"Land ho! broad on the port bow!"
The cry arose from the look-out on the forecastle of her Britannic
Majesty's 18-gun brig _Barracouta_, on a certain morning near the middle
of the month of November, 1840; the vessel then being situated in about
latitude 6 degrees 5 minutes south and about 120 east longitude. She
was heading to the eastward, close-hauled on the port tack, under every
rag that her crew could spread to the light and almost imperceptible
draught of warm, damp air that came creeping out from the northward. So
light was the breeze that it scarcely wrinkled the glassy smoothness of
the long undulations upon which the brig rocked and swayed heavily while
her lofty trucks described wide arcs across the paling sky overhead,
from which the stars were vanishing one after another before the advance
of the pallid dawn. And at every lee roll her canvas flapped with a
rattle as of a volley of musketry to the masts, sending down a smart
shower from the dew-saturated cloths upon the deck, to fill again with
the report of a nine-pounder and a great slatting of sheets and blocks
as the ship recovered herself and rolled to windward.
The brig was just two months out from England, from whence she had been
dispatched to the West African coast to form a portion of the
slave-squadron and to relieve the old _Garnet_, which, from her
phenomenal lack of speed, had proved utterly unsuitable for the service
of chasing and capturing the nimble slavers who, despite all our
precautions, were still pursuing their cruel and nefarious vocation with
unparalleled audacity and success. We had relieved the _Garnet_, and
had looked in at Sierra Leone for the latest news; the result of this
visit being that we were now heading in for the mouth of the Congo,
which river had been strongly commended to our especial attention by the
Governor of the little British colony. Our captain, Commander Henry
Stopford, was by no means a communicative man, it being a theory of his
that it is a mistake on the part of a chief to confide more to his
officers than is absolutely necessary for the efficient and intelligent
performance of their duty; hence he had not seen fit to make public the
exact particulars of the information thus received. But he had of
course made an exception in favour of Mr Young, our popular first luff;
and as I--Henry Dugdale, senior mid of the _Barracouta_--happened to be
something of a favourite with the latter, I learned from him, in the
course of conversation, some of the circumstances that were actuating
our movements. The intelligence, however, was of a very meagre
character, and simply amounted to this: That large numbers of African
slaves were being continually landed on the Spanish West Indian islands;
that two boats with their crews had mysteriously disappeared in the
Congo while engaged upon a search of that river for slavers; and that a
small felucca named the _Wasp_--a tender to the British ship-sloop
_Lapwing_--had also disappeared with all hands, some three months
previously, after having been seen in pursuit of a large brig that had
come out of the river; these circumstances leading to the inference that
the Congo was the haunt of a strong gang of daring slavers whose capture
must be effected at any cost.
It was for this service that the _Barracouta_ had been selected, she
being a brand-new ship especially built for work on the West African
coast, and modelled to sail at a high speed upon a light draught of
water. She was immensely beamy for her length, and very shallow,
drawing only ten feet of water with all her stores and ammunition on
board, very heavily sparred--_too_ heavily, some of us thought--and, as
for canvas, her topsails had the hoist of those of a frigate of twice
her tonnage. She was certainly a beautiful model of a ship--far and
away the prettiest that I had ever seen when I first stepped on board
her--while her speed, especially in light winds and tolerably smooth
water, was such as to fill us all, fore and aft, with the most
extravagant hopes of success against the light-heeled slave clippers
whose business it was ours to suppress. She was a flush-decked vessel,
with high, substantial bulwarks pierced for nine guns of a side, and she
mounted fourteen 18-pounder carronades and four long nine-pounders, two
forward and two aft, which could be used as bow and stern-chasers
respectively, if need were, although we certainly did not anticipate the
necessity to employ any of our guns in the latter capacity. Our crew,
all told, numbered one hundred and sixty-five.
I was in the first lieutenant's watch, and happened to be on deck when
the look-out reported land upon the morning upon which this story opens.
