The Proceedings of the Old Bailey

 

285.   THOMAS POWELL,  JAMES LEWIS , and   GUILDFORD HYDE WATTS , were indicted for stealing, on the high seas, 1760 ounces of gold-dust, value 7000l., 2 chronometers, 4 cutlasses, 1 boat, and other articles, value 102l. 4s.; the goods of   George Vickerman.

MESSRS. BALLAXTINE and CLERK conducted the Prosecution.

  MR. SAMUEL ROBERT GOODMAN . I produce a box, which I received at the

Mansion-house from Evans?, the superintendent of the Thames-police—I do not know what it contains.

  GEORGE VICKERMAN . I am master of the brig Lemuel, and was so in July and August last. In July I was on the high seas, off the  Gold Coast of Africa—from "26th July to 8th August, I received nine boxes of gold-dust, to bring to England as freight—one of them was from Mr. Andrew Swanzi—during the month of August, and during the time I received those boxes I was confined to my room at Elmina, through sickness—I placed the boxes in the corner of my room, where I was confined to my bed, and afterwards gave them to the second mate, Price—I gave him eight boxes on the 9th, and one on 10th Aug.—I gave him directions to take them en board, with the keys of my state-room, and to unlock the larboard lockers in the cabin, and put them in there—I had the key of the state-room with me, and the keys of the cabin-lockers were in the state-room—Price brought back the key I had given him—according to the bills of lading there were 1, 755 ounces of gold-dust, to the value of about 7000l.—on 11th Aug., about half-past nine o'clock a.m. the morning, I received a note from Price—the ship was then in Elmina Roadstead—I went to the Governor of Elmina Castle, and afterwards went on board the ship—the larboard lockers were then broken open, and the whole nine boxes abstracted—I missed a box containing two gold watches from the same locker; two chronometers, worth about 103 guineas, from the library; the cabin dial, north about 3l.; and four cutlasses—two guns were taken out of the cabin, and were found on the upper deck—two boxes of cigars, belonging to me were gone, and my boat also, which was worth thirty-two guineas, and was the only serviceable one belonging to the brig—I had not seen any of the prisoners at Cormantine—Powell was first mate officer of the Lemuel; the other two were seamen—the next day I went to Cape Coast Castle, and saw the prisoners in custody, and found the two chronometers, the gold-dust, and the cigars there.

Cross-examined by MR. CLARKSON.;Q.; How long has Powell been with. You? A. He sailed with me from Bristol on 27th Dec., 1847—I believe he has been giving himself up to drinking—I was not satisfied with him as a mate before this happened.

Cross-examined by MR. PARRY. Q.; Is Cormantine a town on the coast? A. A small African village—I was about twenty-two miles from there—at this time I had been not quite a fortnight anchored at Elmina—I anchored there on 28th July—I had received a bill of lading for a box of gold-dust before that, but did not receive it till I got to Elmina—my vessel had been trading on the  Gold Coast four or four months—she is a trading ship—we were off the  Gold Coast, looking for cargo—we purchase our own cargo—we sailed from England on 28th Dec, 1847, and were on the coast from February—I left the ship on 28th July, and was confined to my bed at Elmina till 6th Aug., and was away from the ship that time—the first mate is the next officer to me, and has sole charge of the ship when I am out of it, and tvery thing in it—Powell had only been chief mate that one voyage—I did not know him before—Price, the second mate, came to me because it was Powell's duty to stay on board during my absence—Powell had the same command that I had when I was on board—if any of the sailors had disobeyed him, they would have been guilty. of mutiny—I did not know Lewis before—I belive he is a very old sailor—by my articles he is between forty and fifty years old—I am twenty-six—I do not know how long Lewis has been at sea—he and Watts were sailors at the ordinary wages—I had only one boat on board, she was all to piees—the only serviceable one they took away—that is what we

call the gig—it is rather a stylish boat—the other had the bottom out—I had not given any orders to have it put in—my gig was the only boat we could put on water—we laid on the open sea, about a mile from the shore—we had eleven Europeans, and eleven Africans on board—I had been once to Cormantine, while on the coast, to take in Palm-oil—that was part of my cargo—we could jiet no water there, nothing but Palm-oil—I believe we were there two days—Powell was with me then—I left there on the evening of the 27th, and arrived at Elmina on the 28th—I was well then, and left the ship that evening, on business—I have been on the coast these nine years—Powell had not been there before to my knowledge—he is twenty-one years old on my articles—Cormantine is a much smaller place than Elmina—the chronometers are my personal property.

