Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the Second Session Thirty-eighth Congress, Part I
Consul Archibald to Earl Russell.—(Received January 19.).
My Lord: Referring to my despatch of the 23d ultimo, reporting the capture and arrival at this port of the bark Saxon, of Cape Town, I now have the honor to transmit, herewith enclosed, for your lordship’s information, a copy of my despatch of this date to Lord Lyons, reporting the further proceedings in the case of the Saxon, and enclosing a copy of a deposition made before me by the late second mate of that vessel. I have, &c.,
Consul Archibald to Lord Lyons.
My Lord: Referring to my despatch of the 23d ultimo, in reference to the capture and arrival at this port of the bark Saxon, of Cape Town, I now have the honor to report that testimony in preparatorio has been taken before the prize commissioners, and a libel has been filed, the process on which is returnable on the 19th instant. I have accordingly directed an appearance and claim to be entered in my name, as consul, on behalf of absent owners of vessel and cargo, who appear to have no agent or correspondent at this port, in order to prevent a judgment by default, and to gain time for their defence, and for proof in support of their claims.
Of the crew of the Saxon the captors brought over the second mate, named David Aitchison, and the cook, named William Johnson, I was yesterday enabled to obtain the deposition of the second mate in relation to the circumstances connected with the capture of the Saxon, and more especially respecting the shooting of the chief mate, James Gray, by a Mr. Donohoe, an officer of the Vanderbilt, who was at the time on duty on board the Saxon.
The second mate, Aitcheson, is a very intelligent young man, and from the statements in his deposition, a copy of which I have the honor to transmit, herewith enclosed, for your lordship’s information, the shooting of the mate Gray appears to have been an act of wilful murder. I presume that a report of the facts of the case will, before this time, have reached her Majesty’s government from Cape Town. The second mate has shipped at this port on board the bark Cleveland, a British vessel which sailed from hence yesterday, bound for London, where he can be had for further examination, if requisite. I have been unable to obtain the name and address of the consignees in London of the Cleveland The name and address of the owner is Solomon Mease, North Shields.
I have not as yet been able to procure the attendance before me of William Johnson, the cook of the Saxon. I am informed, however, by the second mate, that he, the cook, was not a witness of the shooting of the mate by the officer, Donohoe.
I have, &c.,
Affidavit of the second mate of the Saxon.
David Aitchison, a native of Dundee, Scotland, mariner, of the age of 29 years, at present at New York, maketh oath, and saith as follows:
On the 23d of August last I shipped at Cape Town on board the bark Saxon, of Cape Town, Stephen Sheppard, master, for a voyage to Ascension, Angra Pequena, and Falmouth, for orders. I shipped as second mate; the mate’s name was James Gray, a native of Aberdeen, Scotland. We sailed from Cape Town early in September, I do not remember the day, and proceeded to Ascension. We carried cattle and forage, being partly in ballast. We landed the cattle at Ascension, where we remained seven days, and then proceeded to Angra Pequena, on the west coast of Africa, where we arrived about the middle of October. About the 23d of October we began to take in cargo. We were delayed in loading owing to the absence of the agent, Captain Boyce, who had gone down to leeward. We landed 156 bales of wool and hides; 30 of the bales were hides; we were five days in loading. The wool and hides were lying on the shore, and were brought off in a large fiat-bottomed boat. On the day that the loading of the Saxon was completed, the United States steamship Vanderbilt arrived at Angra Pequena, and anchored about a mile or a mile and a half from us. She sent a boat with two officers and a crew on board of the Saxon. One of the officers was named Donohoe; he was an acting master’s mate. The officer in charge of the boarding party had some conversation with Captain Sheppard, and had the after-hatch taken off, and looked at the cargo. He demanded the ship’s papers, which were handed to him by Captain Sheppard, who asked to have them back, as he was loaded and ready for sea. The officer refused to return them, and said he would take them on board the Vanderbilt. The officer then returned with the boat’s crew to the Vanderbilt, taking the papers, and leaving on board the Saxon the officer Donohoe above mentioned, in charge of the Saxon. We then went to dinner in the cabin of the Saxon; that is, Captain Sheppard, the mate James Gray, the officer Donohoe, and myself. Donohoe well knew Gray to be the mate of the bark. Late in the afternoon three boats’ crews from the Vanderbilt came on board of us, being in all about fifty men, all armed. The men all had a glass of grog on board the Saxon, being wet in coming on board. The officer in charge of the whole party was a Lieutenant Keefe; he said his orders were to get the bark under way, and bring her down the lagoon.