I remember the circumstance as well as though it had occurred but
yesterday, and I have only to close my eyes to bring the whole scene up
before my mental vision as distinctly as a picture. The brig was, as I
have already said, heading to the eastward, close-hauled, on the port
tack, under everything that we could set, to her royals; but the wind
was so scant that even the light upper sails flapped and rustled
monotonously to the sleepy heave and roll of the ship, and it was only
by glancing through a port at the small, iridescent air-bubbles that
drifted astern at the rate of about a knot and a half in the hour that
we were able to detect the fact of our own forward movement at all. We
had been on deck just an hour--for two bells had barely been struck--
when the first faint suggestion of dawn appeared ahead in the shape of a
scarcely-perceptible lightening of the sky along a narrow strip of the
eastern horizon, in the midst of which the morning star beamed
resplendently, while the air, although still warm, assumed a freshness
that, compared with the close, muggy heat of the past night, seemed
almost cold, so that involuntarily I drew the lapels of my thin jacket
together and buttoned the garment from throat to waist. Quickly, yet by
imperceptible gradations, the lightening of the eastern sky spread and
strengthened, the soft, velvety, star-lit, blue-black hue paling to an
arch of cold, colourless pallor as the dawn asserted itself more
emphatically, while the stars dwindled and vanished one by one in the
rapidly-growing light. As the pallor of the sky extended itself
insidiously north and south along the horizon, a low-lying bank of what
at first presented the appearance of dense vapour became visible on the
_Barracouta's_ larboard bow; but presently, when the cold whiteness of
the coming day became flushed with a delicate tint of purest, palest
primrose, the supposed fog-bank assumed a depth of rich purple hue and a
clear-cut sharpness of outline that proclaimed it what it was--_land_,
most unmistakably. The look-out was a smart young fellow, who had
already established a reputation for trustworthiness, and he more than
half suspected the character of the cloud-like appearance when it first
caught his attention; he therefore kept his eye upon it, and was no
sooner assured of its nature than he raised the cry of--
"Land ho! broad on the port bow!"
The first luff, who had been for some time meditatively pacing the
weather side of the deck from the binnacle to the gangway, with his
hands clasped behind his back and his glance directed alternately to the
deck at his feet and to the swaying main-royal-mast-head, quickly awoke
from his abstraction at the cry from the forecastle, and, springing
lightly upon a carronade slide, with one hand grasping the inner edge of
the hammock-rail, looked long and steadily in the direction indicated.
"Ay, ay, I see it," he answered, when after a long, steady look he had
satisfied himself of the character of what he gazed upon. "Wheel,
there, how's her head?"
"East-south-east, sir!" answered the helmsman promptly.
The lieutenant shut one eye and, raising his right arm, with the hand
held flat and vertically, pointed toward the southern extremity of the
distant land, held it there for a moment, and murmured--
"A point and a half--east-half-south, distant--what shall we say--twenty
miles? Ay, about that, as nearly as may be. Mr Dugdale, just slip
below and let the master know that the land is in sight on the port bow,
bearing east-half-south, distant twenty miles."
I touched my cap and trundled down to the master's cabin, the door of
which was hooked back wide open, permitting the cool, refreshing morning
air that came in through the open scuttle free play throughout the full
length of the rather circumscribed apartment in which Mr Robert Bates
lay snoring anything but melodiously. Entering the cabin, I grasped the
worthy man by the shoulder and shook him gently, calling him by name at
the same time in subdued tones in order that I might not awake the
occupants of the contiguous berths.
"Ay, ay," was the answer, as the snoring abruptly terminated in a
convulsive snort: "Ay, ay. What's the matter now, youngster? Has the
ship tumbled overboard during the night, or has the skipper's cow gone
aloft to roost in the main-top, that you come here disturbing me with
your `Mr Bates--Mr Bates'?"
"Neither, sir," answered I, with a low laugh at this specimen of our
worthy master's quaint nautical humour; "but the first lieutenant
directed me to let you know that the land is in sight on the port bow,
bearing east-half-south, distant twenty miles."
