As HMS _Wasp_, Captain Usherwood, was cruising in the Bight of Benin,
near Lagos, on the 27th of February 1845, a strange sail was seen, and
Lieutenant Stupart was immediately ordered in pursuit. At about eight
o'clock in the evening he came up with her, and found her to be the
_Felicidade_, a Brazilian schooner, fitted for the slave trade, with a
slave-deck of loose planks over the cargo, and a crew of twenty-eight
men. With the exception of her captain and another man, they were
transferred to the _Wasp_; and Lieutenant Stupart, with Mr Palmer,
midshipman, and a crew of fifteen English seamen, remained in charge of
the prize. On the 1st of March, the boats of the _Felicidade_, under
Mr Palmer, captured a second prize, the _Echo_, with 430 slaves on
board, and a crew of twenty-eight men, leaving Mr Palmer, with seven
English seamen and two Kroomen, on board the _Felicidade_. Several of
the _Echo's_ crew were also sent on board as prisoners, with their
captain. Soon afterwards Mr Palmer and his small crew were overpowered
and murdered by the crew of the _Felicidade_, and an unsuccessful
attempt made by the miscreants to gain possession of the _Echo_. The
_Felicidade_ was seen and chased on the 6th of March by HMS _Star_,
Commander Dunlop. When she was boarded, no one was on her deck, the
crew being concealed below; and on being found and questioned, they
stated the vessel to be the _Virginie_, and accounted for their wounds
by the falling of a spar; but there were traces of a conflict, and many
tokens which proved that English seamen had been on board. She was then
sent to Sierra Leone, in charge of Lieutenant Wilson and nine men.
Whilst on the passage, during a heavy squall, the schooner went over,
filled, and sank, so as only to leave part of her bow rail above water.
When the squall passed, the whole of the crew were found clinging to the
bow rail. Some expert divers endeavoured to extract provisions from the
vessel, but without success; and nothing but death stared them in the
face, as the schooner was gradually sinking. Lieutenant Wilson
ascertained that there were three common knives among the party, and it
was resolved to make a raft of the main-boom and gaff, and such other
floating materials as remained above water. These they secured by such
ropes as could be cut and unrove from the rigging, and a small quantity
of cordage was retained to make good any defects they might sustain by
the working of the spars; a small topgallant studding-sail was obtained
for a sail; and upon this miserable raft the ten persons made sail for
the coast of Africa, distant 200 miles, without rudder, oar, compass,
provisions, or water.
Being almost naked, and washed by every wave, their sufferings were very
great. Destitute of food or fresh water, scorched by a burning sun
during the day, and chilled with cold during the night, they thus
remained twenty days. Delirium and death relieved the raft of part of
its load of misery, two blacks being the first to sink under their
sufferings.
The question naturally suggests itself, How did the survivors support
life? Some persons would be almost afraid to put the question, or hear
the answer. There is nothing, however, to wound our feelings, but much
to admire in the admirable conduct of Lieutenant Wilson and his men
during these melancholy and miserable twenty days. Showers of rain
occasionally fell; they caught some water in their little sail, which
they drank, and put some into a small keg that had floated out of the
vessel. The sea was almost always breaking over the spars of the raft,
which was surrounded by voracious sharks.
The famishing sailors actually caught with a bowling-knot a shark eight
feet in length, with their bare hands, and hauled it upon the raft; they
killed it, drank the blood, and ate part of the flesh, husbanding the
remainder. In this way three other sharks were taken, and upon these
sharks the poor fellows managed to prolong their lives till picked up
(in sight of the land) in what may be termed the very zero of living
misery. Lieutenant Wilson and four seamen survived, and recovered their
strength. Order and discipline were maintained upon the raft;
fortitude, forethought, a reliance upon Divine Providence, and good
conduct, enabled these Englishmen to surmount such horrible sufferings,
while the Kroomen and Portuguese sank under them.