FIRST VOYAGE TO THE DARK CONTINENT.
AN act of Congress passed March 3, 1819, favored the schemes of the
American Colonization Society. A man-of-war was ordered to convoy the
first company of black colonists to Africa, in the ship _Elizabeth_, to
display the American flag on the African coast, and to assist in
sweeping the seas of slavers. The vessel chosen was the _Cyane_, an
English-built vessel, named after the nymph who amused Proserpine when
carried off by Pluto. One of the pair captured by Captain Stewart of the
U. S. S. _Constitution_, in his memorable moonlight battle of February
20, 1815, the _Cyane_ mounted thirty-four guns, and carried one hundred
and eighty-five men. Rebuilt for the American navy, her complement was
two hundred sailors and twenty-five marines. Captain Edward Trenchard,
who commanded her, was a veteran of the Tripolitan and second British
war. From the Mahometan pirates, when a mere lad, he had assisted to
capture the great bronze gun that now adorns the interior gateway of the
Washington Navy Yard.
Athirst for enterprise and adventure, Perry applied for sea service and
appointment on the _Cyane_. It was not so much the idea of seeing the
“Dark Continent,” as of seeing “Guinea” which charmed him. “Africa” then
was a less definite conception than to us of this age of Livingstone,
Stanley, and the free Congo State. “Guinea” was more local, while yet
fascinating. From it had come, and after it was named, England’s largest
gold coin, which had given way but a year or two before to the legal
“sovereign,” though sentimentally remaining in use. British ships were
once very active in the Guinea traffic in human flesh, some of them
having been transferred to the German slave-trade to carry the Hessian
mercenaries to America. Curiosities from the land of the speckled
champions of our poultry yards, were in Perry’s youth as popular as are
those from Japan in our day. On the other hand, the dreaded “Guinea
worm,” or miniature fiery serpent, and the deadly miasma, made the coast
so feared, that the phrase “Go to Guinea,” became a popular malediction.
All these lent their fascination to a young officer who loved to
overcome difficulties, and “the danger’s self, to lure alone.” He was
assigned to the _Cyane_ as first lieutenant. As executive officer he was
busy during the whole autumn in getting her ready, and most of the
letters from aboard the _Cyane_, to the Department, are in his
handwriting, though signed by the commanding officer.
For the initial experiment in colonization, the ship _Elizabeth_, of
three hundred tons, was selected. Thirty families, numbering eighty-nine
persons, were to go as passengers and colonists. A farewell meeting,
with religious exercises, was held in New York, and the party was
secretly taken on board January 3. This was done to avoid the tremendous
crowd that would have gathered to see people willing to “go to Guinea.”
The time of year was not favorable for an auspicious start, for no
sooner were the colored people aboard, than the river froze and the
vessel was ice-bound. As fast locked as if in Polar seas, the
_Elizabeth_ remained till February 6, when she was cut out by contract
and floated off. In the heavy weather, convoy and consort lost sight of
each other. Cased in ice, the _Cyane_ pulled her anchor-chains three
days, then spent from the 10th to the 15th in searching for the
_Elizabeth_, which meanwhile had spread sail and was well on toward the
promised land. All this was greatly to the wrath of Captain Trenchard.
The Cape de Verdes came into view March 9, after a squally passage, and
on the 27th, anchor was cast in Sierra Leone roads. The _Elizabeth_
having arrived two days before had gone on to Sherbro.
A cordial reception was given the American war vessel by the British
naval officers and the governor. Memories of the Revolution were
recalled by the Americans. It may be suspected that they cheerfully hung
their colors at half-mast on account of the death of George III. His
reign of sixty years was over.
To assist the colony, a part of the crew of the _Cyane_, most of them
practical mechanics, with tools and four months provisions, under
Lieutenant John S. Townsend, was despatched to Sherbro. Immediate work
was found for the _Cyane_ in helping to repress a mutiny on an American
merchant vessel. This done, a coasting cruise for slavers followed in
which four prizes were made. The floating slave-pens were sent home, and
their officers held for trial. Other sails were seen and chased, and
life on the new station promised to be tolerable. Except when getting
fresh water the ship was almost constantly at sea, and all were well and
in good spirits.
Perry enjoyed richly the wonders both of the sea and the land flowing
with milk of the cocoa-nut. Branches of coffee-berries were brought on
ship, the forerunner of that great crop of Liberian coffee which has
since won world-wide fame. The delicious flavor of the camwood blossoms
permeated the cabin.
Among the natives on shore each tribe seemed to have a designating mark
on the face or breast—cut, burned or dyed—by which the lineage of
individuals was easily recognized. The visits of the kings, or chiefs,
to the ships, were either for trade or beggary. In the former case, the
dusky trader was usually accompanied by the scroff or “gold-taker,” who
carefully counted and appraised the “cut-money” or coins. When cautioned
to tell the truth, or confirm a covenant, their oath was made with the
“salt-fingers” raised to heaven, some of this table mineral being at the
same time mixed with earth and eaten, salt being considered sacred.
