1845.
The Island of Madagascar, in the Indian Ocean, lies 40 leagues east
of the continent of Africa, from which it is separated by the
Mozambique Channel. The country yields many sorts of timber, as well
as indigo, crystals, tortoise-shell, ebony, gums, honey, and other
valuable productions; but civilization is in a backward state. The
inhabitants are generally tall, well made, and of an olive
complexion, with black but not woolly hair. They are divided into a
number of tribes, and the island into 28 provinces, each of which has
its chief, or king, whose riches consist chiefly in cattle and
slaves. They are all tributary to the Ovahs, whose chief is, in
fact, king of the island, the seat of government being Tamatave.
In 1845 this dignity was vested in a female, the Queen Ranavala
Manjaka.
In June, 1845, H.M. frigate 'Conway,' and his French Majesty's ships
the 'Zelée' and the 'Berceau,' met in Tamatave Roads, according to an
arrangement agreed to by the Governors of Bourbon and the Mauritius.
The object of their voyage was to obtain from Ranavala Manjaka less
harsh conditions than those which she had imposed upon the European
traders, whom she had threatened with immediate expulsion and the
confiscation of their property, if they did not become naturalized
Malagash, that is, slaves. The representatives of the two nations
not having succeeded in their negotiations, an obstinate combat took
place, in which the English had 4 men killed and 1 officer and 11 men
wounded. The French, 3 officers and 14 men killed, and 1 officer and
42 men wounded.
On the afternoon of the 15th, 350 men, of whom 100 were French
soldiers, and the others belonging to the crews of the three ships,
under the command of Captain Feiseck and Lieut. Heseltine, landed and
advanced across a plain, under a sharp fire from the forts and
battery of grape and musketry. The enemy was driven out of the
battery, and the guns spiked. The outwork, or screen, which had been
supposed to be the fort itself, was stormed and taken. They here
discovered the real fort, which was a circular one, and mounting
about thirty guns, which were casemated, and in a circular gallery.
The wall was about thirty feet high, and surrounded by a ditch of
about the same width. Possession was kept of the top of the screen
for upwards of half an hour, and a constant fire kept up. Having no
means of breaching the wall, and the men falling fast, they retired,
carrying off a flag, for the possession of which the French and
English sailors disputed for a long time. The flag-staff had been
shot through, and it fell inside the circular fort on the edge of
which it had stood; it was then put on a lance, or something of the
kind, and stuck again on the wall, in a crevice of the stones. It
was shot away again, and this time it fell outwards, hanging down
within a few feet of the bottom of the ditch, between the inner fort
and the screen. Two English sailors and a midshipman, and two or
three Frenchmen, made a rush into the ditch after it, seized it, and
neither party being able to get it from the other, after struggling a
considerable time for it, in the very hottest part of the Malagash
fire, they were about to come to cutlass blows with one another, when
Lieut. Kennedy, of the 'Conway,' to prevent mischief, rushed down,
and with his knife cut it, giving half to each party. The standard
was of pure white, with the queen's name, "Ranavala Manjaka," in
large letters; two or three letters remained with the flag-staff.
The English got the "Manjaka," and the French, the major part of the
"Ranavala;" the English the "fly," and the French the "luff" of the
colour, as the sailors say.
In returning from this admirable arrangement, Lieut. Kennedy was
getting through one of the embrasures in the screen, when the gun
went off and killed several men, but he escaped with a wound from a
splinter through both thighs. The guard-house, custom-house, and a
considerable part of the town were burnt. The firing from the
men-of-war was pronounced excellent. The English and French landed
next day, and carried off all the remaining European property. The
wounded were all brought off, but not the killed, whose heads were
next day exposed on the beach, stuck on pikes. The men-of-war, and
all the merchant-ships there, sailed from the harbour. Nearly all
the Malagash balls had passed over the ships, which were anchored
about 800 yards from the shore.
LIEUT. F. J. D'AGUILAR DEFEATS AN ATTEMPT TO RETAKE
A PRIZE CAPTURED BY H.M.S. 'GRECIAN,' BRAZIL,
1848.
The 'Grecian,' having captured a clipper, Brazilian hermaphrodite
brig, with nearly 500 slaves on board, Lieut. D'Aguilar was placed in
charge of her as prize-master, with ten men, and ordered to proceed
to Bahia, the sloop following him thither. The prize duly arrived,
and anchored at Bahia before the 'Grecian,' and not the slightest
suspicion was entertained but that she was safe. In the course of
the day, however, Lieut. D'Aguilar received some hints to the effect
that a combination was being made on shore among the slavers to
attempt to retake the prize, and although nothing definite was
communicated, it was sufficient warning to him to be on the alert,
and to take precautions which saved him and his men from being
massacred. The evening passed off without disturbance, but, about
ten o'clock at night, several boats from the shore were soon pulling
for the brig, containing, it was estimated, 150 Brazilians. As they
neared the prize, they were hailed, and ordered to keep off, but with
some boldness they advanced alongside. Having approached too near to
be agreeable, Lieut. D'Aguilar endeavoured to check them by a
discharge of musketry, and this commenced a most severe conflict, as
the fire was returned by the pirates as they dashed alongside and
attempted to board. That firmness and undaunted bravery, however,
which is characteristic of British seamen, was here displayed in an
eminent degree, and the Brazilians, with their overpowering numbers,
were completely beaten off by Lieut. D'Aguilar and his little band,
with a loss, on the enemy's side it is said, of upwards of 10 killed
and 30 wounded. As may naturally be supposed, where the contest was
one at close quarters, and where each of the gallant defenders had so
many assailants to wait upon, they did not come out of the _mêlée_
unscathed. Scarcely one of them escaped a mark, and several of them
were severely wounded. Lieut. D'Aguilar received many hurts about
the head. It subsequently transpired that it was the intention of
the Brazilians to have silently got alongside the vessel, and to have
secured the prize-crew. They would then have cut the cables and made
sail, to land the cargo of slaves at another part of the coast. This
affair was the theme of general applause in the squadron on the
station.
DESTRUCTION OF A CHINESE PIRATE FLEET BY H.M.S.
'COLUMBINE' AND 'FURY,' AND STEAMER 'CANTON,'
CHINA,
1849.
The Chinese pirate chief Chin-a-poo first became known to the foreign
community of China as the murderer of Captain Da Costa and Lieut.
Dwyer, in February, 1849, at Hong Kong. On the discovery of his
crime, he fled from the island; a reward of 100_l._ sterling was put
upon his head, but nothing was heard of him until the 30th of
September following, when he was found at the head of a formidable
pirate fleet of 23 sail, averaging 500 tons each, and mounting 12 to
18-pounder carronades. H.M.S. 'Columbine' and 'Fury,' and the
Oriental Steam Navigation Company's vessel 'Canton,' were despatched
in search of him, and discovered the squadron in one of his
dockyards, upon the north-east coast, called "Pirates' Cove," not 50
miles distant from Hong Kong. All the junks were destroyed by fire,
besides three new ones on the stocks and two dockyards; and of the
1,800 men who manned them, about 1,400 were killed, the rest being
dispersed without a place to fly to. After the destruction of his
fleet, the pirate chief fled into the interior of China, and nothing
more was heard of him up to February, 1851, when he was unexpectedly
delivered up, bound and gagged, on board the H.E.I. Company's steamer
'Phlegethon.' He was tried for the murder, and sentenced to
transportation for life; but while the convict-ship was waiting to
convey him to Penang, he crowned his desperate career by strangling
himself in his cell in the Hong Kong prison.