"What, already?" exclaimed my companion, scrambling out of his cot,
still more than half asleep, and landing against me with a force that
sent me spinning out through the open doorway to bring up prostrate with
a crash in the cabin of the doctor opposite, half stunned by the
concussion of my skull against the bulkhead and by the avalanche of
ponderous tomes that came crashing down upon me as the worthy medico's
tier of hanging bookshelves yielded and came down by the run at my wild
clutch as I stumbled over the ledge of the cabin-door.
"Murther! foire! thieves! it's sunk, burnt, desthroyed, and kilt
intoirely that I am!" roared poor Blake, rudely awakened out of a sound
sleep by the crashing fall of his pet volumes upon the deck and by a
terrific thwack across the face that I had inadvertently dealt him as I
fell. "Fwhat is it that's happenin' at all, thin? is it a collision? or
is it a case of sthrandin'? or"--he looked over the edge of his cot and
saw me sitting upon the deck, ruefully rubbing the back of my head while
I vainly struggled to suppress my laughter at the ridiculous
_contretemps_--"oh! so it's _you_, thin, is it, Misther Dugdale? Bedad,
but you ought to be ashamed of yoursilf to be playin' these pranks--a
lad of your age, that's hitherto been the patthern of good behaviour!
But wait a little, my man--sthop till I tell the first liftinint of your
outhrageous conduct--"
By this time I thought that the matter had gone far enough; more over, I
had in a measure recovered my scattered senses, so I scrambled to my
feet and, as I re-hung the book shelf and replaced the books, hurriedly
explained to the good man the nature of the mishap, winding up with a
humble apology for having so rudely broken in upon what he was pleased
to call his "beauty shlape." Understanding at once that my involuntary
incursion into the privacy of his cabin had been the result of pure
accident, "Paddy," as we irreverently called him--his baptismal name was
William--very good-naturedly accepted my explanation and apology, and
composed himself to sleep again, whereupon I retreated in good order and
re-entered the master's cabin. The old boy had by this time slipped on
his breeches and coat, and was bending over the table with the chart of
"Africa--West Coast" spread out thereon, and a pencil and parallel ruler
in his hands. He indulged in one or two of the grimly humorous remarks
that were characteristic of him in reference to my disturbance of the
doctor's slumbers; and then, pointing to a dot that he had just made
upon the chart, observed--
"If the first lieutenant's bearing and distance are right, that's where
we are, about twelve miles off Shark Point, and therefore in soundings.
Did _you_ see the land, Mr Dugdale? What was it like?"
"It made as a long stretch of undulating hills sloping gently down to
the horizon at its southernmost extremity, and extending beyond the
horizon to the northward," I replied.
"Ay, ay, that's right; that's quite right," agreed the master. "It is
that range of hills stretching along parallel with the coast on the
north side of the river, and reaching as far as Kabenda Point,"
indicating the markings on the chart as he spoke. "Well, let us go on
deck and get a cast of the lead; it is time that we ascertained the
exact position of the ship, for the deep-water channel is none too wide,
and although there seems to be plenty of water for us over the banks on
either side, I have no fancy for trusting to the soundings laid down
here on the chart. These African rivers are never to be depended upon,
the shoals are constantly shifting, and where you may find water enough
to float a line-of-battle ship to-day, you may ground in that same
ship's launch a month hence."
He rolled up the chart, tucked it under his arm, gathered up his
parallel ruler, pencil, and dividers, and together we left the cabin and
made our way up the hatchway to the deck, where we found the first luff
still perched upon the carronade slide, anxiously scanning the horizon
on either bow under the sharp of his hand.
As we reached the deck a spark of golden fire flashed out upon the
horizon on our lee bow, and the sun's disc soared slowly into view,
warming the tints of a long, low-lying broken bank of grey cloud that
stretched athwart his course into crimson, and fringing its skirts with
gold as his first beams shot athwart the heaving water to the ship in a
tremulous path of shimmering, dazzling radiance.
The lieutenant caught a glimpse of us out of the corner of his eye as we
emerged from the hatchway, and at once stepped down off the slide on to
the deck.
