"أوراق تتعلق بتجارة الرقيق على الساحل الشرقي لأفريقيا والنظام المتبع لكبحها" [و‎‎٥‎١] (٧٢/٤١)

41
Inclosure 2 in No, 49.
Mr. Churchill to the Political Resident, Aden.
^ ttja ™^ i , Zanzibar, February 19, 1869.
i o^o V he honoui" to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 30th December,
18b8, with reference to the capture of an Arab dhow by Her Majesty's ship fC Star." in
which was discovered a plank on her deck marked "'Wasp,' 11-4-65/' supposed to have
been written by one of the unfortunate seamen who disappeared towards that date in a
dhow in which they had been placed as a prize crew.
^ depositions of the individuals sent by you as the Nakoda, and a seaman of
the Mambosasa/' it would appear that this dhow formerly belonged to a native of Pemba
named Rizk bin Ali.
In referring to the archives of this Consulate, I find that on the 11th April, 1865, two
dhows were captured near Kokotoni and Oswaeremba Point by the pinnace and the two
cutters of the " Wasp." Dhow No. 1 had 6 Arabs and 26 slaves on board. Dhow No. 2
had a large crew, and 6 women believed to be slaves. A prize crew was put on board of
dhow No. 2, but was subsequently withdrawn to rescue one of the cutters attacked by two
strange Arab dhows. As a security for the safety of dhow No. 2, thus temporarily
abandoned, the master and another individual, supposed to belong to the crew, but who
turned out to be a passenger, were taken away with the " Wasp's " boats. When the
attacking dhows had been driven off, dhow No. 2 was nowhere to be seen. This dhow
was, at the time, proved to belong to Rizk bin Ali of Pemba, and the Nakhoda thereof
was imprisoned by His Highness the Sultan, simply because he had not his pass with him
when his dhow was boarded.
In a letter of the 17th April, Captain Bowden, of the " Wasp," referring to this dhow,
says that a boat was on that day sent after a dhow, which proved to be the prize No. 2 of
the Uth April, whose Nakhoda was imprisoned. Captain Bowden adds, that he thinks
the man had been treated unjustly, and offers to return to him his arms.
This dhow is evidently the one arrested by the " Star " on the 8th November last,
and in till likelihood the carving was made by the " Wasp's " men when they were on
board of her on the 11th April, 1865.
In the same letter of the 17th April, Captain Bow T den informs Colonel Playfair that
the missing dhow had not yet turned up; and it this missing dhow, boarded after the
11th April, and described as having a crew of 2 Arabs and 3 slaves only, of w^hom two
were boys (and, consequently, different from the one that had a large crew and 6 women
on board) that slipped off with a prize crew of three men who have never been heard of
since. This dhow is further said to have had her yard damaged by a shot from the
pinnace, a circumstance which is not mentioned in connection with dhow No. 2.
It was subsequently ascertained, I find, though it does not appear in the corre
spondence, that the crew of this latter dhow, having overcome the sailors, and having
bound them hand and foot, and had proceeded to Pemba, where it was notorious at the
time that three English sailors had been captured by some Soori Arabs.
Researches having been made on the Coast of Arabia, in consequence of Colonel
Playfair's representations to the Government of Bombay, it was ascertained by Colonels
Pelly and Disbrowe that this dhow belonged to one Rabai bin Alii, of Soor, who is
now dead.
The prisoners sent down to Zanzibar declared in their depositions before me that,
although eight of the " Mambosasa " crew were slaves, their dhow was not engaged in the
the Slave Trade, and the Sultan purposes protesting against her being destroyed by
Captain de Kantzow.
I have, &c.
(Signed) HY. A. CHURCHILL.
No. 50.
Mr. Churchill to the Earl of Clarendon.—{Received April 17.)
(No. 5.)
My Lord, Zanzibar, February 25, 1869.
I HAVE the honour to inclose a copy of my despatch No. 17 of this day's date,
addressed to the Secretary to the Government of Bombay, relative to the apprehensions of
the Sultan in consequence of the suppression of slave-holding by Kutchees in Zanzibar.
1 have, &c.
(Signed) HY. A. CHURCHILL.
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