A letter has been addressed to the editor of the Sierra Leone Watchman, dated the 15th of Nov., 1846, relating to the Brazilian brigantine Paqueta de Rio, captured on the 27th of October, 1846, off the Sherbro. There were on board this vessel at the time of capture 556 slaves, of whom nine died on the passage to Sierra, Leone. The appearance of the Paqueta on its arrival there is thus described by the writer who went on board of her :

The five hundred and forty-seven human beings, besides the crew and passengers (as they styled themselves), twenty-eight in number, were stowed in a vessel of 74 tons. The slaves were all stowed together perfectly naked, with nothing but the surfaces of the water-casks, which were made level by filling in billets of wood, which formed the slave deck. The slaves who were confined in the hold (it being utterly impossible for the whole of them to remain on deck at one time), were in a profuse perspiration, and panting like so many hounds for air and water. The smell on board was dreadful. I was informed that, on the officers of the Cygnet boarding the slaver, the greater part of the slaves were chained together, with pieces of chain, which were passed through iron collars round their necks ; iron shackles were also secured round their legs and arms. After the officers had boarded, and the slaves were made to understand they were free, their acclamations were long and loud ; they set to work, and, with the billets of wood which had hitherto formed their bed, knocked off each other's shackles, and threw most of them overboard.

There were several left, which were shown to me. We will leave it to the imagination of your readers what must have been the feelings of those pour people when they found they were again free - free through the energy and activity of a British cruiser. On examining the poor creatures, who were principally of the Kosso nation, I found they belonged to and were shipped to different individuals : they were branded like sheep. Letters were burnt in the skin two inches in length. Many of them, from the recent period it had been done, were in a state of ulceration ; both males and females were marked as follows: on the right breast, J ; on the left arm, P ; over women's right and left breasts, S. and A ; under the left shoulder, P ; right breast R. and R. J.; on the right and left breast, S. S.; and on the right and left shoulder, S.S. She was captured off the Sherbro, not eighty miles from this place, on Tuesday, the 27th of October. This is the same vessel that cleared out from here about three weeks previous to the capture, for Rio de Janeiro. The slaves were all embarked from the slave factories at Gallinas, under the notorious Don Luiz, and the vessel under way in five hours ; and had there been the slightest breeze she would have escaped. Amongst the slaves there were two men belonging to Sierra Leone ; a man named Peter, once employed by Mr. Elliott, the pilot : he stated that he had been employed by a Mr. Smith, a Popohman, to go to the Sherbro to purchase palm oil, and that whilst pursuing that object he was seized and sold by a Sherbro chief named Sherry. The other man who stated his name to be James, had once worked for Mr. Hornell, merchant of this town: whilst at the Gallinas, he was sold by a chief, named Mannah. During the day, the Marshal of the Vice Admiralty Court landed 297 men, 67 women, 154 boys, and 29 girls.

The following is the estimate made by the writer of the letter, of the profits upon the cargo in Brazil, had the Paqueta reached her destination:

"The captain of this vessel was to have had sixty dollars per head, freight. Let us examine what the profits on this human cargo would have been, had the vessel got clear to the Brazils. Presuming the deaths to have amounted to one third, of the whole number (556) 371, at sixty dollars, �4637 10s. 7d. obtained for freight. Allowing �637 10s. 6d., which is far too much for water, rice. and firewood, there is a clear profit of �4000 !! for twenty to twenty-six days' passage. The profit on the cargo would have been nearly as follows:-

The price given for a slave is about �4 sterling, in the following goods, viz. :- One piece of blue baft, one piece satin stripe, one piece romal, one musket, and one cwt. tobacco. The price of a prime slave in the Brazils, is from 400 to 500 dollars. We will, however, take an average value of 240 dollars, or �50 each. Cost of 556 slaves embarked at �4 each, �2244.

SG & SGTL Vol 5 ; Pages 286-9

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