(Inclosure.)-An Account of Vessels actually engaged in the Slave Trade, captured by the Squadron on the Western Coast of Africa, under the Command of Sir Robert Mends, between June 23, 1822, and March 27, 1823. No. SCHEDULE OF PAPERS.—(B.) Instructions to Naval Officers since the 21st March, 1822. 1822. Page 1. Instructions issued by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to Commodore Nourse, as Commanding Officer of His Majesty's Ships and Vessels on the Cape of Good Hope Station......... ... Admiralty Office, 22d March 549 2. J. W. Croker, Esq. to Captain Wolrige of H. M. S. Driver.. Admiralty Office, 6th April 549 1823. 3 Order issued by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to Captain Sir Robert Mends of H. M. S. Owen Glendower.. Admiralty Office, 18th Jan. 550 4. J. W. Croker, Esq. to Captain Sir Robert Mends of H. M. S. Owen Glendower.. Admiralty Office, 18th Jan. 551 5. J. Barrow, Esq. to Rear Adm. Sir C. Rowley, at Jamaica..... 6. J. W. Croker, Esq. to Commodore Sir 7. J. W. Croker, Esq. to Rear Adm. Sir C. .... 8. J. W. Croker, Esq. to Commodore Nourse, at the Cape of Good Hope 9. J. W. Croker, Esq. to the Commanding Officers of His Majesty's Ships and 10. Letter issued to the Commanders of all Admiralty Office, 15th Feb. 551 Admiralty Office, 19th April 552 Admiralty Office, 19th April 552 No. 1-Instructions issued by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to Commodore Nourse, as Commanding Officer of His Majesty's Ships and Vessels on the Cape of Good Hope Station. (Extract.) Admiralty Office, March 22, 1822. You are to appropriate, at least, one of the Squadron under your orders for the duties of the Isle of France; and you will particu larly direct the attention of the Officer commanding the Ship or Ships stationed at the said Island, to the affording to the Governor all the assistance in his power towards the prevention of a Traffic in Slaves. For the more effectual performance of this service, you are to observe, that in addition to the Papers and Documents which that Officer will have received, in common with the other Ships on the Station, respecting Spanish and Portuguese Ships trading in Slaves, he is also to be furnished with the Treaty, Act of Parliament, and Signed Instruction, relative to Vessels engaged in such Trade under the Dutch Flag, which, under the limitation of the number of His Majesty's Ships, which may be furnished with such Instructions, has been issued to the Squadron on the Cape Station; and that upon any change of the Ship assigned to the service of the Isle of France, this Instruction, with the Dutch Treaty, and Act of Parliament, are to be successively transferred to the Commander of the Ship arriving to replace the former, with an alteration of the Address of the Instruction. You will observe, and signify the same to the Captains and Commanders under your orders, that Vessels of the three Nations abovementioned, captured for illicit Trafficking in Slaves, are to be sent for adjudication to the following Places, at which Courts have respectively been established for the trial of offences of that description; viz. Ships of any of the three Nations to Sierra Leone; or, Portuguese Ships to Rio de Janeiro; Spanish Ships to The Havannah, and Dutch Ships to Surinam. No. 2.-J.W.Croker, Esq. to Captain Wolrige of H. M. Sloop Driver*. SIR, Admiralty Office, April 6, 1822. In reference to the Order of my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, directing you to proceed to the African Station, I am commanded by their Lordships to transmit to you Copies of the Treaties which have been entered into with Spain, Portugal and The Netherlands, for the prevention of an illicit Traffic in Slaves, with Copies of three Acts of Parliament relating to them, and Instructions signed by their Lordships, authorizing you to search Vessels bearing those Flags ; in doing which, as well as in the whole of your conduct towards such A similar Letter was sent on the 29th May, 1822, to Captain Grace of H. M. Sl. Cyrene. Vessels you are to be strictly governed by the said Treaties, and the Instructions attached to them. I also transmit to you herewith, Abstracts or Copies of the Acts of Parliament prohibiting the Traffic in Slaves by His Majesty's Subjects. I am, &c. Captain Wolrige. J. W. CROKER. No. 3.