  THOMAS PRICE . I was second officer on board the Lemuel. Prom the 8th to the 10th Aug. I was entrusted with nine boxes, by Captain Vickerman—I took them by his directions, and locked them up in a locker in the cabin—they were safe the night before they were taken away, the 10th, I believe—I did not see them, but the locker they were in was all safe about six o'clock that evening—I locked them up myself—about half-past three, on the morning of the 11th, Powell roused me from my sleep—I got out of my berth, and he took hold of my hand, and bid me good-by, on the quarter-deck—I asked him where he was going; he made no answer—by the time I got to the gangway he was in the boat, which was lying alongside the ship—she had been shoved astern in the evening—Watts and Lewis were also in the boat—I saw the boxes about midship in the boat; I did not see anything else—I believe they were the boxes I had locked up; they were of a similar kind—the men were sitting on the thwarts forwards—I went to the forecastle, and called our people—I then called-out to Powell, and told him that he was very foolish in going away from the ship, and that he would be caught—I hallooed it out loud enough for him to hear—he said, "We have begun, and we must go through with it"—I heard one of them say they had no water in the boat, and one of them said it was no good to go back after that—they then went away to the leeward—I did not see them rowing; they drifted down with the current to the southward—there was no boat to follow them with—we had one, but it would not float—I afterwards went into the cabin, and found the locker bad been broken open, the boxes gone, and the chronometers, dial, and other articles—the panuel of the state-room door had been knocked out—I found a bayonet bent in the cabin, and the locker had been forced open—we had nothing to tell the time by—I gave a note for the captain to a krooman in a canoe—it was soon after daylight—tbe captain came on board about half-past nine the same morning.

Cross-examined by MR. CLARKSON. Q. You were about a mile off Elmina-harbour? A. About a mile, or a mile and a half, lying at anchor—I suppose we were in about seven fathoms of water—there was an American barque lying about two cables' length outside of us—we had got a speaking-trumpet on board—we spoke them, but did not get an answer—this is not the first time I have recollected that—I was examined on the coast of Africa—there had been a jollification on board over night; I do not know whether they were all drunk—I was not on deck to see them—I was not pretty drunk—I cannot say that Powell was thoroughly drunk; he was in liquor—several parties on board had been drinking while the captain was absent, but not all the company—Powell had given way to drinking—he was drunk the greater part of the time—I did not see whether they had or had not any victuals on board the boat—I heard them say they had no water—it was 3 small gig, about

thirty feet long—I had no opportunity of seeing whether they had taken any bread or biscuit from the vessel.

Cross-examined by MR. PARRY. Q. What time did you go to bed over night? A. About nine o'clock—I am quite sure it was not eleven—there were others beside me sober—I bad the watch on deck, and remained till nine; then I called another man, Scotcher, a seaman, who was perfectly sober—he is not here—we did not have a supper over night—what Price said was, "Good-by, I am going"—I cannot recollect exactly whether he said, "God bless you"'—I should get up at five in the ordinary course—we had no means of stopping the boat—Powell came to me alone—I did not see any other men on deck at the time—Scotcher would go below when his watch was over; that would be at ten—I had been to Cormantine before—we could get fresh water at Elmina—the captain had been absent from the vessel for ten or eleven days—he had been absent several times on business, while we were off the Coast, for five or six days at a time; at one time he was away for a fortnight—I was under Powell's orders—I had been on the Coast before, I believe Powell had not—I had never sailed with him before—we had eleven Kroomen on board, and eleven Europeans.

  BENJAMIN CATCHPOLE . I was master of the brig Tweed. On 11th Aug. last she was lying oft' the  Gold Coast of Africa, about twenty-four miles from the town of Elmina—I saw Powell and Watts come on board my vessel about eleven o'clock that night—Lewis iemained in the boat in which they had come—we lay beyond Cormantine—they had had to pass Cormantine about two miles—we were hing westward of Elmina, and eastward of Cormantine, off a place called Saltpond; that is beyond Cormantine, coming from Elmina—the coast in that part runs from X. W. to S. E.—I think I asked Powell where he was going, and he gave me to understand that he was going to Cormantine for things left behind by the ship—there was a high sea running that night, too much for landing—two of them remained on board all night, and the other in the boat—I saw the boat in the morning, and the three prisoners in it—they were pulling away from the ship, direct towards the shore—Cormantine was to the westward—in consequence of seeing that they did not go towards Cormantine, I went on shore, and made a communication to Mr. Swanzi, and in the middle of the day I saw the three prisoners in his custody.

