6659. Mr. Forster.] You would not propose to punish the auctioneer who sold the vessel to the agent of Pedro Blanco?—No, he could not be responsible; he would be acting as a Government agent.
6660. Mr. Aldam.] If a vessel was purchased on behalf of a slave dealer at Sierra Leone, where would she clear for?—Probably for the Cape Verd Islands. I know two cases where the vessels cleared for the Cape Verd Islands; one of them I captured. I will state an instance of the way in which vessels not broken up pass into the slave trade again. The Republicano, a prize of the Fantome, was condemned at Sierra Leone; she was purchased by an individual known to be engaged in the slave trade; I went on board her and saw what her object was, that she was going to carry slaves, and I detained her.
6661*. The purchaser was a man known to be engaged in the slave trade?—Yes, and I detained her. When I went away myself I left orders with my agent, on no account to let her go without a decree of the court; but he thought that we could not prove sufficient to justify her detention, and he let her go. The purchaser then proceeded to the Cape de Verd Islands, and fitted her out for the slave trade, and she was taken off the Gallinas by Captain Hill, of the Saracen, perfectly equipped as a slave ship.
6662*. Who was the slave dealer?—He was an American; I forget his name.
6663*. Do you mean to say that he was a resident at Sierra Leone, carrying on the slave trade?—No; but I merely mention that as an instance of the way in which captured vessels, when not broken up, are afterwards employed again in the slave trade. I do not say that he was amenable to British law.
6664*. Chairman.] Was it the actual slave dealer who made the purchase in Sierra Leone?—He was a man known very well to be closely connected with a slave vessel lately condemned.
6665*. What was the nature of his real or supposed connexion with the slave trade?—I cannot exactly call to mind the proof of the fact; but that it was so a reference to the printed correspondence will show.
6666*. Mr. Aldam.] Whose name appeared as owner; was the owner of the ship that you captured a Spaniard or a Portuguese?—It was a Spanish master; she appeared as the property of the American who had made the purchase.
6667*. Chairman.] Have there been instances in which a slave dealer in his own person has come to Sierra Leone and made purchases of this kind?—In the case I have just mentioned he had been already brought to Sierra Leone in some vessel, but he was not known as Pedro Blanco was; but I believe there would be no means of preventing them from taking the vessel away, unless equipment was on board.
6668*. Has the colony of Sierra Leone in any other way contributed to the maintenance of the slave trade, besides the facilities which it has afforded of purchasing ships which have been condemned?—I have no doubt that some degree of communication has been kept up between the slave dealers in the neighbourhood of the Gallinas and the Sherboro’, and parties in Sierra Leone.