The dark and mysterious history of Africa, for centuries, has been that
of blood and war. The battle-field was the “bed of honor,” and
frequently the cannibals went forth to conflict with their kettles in
hand ready to cook their enemies at once when slain. Women at the tribal
assemblies counselled war or peace, and were heard with respect by the
warriors. Almost all laws were enforced by the power of opinion, this
taking the place of statutes.
The climate and the unscientific methods of hygiene, in the crowded
ship, soon began to tell upon the constitutions of the men on the
_Cyane_. Tornados, heavy rain, with intense heat, par-boiled the
unacclimated white seamen, and many fell ill. The amphibious Kroomen
relieved the sailors of much exposure; but the alternations of chill and
heat, with constant moisture, and foul air under the battened hatches,
kept the sick bay full. Worst of all, the dreaded scurvy broke out. They
were then obliged to go north for fresh meat and vegetables. A pleasant
incident on the way was their meeting with the U. S. S. _Hornet_,
twenty-seven days from New York. At Teneriffe, in the Canary Islands,
during July, the _Cyane_, though in quarantine, received many enjoyable
courtesies from the officers of a French seventy-four-gun-ship in the
harbor.
When quarantine was over, and the _Cyane_ admitted to Pratique,
Lieutenant Perry went gratefully ashore to tender a salute to the
Portuguese governor. In an interview, Perry informed his worship of the
object of the American ship’s visit, and stated that the _Cyane_ would
be happy to tender the customary salute if returned gun for gun. The
governor replied that it would give him great pleasure to return the
salute—but with one gun less; as it was not customary for Portugal to
return an equal number of guns to republican governments, but only to
those of acknowledged sovereigns. This from Portuguese!
Perry replied, in very plain terms, that no salute would be given, as
the government of the United States acknowledged no nation as entitled
to greater respect than itself.
The only greeting of the _Cyane_ as she showed her stern to the governor
and the port, was that of contemptuous silence. By September 20, the
_John Adams_ was off the coast, the three vessels making up the American
squadron.
The first news received from the colonists was of disaster. On their
arrival at Sherbro they landed with religious exercises, and met some of
Paul Cuffee’s settlers sent out some years before. The civilized negroes
from the _Elizabeth_ were shocked beyond measure at the heathenish
display of cuticle around them. They had hardly expected to find their
aboriginal brethren in so low an estate. They could not for a moment
think of fraternizing with them. Owing to the lateness of the season,
they were unable to build houses to shelter themselves from the rains.
All had taken the African fever, and among the first victims was their
leader, the Rev. Mr. Bacon. From the Rev. Daniel Cokes, the acting agent
of the colonization society, the whole miserable story was learned. The
freed slaves who, even while well fed and housed on ship, had shown
occasional symptoms of disobedience, broke out into utter
insubordination when “the sweets of freedom in Africa” were translated
into prosy work. After Bacon’s death there was total disorder; no
authority was acknowledged, theft became alarmingly common, and the
agent’s life was threatened.
The native blacks, noticing the state of things, took advantage of the
feuds and ignorance of the settlers and refused to help them. Sickness
carried off the doctor and all of the _Cyane’s_ boat crew. Yet the
fever, while fatal to whites, was only dangerous to the negro colonists.
Twenty-three out of the eighty-nine had died, and of these but nineteen
by fever. The rest, demoralized and discouraged, gave way to their worst
natures.
The colony which had been partly projected to receive slaves captured by
United States vessels, for the present, at least, proving a failure,
Captain Trenchard requested the governor of Sierra Leone to receive such
slaves as should hereafter be liberated by Americans. The governor
acceded, and the _Cyane_ turned her prow homeward October 4, and after a
fifty-seven days’ experience of constant squalls and calms, until
December 1, arrived at New York on Christmas day. Emerging from tropical
Africa, even the intermediate ocean voyage did not prepare the men for
the severe weather of our latitude, and catarrhs and fevers broke out.
The ship, too, was full of cases of chronic sickness. Between disease
and the elements, the condition of the crew was deplorable.
In this, his first African cruise, Perry, as usual, profited richly by
experience. He had made a systematic study of the climate, coast, and
ship-hygiene. He believed, and expressed his conviction, that for much
of the preventible sickness some one was responsible. Though, thereby,
he lost the good will of certain persons, Lieutenant Perry rendered
unquestionable benefits to later ships on the African station. During
the next year, the U. S. S. _Nautilus_, with two agents of the
government, and two of the colonization societies, sailed with a fresh
lot of colonists for Africa. Thus the slow work of building up the first
and only American colony recognized by the United States went on.
There were some far-seeing spirits on both sides of Mason and Dixon’s
line, who had begun to see that the only real cure for the African
slave-trade, on the west coast of Africa, was its abolition in America.
The right way for the present, however, was to carry the war into Africa
by planting free colonies.