Jack Book Two in the Trilogy: Murder on the High Seas

Sailing to Cuba Part 24

Jack had scribbled a note, ran to the inn, and gave his note to the barkeeper telling him to give it to Mauricia's mom when she returned from searching for the two girls. The mom became worried when they didn't appear so she went to check the taverns near the wharf. Jack made it aboard just as the last provisions were being hoisted aboard in a large hemp net.

There was fine sailing from Jamaica to Cuba with blue skies and sunshine. But the island was shrouded in clouds and the forecast was for rain as we entered Santiago harbor at the southern end of Cuba. The captain announced that there would be no liberty in Santiago as we had to be in Havana way up north within a few days where, he promised, there would be three days liberty and free rum for the crew.

This announcement was unusual for our captain. Overnight leave at the next port of call, Havana, he said. Apparently liberty would be granted to most of the crew while the ship would be anchored in the harbor with its human cargo - not likely docked at a wharf, not with human cargo aboard even though it was legal trade in Cuba. It was unusual for the captain to tell the port of call in advance. We became suspicious. We passed the news to Mauricia and America and told them we would dock shortly in Santiago Harbor, where we now believed the 110 slaves would be joining them. The captain's books had said Havana but that was changing, apparently. Some slave ships carried as many as 700 slaves who never went topside and could not move around for the entire voyage back to Charleston. Many died. At least our ship would only carry 110, I thought, which was certainly bad enough. The ship would be in the port only ten hours. That signaled that the transfer was to happen in Santiago.

Later, at ten o'clock at night as we were about to head off the ship along the wharf, we saw some of the crew with a long line of frightened darkies - chained to one another and marching along the long wharf toward the ship.

It was beginning. Jack and I watched on deck as the slaves marched onto the ship. The crew led them down into the hold. There were little children. They came aboard silently although you could hear whimpering and sniffling. Jack and I distributed food and water to them as soon as they were secured below. Within an hour we were lifting anchor and cruising out of the harbor and began our northern sail away toward Havana.

We later learned that the captain had a secret plan to meet with a pirate ship. Unknown to the ship's owners or to his partner, Jones, back in Charleston, the captain planned to trade twenty slaves to pirates for European-made rifles and cannon, and to sell them for three to five times as much in Charleston. He decided to tell Jones, the auctioneer partner, that these slaves died en route. At least that is what Jenkins revealed to me later on.

I told America while I was distributing hot soup that, in three or four days at most, the revolt would begin - probably in Havana - not Costa Rica. The captain was sly indeed! Fooled everyone, even Jack and me. We ensured that all of the negroes knew about our plot. They waited silently and hoped to be freed. I began filling the cheaply made, roughly hollowed-out, coconut shell cups that each slave had been given at the entrance door to the slave quarters. Jack told the girls - who were now naked along with all of the darkies - that he would personally open the door to free them when the time came and that all of them were to do exactly what he said, and be completely quiet, especially the children.

Jack and I had the duty of cooking for and feeding the darkies during the passage. Their food allowance, I learned quickly, was near starvation level. I had to steal from the stocks in order to provide them with something near an adequate diet. Luckily I did not get caught. We also had to distribute buckets of water to the Negroes who, after four days, were living in miserable conditions as they had not yet been allowed to go topside except for some of the women with little children. The captain later allowed ten males under guard to go topside for twenty minutes per day - ten shifts altogether so that, at least in the beginning, everyone was able to go topside for stretching and clean air once per day. If one died, we would be required to unchain the body and throw it overboard.

We later learned that slaves on other ships were treated horribly - living in their own urine and excrement for the entire voyage from Africa to the Americas and that it was common for 15% on average to die.

Captain Pendleton was generous and humane by comparison to other slaver captains although he still believed in keeping the darkies at a near starvation level diet to reduce the chances of a successful revolt. A revolt by the darkies, the captain had said, would mean the ship's crew and officers would all be killed. "We must ensure that that cannot happen on the Helena," he had pronounced. "We must ensure their survival - at $1000 a head on average, it is our duty to make sure they all make it to Charleston. I will not sacrifice 15%," he had told the former chief mate. "We must take the humane approach."