"Good-morning, Bates," said he. "Well, here we are, with the land
plainly in view, you see; and I am glad that you have come on deck to
tell us just _where_ we are, for all this part of the world is quite new
ground to me. We are closer in than I thought we were, for just before
the sun rose the horizon ahead cleared, and I caught sight of what
looked like the tops of trees, both on the port and on the starboard
bow--you can't see them now for the dazzle, but you will presently, when
the sun is a bit higher--and there seemed to be an opening or
indentation of some sort between them, which I take to be the mouth of
the river."
"Ay, ay," answered Bates, "that will be it, no doubt." He sprang on to
the slide that Young had just vacated, took a long look at the land, and
then, turning to the helmsman, demanded, "How's her head?"
"East-south-east, sir," answered the man for the second time.
With this information the master in his turn took an approximate bearing
of the southernmost extremity of the range of hills, after which he
stepped down on to the deck again and, going to the capstan, spread out
his chart upon the head of it, calling me to help him keep the roll
open. The lieutenant followed him, and stood watching as the master
again manipulated his parallel ruler and dividers.
"Yes," remarked Bates, after a few moments' diligent study, "that's just
about where we are," pointing to the mark that he had made upon the
chart while in his own cabin. "And see," he continued, glancing out
through the nearest lee port, "we have reached the river water; look how
brown and thick it is, more like a cup of the captain's chocolate than
good, wholesome salt water. We will try a cast of the lead, Mr Young,
if you please, just to make sure; though if we are fair in the channel,
as I think we are, we shall get no bottom as yet. Nor shall we make any
headway until the wind freshens or the sea-breeze springs up, for we are
already within the influence of the outflowing current, and at this
season of the year--which is the rainy season--it runs very strongly a
little further in."
The lead was hove, but, as Bates had anticipated, no bottom was found;
whereupon the master rolled up his chart again, gave orders that the
ship was to be kept going as she was, and returned to his cabin, while
the watch mustered their buckets and scrubbing-brushes and proceeded to
wash decks and generally make the brig's toilet for the day.
Our worthy master was right; we did not make a particle of headway until
about nine o'clock, when the wind gradually hauled round aft and
freshened to a piping breeze before which we boomed along in fine style
until we came abreast of a low, narrow point on our port hand, protected
from the destructive action of the Atlantic breakers by a shoal
extending some three-quarters of a mile to seaward. Abreast of this
point we hauled up to the northward and entered a sort of bay about
half-a-mile wide, with the low point before-mentioned on our port hand,
and a wide mud-bank to starboard, beyond which was an island of
considerable extent, fringed with mangroves and covered with thick bush
and lofty trees. On the low point on our port hand were two
"factories," or trading establishments, abreast of which were lying two
brigs and a barque, one of the brigs flying British and the other
Spanish colours, while the barque sported the Dutch ensign at her
mizen-peak. We rounded-to just far enough outside these craft to give
them a clear berth, and let go our anchor in four fathoms of water.
It was a queer spot that we now found ourselves in; queer to me at
least, who was now entering upon my first experience of West African
service. We were riding with our head to the north-west under the
combined influence of wind and tide together, with the low point--named
Banana Peninsula, so the master informed me, though _why_ it should be
so named I never could understand, for there was not a single
banana-tree upon the whole peninsula, as I subsequently ascertained.
Let me see, where was I? I have gone adrift among those non-existent
banana-trees. Oh yes, I was going to attempt to make a word-sketch of
the scene which surrounded us after we had let go our anchor and furled
our canvas. The sea-breeze was piping strong from the westward, while
the tide was ebbing down the creek from the northward, and under these
combined influences the _Barracouta_ was riding with her head about
north-west. Banana Peninsula lay ahead of us, trending away along our
larboard beam and slightly away from us to the southward for about
half-a-mile, where it terminated in a sandy beach bordered by a broad
patch of smooth water, athwart which marched an endless line of mimic
breakers from the wall of flashing white surf that thundered upon the
outer edge of the protecting shoal three-quarters of a mile to seaward.
The point was pretty thickly covered with bush and trees, chiefly
cocoa-nut and other palms--except in the immediate vicinity and in front
of the two factories, where the soil had been cleared and a sort of
rough wharf constructed by driving piles formed of the trunks of trees
into the ground and wedging a few slabs of sawn timber in behind them.