-Order issued by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to Captain Sir Robert Mends, of H. M. S. Owen Glendower. By the Commissioners for executing the office of Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, &c. You are hereby required and directed to put to Sea in the Ship you command, so soon as she shall be in every respect ready, and to return with all convenient expedition to the Coast of Africa, to carry into further execution so much of our Instructions to you of the 31st of October 1821, as relates to the suppression of the Slave Trade, to the protection of British Commerce on the African Coast within the limits of your command, and to the general arrangement and government of the Force we have placed under your orders on the said Station. We do not, under the existing circumstances, apprehend that it will be necessary or advantageous to the service for you to return to England, as has been customary on former occasions, at the fall of the year; and you will therefore understand that you are to remain on your Station until relieved, or you receive other orders from us ; unless from a greater state of sickness in the Squadron, or a greater consumption of stores, or from other causes which we cannot anticipate, you should, when the period arrives, consider it to be essentially advantageous for the good of the service, and the more efficient future execution of the duties of the Station, that you should return to England as heretofore; in which case you will be guided in so doing by our aforesaid former Instructions of the 31st October 1821, with the exception, that instead of touching at Trinidad and Jamaica in the way Home, you will, when you return, understand that are to do so by way of Barbadoes and Jamaica. Given under our hands the 18th of January 1823. Sir Robert Mends, Knight, G. COCKBURN. G. CLERK. Capt. of H. M. S. Owen Glendower, at Spithead. By command of their Lordships, J. W. CROKER. No. 4.-J. W. Croker Esq. to Captain Sir Robert Mends, of His Majesty's Ship Owen Glendower. SIR, Admiralty Office, January 18, 1823. My Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty judging it proper, in consequence of the substitution of the Owen Glendower, for the Iphigenia, that you should be furnished with new Instructions, authorizing you, in conformity with the Treaties respecting the Slave Trade, to search Vessels bearing the Flags of Spain, Portugal and The Netherlands; I am commanded by their Lordships to transmit to you such new Instructions accordingly. I am, &c. Captain Sir R. Mends. J. W. CROKER. No. 5.-J. Barrow, Esq. to Rear Admiral Sir C. Rowley, at Jamaica. I AM commanded by my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to transmit to you, for your information, Copies of a Letter and its several Inclosures from Mr. Hesketh, His Majesty's Consul at Maranham, relative to an illicit Traffic in Slaves between that Place and Surinam. Rear Admiral Sir C. Rowley. SIR, I am, &c. JOHN BARROW. (Inclosure 1.)-Mr. Consul Hesketh to Mr. Secretary Canning. Maranhao, December 24, 1822. HAVING been requested by the Consul General at Rio de Janeiro, to state to His Majesty's Government all the facts I could learn relating to the two Portuguese Slave Vessels; viz. the Brig Apollo, and the Schooner Maria, represented in my Return for the year 1821 to have arrived at this Port; the first from Cachow, on the 6th of Oct. with 239 Slaves on board, eight having died; and the second from the Island of St. Jago, on the 27th November, with 87 Slaves on board, three having died during the passage; I have the honour to make known that both these Vessels were admitted to entry at this CustomHouse in virtue of Licences. Both of these Licences being lodged at the Government House, I have made an Official Application for Copies of them, intending to transmit them for your information as soon as they are received; having in the mean time to regret this delay in obtaining them. I inclose Copies of Communications I have made to Barbadoes and Surinam, respecting a Dutch Schooner called the Aurora, C. H. Andres, Master, the object of whose voyage to this Port I suspect to have been an illicit Traffic in Slaves, against which there are no effectual Regulations in this Port. I am, &c. The Right Hon. George Canning. ROBERT HESKETH. [For the Inclosures in this Letter, see Foreign Office Papers, Inclosures in No. 39, Class B. page 159.] |