A new account of Guinea, and the slave-trade

by William Snelgrave

After I was got into the Hammock, Mr. Griffin, according to his Promise, walked by me, with his broad Sword in his Hand, to protect me from Insults. Some time after, it being about two a clock in the morning, the Pirate Boatswain (that attempted to kill me when taken) came on board very drunk, and being told I was in a Hammock, he came with his Cutlace near me. My generous Schoolfellow asked him what he wanted? he answered, “To slice my Liver, for I was a vile Dog, for ordering my People to fire on their Boat; neither would I deliver my Watch when the Quarter-master first demanded it.” Upon hearing that, I told Mr. Griffin, “The last was false, for I had immediately sent it by a Messenger, who only asked, what a clock it was? supposing the Quarter-master expected it.” Then Griffin bid the Boatswain keep his Distance, or else he would cleave his head asunder with his Broad Sword. Nevertheless, that bloody-minded Villain came on to kill me; but Mr. Griffin struck at him with his Sword, from which he had a narrow Escape, and then ran away: So I lay unmolested till day light. By that time the Fumes of the Liquor being gone off by Sleep amongst most of the Pirates, Mr. Griffin complained to the Quarter-master and Company, of the cruel Intention of the Boatswain towards me; representing, “They ought to observe strictly that Maxim established amongst them, not to permit any ill usage to their Prisoners after Quarter given.” At the hearing of this, many of them voted for his being whipp’d, tho’ he was a great Favourite of several others. But tho’ I wish’d him hang’d in my Mind yet I thought it prudent to plead for him; saying, “I believed it was his being in Liquor that was the cause of his using me in that manner.” So he received a general Order, not to give me the least Offence afterwards: Yet did that vile Wretch attempt once more to kill me, as shall be related in its due place.

I come now to relate, How Mr. Simon Jones, my first Mate, and ten of my Men entred with the Pirates. The Morning after we were taken, he came to me, and said, “His Circumstances were bad at home: Moreover, he had a Wife whom he could not love; and for these Reasons he had entred with the Pirates, and signed their Articles.” I was greatly surprized at this Declaration, and told him, “I was very sorry to hear it, for I believ’d he would repent when too late; and as he had taken this Resolution rashly, without communicating it to me, all I could say now would be to no Purpose; neither would it be proper for me, for the future, to have any Discourse with him in private.” I saw this poor Man afterwards despised by his Brethren in Iniquity; and have since been informed, he died a few Months after they left the River Sieraleon. However, I must do him the Justice to own, He never shewed any Disrespect to me; and the ten People he persuaded to enter with him, remained very civil to me, and of their own accord, always manned the side for me, whenever I went on board the Ship they belonged to.

Several of these unhappy People soon after repented, and desired me to intercede for them, that they might be cleared again; for they durst not themselves mention it to the Quarter-master, it being death by their Articles: But it was too nice a matter for me to deal in; and therefore I refused them.

Some days after this, one of these poor Men, whose name was Thomas Wilder, discovered things to me, of which I only had a suspicion before. After cursing Mr. Jones for persuading him to enter with the Pirates, he said to me, “That several times in the Night-watch, before we came to Sieraleon, he had heard him say, That he hoped we should meet with Pirates when we came to that River; which he then thought to be spoken only in jest; but now he found it too true.” As I seemed not to believe this, he called another of our People, who confirmed what he had told me. “Then I asked them the Reason why the Chest of Arms was put out of the place where it usually stood in the Steerage; and where it was hid at the time we were taken?” They answered, “I might remember, that the Morning we made Land, I ordered the Steerage to be clean’d; to do which all the Chests there were carried between Decks; and after the Steerage was clean’d, all the Chests were brought back again in their places, except the Chest of Arms, which was left behind by the Mate’s Order: That when I called to the People in the Steerage to fire on the Pirate-boat, supposing Mr. Jones had delivered them Arms according to my Order, many of the Men would have broken the Chest open, but he prevented them, by declaring, This was an opportunity he had wished for; and that if they fired a Musquet, they would be all cut to pieces.” And they further assured me, that to induce them to enter with the Pirates, he had declared to them, That I had promised him to enter my self. Putting all this together with what several of the Pirates told me afterwards, namely, That he had been the chief occasion of their keeping my Ship, it was a wonder that I escaped so well, having such a base Wretch for my principal Officer.

But to resume the thread of my Story. As soon as the Fumes of the Liquor were gone out of the Pirates Heads, they all went on board the Prize, as they called my Ship, about eight a clock in the morning, it being the second day of April. Mr. Jones, who had been my first Mate, went with them; and he having confirmed them in their intention of keeping the Ship for their own use, all hands went to work to clear the Ship, by throwing over board Bales of Woollen Goods; Cases of India Goods; with many other things of great Value: So that before night they had destroyed between three and four thousand Pounds worth of the Cargoe. For they had little regard to these things, Money and Necessaries being what they chiefly wanted. The sight of this much grieved me, but I was obliged in prudence to be silent. For my Schoolfellow told me, I was still under the displeasure of many of them, on account of my ordering my People to fire on their Boat when they took me.

There were then residing at Sieraleon, several Englishmen who traded on their own accounts; And among the rest, one Captain Henry Glynn, who was since Governor for the Royal African Company at Gambia, and died there. This Gentleman was an honest generous Person, and of so much Integrity, that tho’ he had suffered by the Pirates when they first landed, yet he would never accept of any Goods from them, which they had often press’d him to receive for his own use. This Conduct, with an engaging deportment, so gained him the Good-will of the Pirates, that they were ready to oblige him in whatever he requested. Captain Glynn and my self having formerly been acquainted, as soon as he heard of my being taken, he engaged Captain Davis and Le Boose, the Commanders of the two other Pirate Ships, who were then on Shore at his House, to come on board with him to see me. I was very agreeably surprized with his coming that Afternoon, and both the Pirate Captains that came with him saluted me civilly. Captain Davis told me, “He knew me,” tho’ I never could recollect where I had seen him; and I found, he did not care to tell, where he had seen me.

Soon after this, Captain Cocklyn with his Quarter-master and others, came from the Prize on board their old Ship, to compliment Captain Davis and the rest that came with him. After the Compliments were over, Captain Davis generously said, “He was ashamed to hear how I had been used by them. That they should remember, their Reasons for going a pirating were to revenge themselves on base Merchants, and cruel Commanders of Ships. That as for the Owner of the Prize, he had not his Fellow in London for Generosity and Goodness to poor Sailors, as he had formerly heard from others, and now from Captain Glynn: That as for my part, no one of my People, even those that had entered with them, gave me the least ill Character: But by their respect since shewn me, it was plain they loved me. That he indeed had heard the occasion of my ill usage, and of the ill-will some still bore me, was, because I had ordered my People to defend the Ship: Which he blamed them exceedingly for; saying, If he had had the good fortune to have taken me, and I had defended my Ship against him, he should have doubly valued me for it: That as he was not in Partnership with them, he would say no more at present; but that he hoped they would now use me kindly, and give me some Necessaries, with what remained undestroyed of my private Adventure.” This was by no means relished by this pack of Miscreants; for in their Hearts they hated Captain Davis, because he kept his Ship’s Company in good order, tho’ they were almost double their Number; and being a brave generous Man, they dreaded his Resentment. However Cocklyn, and the chief of his People putting a good face on the matter, invited him and Captain Glynn on board the Prize; and they two desiring I might accompany them, it was readily granted.