Cross-examined by MR. PARRY. Q. I think you only spoke to Powell? A. I believe not—I had never seen the prisoners before, to my knowledge—I invited Powell down to my cabin, and we drank together—he might have been there half an hour—they started at half-past six o'clock next morning—Powell slept in my cabin that night, on the sofa—I had been oft the  Gold Coast about six weeks—I had no gold-dust on board—the gold-dust is got from the merchants—there are some native merchants correspondents of merchants in London—the prisoners could not have got on shore that night with safety—I had had no communication with the Lemuel before—I knew she was on the Coast, and was to sail—I had sent letters by her, and I had seen the captain on shore.

  ANDREW SWANZI . I am a merchant. On 12th Aug. I was residing at Anamaboo Fort, on the  Gold Coast, where I am Commandant—on 11th Aug. I received a communication from Captain Catchpole, and ordered my canoe out, and went with him on board the Tweed—I sent a man to the masthead, but the boat could rot be seen—I followed in the direction explained to me by Captain Catechpole, keeping at such a distance from the shore that I could see on shore. and also a good distance out at sea—I had a telescope

with me—I proceeded from west to east, in which direction the coast runs in that particular part, going away from Cormantine past it—that would be the way a boat would go to St. Thomas's—by means of my telescope I made out a boat lying off the surf at a safe distance from it, and two men in her—she was nearer to the shore than I was, and to the westward—I pulled in-shore immediately, in order that they might not suspect I was pursuing them, and when I got within forty yards of them they saw me—they pulled through the surf, and the surf took them in, and by some means they got on shore safely—they were Powell and Lewis—I pulled through the surf also, and landed about thirty yards from them—I found their boat pulled up on shore, and Powell and Lewis standing close to it, and Watts appeared immediately afterwards close to the boat—I did not see him at first—there were a great number of natives present, some of whom had a clothes-bag, which was rather heavy; they were pulling it away, it was afterwards found to be the bag in which the gold-dust was—another native had the chronometers, and two natives had two of the cutlasses—I said to the prisoners, "You are my prisoners"—one of them, I do not exactly know which, made a remark that the bag contained valuable property—I was entirely surrounded by the people, and expected to be attacked myself—I was not attacked—I am well known on the coast—I got possession of the bag, and afterwards found it contained the gold-dust—I did not examine it at the moment—it was in different-sized packages of different value—many of them were broken, and also a great quantity of gold-dust loose—I have recovered it all, with the exception of a few ounces—I had transmitted a portion of the gold-dust myself—the box has not been opened since it came to England—the seals of the Lieutenant-Governor of the  Gold Coast and of the Lord Mayor are on it—(the box was here opened)—here are three of the packages which I transmitted to my brother, and which he sent on board the Lemuel—I have the bill of lading—one of these packages is worth about 200l. (opening one)—when I first took the prisoners, one of them, I think Lewis, remarked that the mate's jacket was in possession of the natives—I recovered it, and it contained a small package of gold-dust—they were taken into custody, and an examination took place at Cape Coast Castle, and I saw the gold-dust and the other property produced—I have seen them since—they are the same that I recovered from the natives—I gave the boat, and all the articles captured, into the possession of the Judicial Assessor of Cape Coast Castle—he is the chief Magistrate on the coast—Mr. Vickerman saw them there in my presence.

Cross-examined by MR. PARRY. Q. How long was their boat ashore before you got ashore? A. Not more than two minutes—I did not know the prisoners at all—I had not had any communication from the Lemuel before this.

  GEORGE VICKERMAN re-examined. I saw two chronometers at Cape Coast Castle produced by Mr. Swanzi—they were mine—they are now at Bristol—I have seen the other property—it had all been left in my charge on board the vessel.

(John Collins, parish clerk of St. George's, near Bristol; Thomas Brooks, master mariner; James Cook, master mariner; and----Seeley, nurseryman, near Bristol, gave Powell an excellent character.)

POWELL GUILTY . Aged 22.— Transported for Seven Years. LEWIS GUILTY . Aged 54.—WATTS GUILTY , Aged 24.—Recommended to mercy by the Jury, being to a certain extent under the guidance of Powell.— Transported for Seven Years.