e worked like a wicker basket in anything of a breeze and seaway,
and leaked like a sieve, the latter being of little or no consequence
with plenty of negroes to send to the pumps in relays, while the working
of her gave her life, and contributed in no small degree toward the
extraordinary speed for which she was distinguished. She was armed with
eight nine-pounder broadside guns, and a long eighteen mounted upon a
pivot on her forecastle; and in the course of our investigations we
discovered that her crew had numbered no less than seventy men, of whom
fourteen were killed in her defence, and twenty-six too severely wounded
to effect their escape. At the moment of her capture five hundred and
sixty-four slaves, all males, were confined in her hold. She was thus,
in herself, a very valuable prize, and quite worth all the trouble that
we had taken to secure her. But in addition to her there were the two
schooners, the larger of which, named the _Dona Hermosa_, was a vessel
of close upon one hundred and twenty tons measurement, with nothing very
remarkable about her appearance to distinguish her from a perfectly
honest trader. Her cargo consisted of exactly three hundred slaves,
rather more than half of whom were women and children. She was unarmed
save for the few muskets that were found scattered about her decks when
our lads boarded and took possession of her. The second schooner, of
which Gowland, the master's mate, had temporary command, was a little
beauty. She was named the _Felicidad_, and hailed from Santiago de
Cuba. She was of one hundred and eighteen tons measurement, and in
model generally very much resembled the _Mercedes_ though neither quite
so shallow nor so beamy in proportion, while her proportionate length
was considerably greater; her lines were therefore even more easy and
beautiful than those of the larger vessel. She sat very low in the
water, and might have been sworn to as a slaver as far away as she could
be seen, her raking masts being short and stout, and her yards of
enormous proportionate length--her foreyard measuring no less than
seventy-eight feet--with a truly astonishing spread of beautifully cut
canvas. In light winds and smooth water she developed a speed that was
absolutely phenomenal, easily running away from her two consorts on the
passage down the creek under her flying jib and main sail only. She was
pierced for three guns of a side, and was further fitted with a very
in