The point, for a distance of perhaps a mile from its southern extremity,
was very narrow--not more than from one hundred and fifty to two hundred
yards wide--but beyond that it widened out considerably until it merged
in the mainland. On the opposite side of the creek, on our starboard
quarter and astern of us, was what I at first took to be a single
island, but which I subsequently found to be a group of about a dozen
islands, of which the smallest may have been half-a-mile long by about a
third of a mile broad, while the largest was some nine or ten miles long
by about three miles broad. These islands really constituted the
northern bank of the river for a distance some twenty-four miles up the
stream, being cut off from the mainland and from each other by narrow
canal-like creeks running generally in a direction more or less east and
west. The land all about here was low, and to a great extent swampy,
the margin of the creeks being lined with mangroves that presented a
very curious appearance as they stood up out of the dark, slimy-looking
water, their trunks supported upon a network of naked, twisted roots
that strongly suggested to me the idea of spiders' legs swollen and
knotted with some hideous, deforming disease. The trees themselves,
however, apart from their twisted, gnarled, and knotted roots, presented
a very pleasing appearance, for they had just come into full leaf, and
their fresh green foliage was deeply grateful to the eye satiated with a
long and wearisome repetition of the panorama of unbroken sea and sky.
Beyond the belt of mangroves the islands were overgrown with dense bush,
interspersed with tall trees, some of which were rich with violet
blossoms growing in great drooping clusters, like the flowers of the
laburnum; while others were heavily draped with long, trailing sprays of
magnificent jasmine, of which there were two kinds, one bearing a pinky
flower, and the other a much larger star-like bloom of pure white. The
euphorbia, acacia, and baobab or calabash-tree were all in bloom; and
here and there, through openings between the trunks of the mangroves,
glimpses were caught of rich splashes of deep orange-colour, standing
out like flame against the dark background of shadowed foliage, that
subsequent investigation proved to be clumps of elegant orchids. It
appeared that we had entered the river at precisely the right time of
the year to behold it at its brightest and best, for the spring rains
had only recently set in, and all Nature was rioting in the refreshment
of the welcome moisture and bursting forth into a joyous prodigality of
leaf and blossom, of colour and perfume, of life and glad activity. The
forest rang with the calls and cries of pairing birds; flocks of
parrots, parrakeets, and love-birds were constantly wheeling and darting
hither and thither; kingfishers flitted low across the placid water, or
watched motionless from some overhanging branch for the passage of their
unsuspecting prey; the wydah bird flaunted his gay plumage in the
brilliant sunshine, where it could be seen to the fullest advantage; and
butterflies, like living gems, flitted happily from flower to flower.
Astern of us, some three miles away, lay Boolambemba Point, the
southernmost extremity of the group of islands to which I have already
alluded, where the embouchure of the river may be said to begin, the
stream here being about three and a half miles across, while immediately
below it abruptly widens to a breadth of about five and a half miles at
the indentation leading to Banana Creek, in the narrow approach to which
we were lying at anchor. Of course it was not possible for us to
distinguish, from where we were lying, much of the character of the
country on the southern or left bank of the river, but it appeared to be
pretty much the same as what we saw around us; that is to say, low land
densely covered with bush and trees along the river margin, with higher
land beyond. About half-a-mile beyond us, broad on our starboard bow as
we were then lying, the anchorage narrowed down to a width of less than
half-a-mile, the western extremity of the group of islands already
referred to there converging toward Banana Peninsula in a low,
mangrove-wooded point. Beyond this, however, could be seen a stretch of
water about a mile and a half wide, which I subsequently learned ran for
several miles up at the back of the islands, between them and the
mainland, in the form of a narrow, shallow, canal-like creek that Bates,
the master, seemed to think might well repay the trouble of careful
inspection, since the narrow maze of channels to which it gave access
offered exceptional facilities for the embarkation of slaves, and a
choice of routes for the light-draught slavers from their places of
concealment into the main channel of the river.