Governor-general on the subject, simply writing to his Excellency “that I had received intelligence that a three-masted vessel was at anchor in Conducia Bay; and that there was reason to suppose that she was shipping a cargo of slaves.”
Now, this vessel was the celebrated “Charles et Georges,” and she was visible from the fort during the whole time that she was at anchor in Conducia Bay. Slaves were taken from the city of Mozambique, and put on board of her, and everyone in Mozambique was aware what trade she was engaged in.
No one moved in the matter until I addressed an official intimation to the Governor-general, and it is quite certain that if there had been no British consul at Mozambique she would never have been seized.
As soon as the Governor-general received my despatch, he sent a force overland, past my house, to Conducia Bay; and one of the obliging merchants of Mozambique offered his Excellency the use of the “Enigma” schooner to take the troops to Conducia Bay to seize the slaver. The troops embarked on board the “Enigma” at one o’clock in the afternoon, and that vessel did not raise her anchor until five in the evening. She dropped her anchor again in about an hour’s time, and remained in harbour until the next morning.
When the “Enigma” reached Conducia Bay, the slaver was gone; of course she was warned off, and the “Enigma” had been offered simply to detain the soldiers until the slaver escaped.
The Governor-general refitted the “Zambesi” schooner, already well known to the reader, and she was sent to sea in three days’ time.
The “Charles et Georges” had shipped some portion of her slaves, and as she left four thousand dollars on shore with the Portuguese official, the Sheik at Matabane, for the purchase of more slaves, it was natural that she should return.
Accordingly, while cruising off the coast, the “Zambesi” observed a strange three-masted vessel at anchor in Conducia Bay, and, bearing down on the stranger, boarded her on the 29th of November.
She was conveyed to Mozambique, and handed over to the judge, who condemned her, as he found that there were four thousand dollars on board of her, the handling of which he would of course have.
A small French war schooner was sent from Réunion to demand her restoration. The judge immediately represented that the slave barque “Charles et Georges” was improperly condemned, and advised the Governor-general to restore her.