This officer had greatly distinguished himself by the energy and success
with which he had carried on operations against the slaving dhows during
the term of his command on the Zanzibar coast. On the 27th of November
1881 he started in the steam pinnace of the _London_, accompanied by his
steward, a native interpreter, and a writer, with a crew consisting of a
coxswain, Alfred Yates, three seamen, and three stokers. Captain
Brownrigg was going upon a tour of inspection among the boats engaged in
repressing the slave trade, and the various depots. On his way he
examined any dhows he met which he suspected to contain slaves. On the
3rd of December a dhow was sighted flying French colours. In such cases
it was not Captain Brownrigg's custom to board, but only to go alongside
to see that the papers were correct. He therefore ordered the boat's
crew to be careful not to board without direct orders, intending a mere
cursory examination, and no detention whatever, as he did not arm the
boat's crew, and directed the time alongside to be noted.
He went alongside without hailing or stopping the dhow in any way, the
wind being light and the craft scarcely forging ahead.
Prior to getting alongside he sent the coxswain forward to make a hook,
with a chain and rope attached, fast to the dhow, his object in doing so
seemingly being to prevent the necessity of the vessel stopping, and to
enable him to converse with the captain and to quietly verify her
papers. He took the tiller himself, and was alone, with the exception
of his steward (a Goanese) and a native interpreter, in the after-part,
which is separated from the rest of the boat by a standing canopy, over
which one has to climb to get fore or aft. It was still more cut off by
the fact of the main-boom having been raised to the height of the top of
the ensign staff on the mainmast, and over it the after-part of the
rain-awning was spread, being loosely gathered back towards the mast.
When the boat was quite close to the dhow, a man, supposed to be the
captain of her, stood up aft with a bundle or roll of papers in his
hand, and said something as he unfolded them, and pointed to the French
flag. What he exactly said is unknown.
There were then visible on board the dhow four men, two aft and two
forward, all armed with the usual Arab swords and creeses. The
forecastle sun-awning was spread at the time from the foremast to a
stanchion shipped abaft the stern-piece, and under it were two
bluejackets and the writer, the leading stoker was at the engines,
whilst the two stokers appear to have been sitting on the inside of the
gunnel of the well, i.e. the space for boilers and engines.
As the coxswain was standing on the stem of the boat, in the act of
making fast with the hook rope, he caught sight of some eight or ten men
crouched in the bottom of the boat with guns at the "ready" position.
He sang out to the captain aft, when they rose up and fired; he flung
the hook at them, and closed with one, both falling overboard together.
The Arabs, the number of whom is variously estimated at from fifteen to
twenty-five, then jumped into the pinnace with drawn swords and clubbed
guns. As their first fire killed one man (a stoker) outright, mortally
wounded another, and severely wounded two others of the boat's crew, the
Arabs found but little difficulty in driving the rest, unarmed as they
were, overboard.
Captain Brownrigg and his steward were the only two left, and both were
in the after-part of the boat. He seized a rifle, and at the first shot
knocked an Arab over; but before he could reload three or four of them
rushed aft to attack him, getting on the top of the canopy and at the
sides, but he, clubbing his rifle, kept them at bay, fighting with a
determination that filled the survivors, who were then in the water
unable to get on board, with the greatest admiration, they describing
him as "fighting like a lion."
He knocked two of his assailants over, but was unable to get at them
properly, owing to the awning overhead, whilst they were above him on
the canopy cutting at him with their long swords, but fearing to jump
down and close with him. As he knocked one over, another took his
place.
The first wound that seems to have hampered him in the gallant fight was
a cut across the forehead, from which the blood, pouring over his face,
partially blinded him. He was then cut across the hands, the fingers
being severed from the left and partially so from the right one, and,
badly wounded in both elbows, he could no longer hold the rifle.
He then appears to have tried to get hold of any of his foes or of
anything wherewith to fight on, but, blinded as he was, his efforts were
in vain. He fought thus for upwards of twenty minutes, keeping his face
to his assailants, and having no thought, or making no effort, to seek
safety by jumping overboard. At length he was shot through the heart
and fell dead, having, besides the fatal one, received no less than
twenty wounds, most of them of a severe, and two of a mortal nature.
During this time, of the men in the water, Thomas Bishop, seaman, was
badly wounded, and was supported to the dinghy astern of the pinnace by
William Venning, leading stoker, who was himself slightly wounded in the
head by a slug. There he held on, but the Arabs, hauling the boat up
alongside the pinnace, cut him over the head until he sank.
Samuel Massey, A.B., was severely wounded, and was supported to the
shore, a distance of about 700 yards, by Alfred Yates, leading seaman,
and William Colliston, ordinary; the remaining stoker swam there by
himself, as also did the interpreter. The writer (third class), John
G.T. Aers, having been mortally wounded at the first fire, there was
left on board the pinnace only the captain's steward, who lay quiet,
pretending to be dead.
The Arabs then left the boat and sailed away in their dhow, when the
leading stoker got on board of her,--he having been in the water all the
time,--got up steam, and picked up the men on the beach.