Tales of Naval Adventure

Excerpt: "Early in the year 1857 H. M. S. Pairodus, on board of which I was an officer, put into Mahe, one of the islands of the Seychelles group. We had taken Captains Burton and Speke to Zanzibar on the occasion of their undertaking the expedition that resulted in the discovery of Lake Tanganyika, and the exploration of the adjacent countries in Central Equatorial Africa, the incidents and results of which journey are fully narrated in Volume XXIX. of the " Journal of the Royal Geographical Society." On our arrival at Mahe, or Victoria, all of our men were in turn allowed leave on shore, and in the meantime the ship filled up with wood and water. Fresh provisions and animal food were very cheap, so sheep and bullocks were purchased, and the meat served out in place of tough " salt junk," to the delight of the messes on the lower deck. "When the starboard watch, which went last, returned from their run on shore, one of the party, a boy, came aft to me as I was standing on the quarter-deck, being the officer on duty, and said he had something of importance to communicate to me. Thisboy was a negro, whom we had shipped at Aden some two years before. He had been a slave, and was taken from on board a slaver which had been captured near Zanzibar by one of the Queen's ships. " Black Josh," as he was christened, or "Josh," as for brevity sake he was generally called, was an uncommonly sharp little fellow, and was proud of being allowed to join the Pairodus and wear the sailor's rig. I asked Josh what it was he wanted."