By this time the Vanderbilt sighted a bark outside, and proceeded to sea after her. The Saxon was then got under way, and proceeded a short way down the lagoon and then anchored again. Captain Sheppard asked Mr. Keefe for permission to send on shore some salt beef, pork, and bread for six men, who had been assisting in loading the Saxon, until a supply should come for them from Cape Town. Lieutenant Keefe granted permission, and a signal being made for the six men, they came off in their boat. They were men who carried on the business of digging guano, and sealing, and had been for eight months and upwards at that and other neighboring places on the coast, under charge of Captain Boyce. When the men came on board they went to get their provisions out of the cask, under the superintendence of the master and mate of the Saxon. There was some little confusion, and Lieutenant Keefe told Captain Sheppard that the men had got enough provisions, and ordered Captain Sheppard and the mate Gray to go into the cabin. Mr. Keefe and the captain proceeded aft, together, and went up the steps of the poop, the mate following close after them. The captain went down the companion way into the cabin, and as [Page 267] the mate went up the steps of the poop, and was going aft towards the companion-way, the officer Donohoe, above mentioned, who was stationed at the break of the poop, called him back, and took hold of him, trying to stop him. A stout man, belonging to the Vanderbilt, who stood behind Donohoe, pushed the mate forward, at the same time that Donohoe also took hold of the mate to push him forward. The mate being thus pushed was falling forward, down the poop steps, when Donohoe fired at him with a revolver, and shot him, the ball entering the mate’s head below the right ear. The mate fell on the deck apparently dead. I was standing near the mainmast at the time of the occurrence, and saw all that passed. I was about six or eight yards distant. On seeing Gray fall I immediately went to him and lifted up his head. He never spoke, and must have been dead within half a minute after falling. As I took the mate’s head on my knee I heard Donohoe say, “We must obey orders,” or “He must obey orders”—I am not sure which. About a minute afterwards he added, “Well, it is an accident, my revolver was cocked.” On hearing the report of the revolver Captain Sheppard came running out of the cabin, and saw Gray lying on the deck, and said to me, “Is Gray dead?” I replied,” Yes, sir.” He said, “Poor Gray, he has been with me for six years.” Lieutenant Keefe, who was standing on the poop, called out, “Is that man dead?” Several of us replied “Yes.” He said “Then put him down the after-hold, and put the hatches on.” The body was put down there accordingly. When Mr. Donohoe stopped the mate, the mate said he belonged aft, and he wanted to go to his cabin. When the revolver was fired, all the men of the Vanderbilt who were on board drew their cutlasses, which frightened the six men who had come from the shore, and they thereupon rushed over the vessel’s side into their boat and went ashore.
The whole of the men from the Vanderbilt remained on board the Saxon all night and until the afternoon of the next day, when the Vanderbilt returned from sea. We had our flag half-mast. A boat was sent from the Saxon on board the Vanderbilt to tell them of the mate’s having been shot. On the same evening the corpse was buried on shore. That night the prize crew came on board, consisting of a Captain Keyser and fifteen hands, and the next day the Saxon was got under way, and proceeded to New York. Captain Sheppard and ten of the crew were landed at Angra Pequena. Myself and the cook, William Johnson, a colored man, were brought on to New York. I assisted in working the bark over, under the orders of the prize master. I had charge of a watch. We arrived at New York on the 22d ultimo. I was detained one day on board of the guard-ship, and for two days in the House of Detention, and gave my evidence before the prize commissioners. I told them about the shooting of the mate, but they did not take down my evidence on that point.
DAVID AITCHISON.
Sworn by the said David Aitchison, at the British consulate, New York, this 4th day of January, A. D. 1864, before me.