[Untitled], August 22, 1863.
[Untitled]
Joseph Wilson, cockswain of the cargo boat Cock of the Walk, states:
On Saturday last, the 15th August, Mr. Sarey, by whom I am employed, told me he wanted me to go that evening to the bark Ellesmere, and thence to Saldanha bay. About seven or eight o’clock that evening we cast off from the wharf and went alongside the Ellesmere and took four men from her. They were all black men; I think they were West Indians. We took a bag of bread and the men’s effects also. She then moved out, but afterwards brought up under the island on this side. We had also another person on board; he belongs to the volunteer artillery, and I think his name is Clarke; he is a short thick-set man; also Mr. Johnson, late captain of the Albatross.
On Sunday morning we again got under way, and tacked about all day without being able to get out, and came that night under the island. I saw the Lord of the Isles going out on Sunday. We were close to her, but I can positively assert that we held no communication with her. On Monday morning a SW. wind sprung up, and although not a favorable breeze, we got out with it, and continued our course towards Saldanha bay. We had very heavy weather. I have been a boatman here for about twelve years, but I have never seen such a heavy swell as we experienced on our way down. We arrived off the bay about four o’clock in the afternoon of Tuesday. We went into the bay. The Sea Bride was there, just at the mouth of the bay, but the swell afterwards took her, and the prize-master (an officer of the Alabama) then boarded us and took off Mr. Clarke, Mr. Johnson, and the four men from the Ellesmere. There may have been five men from the Ellesmere; I did not take particular notice of it, and they kept themselves very scarce on board the boat. The Alabama was not there, nor did I see her anywhere during the cruise. I saw a bark standing off and on outside, but I cannot say whether it was the Tuscaloosa. I saw no other vessel besides these and a couple of cutters coming down the coast, with the exception of the English man-of-war, which we met entering the bay just as we were coming out. This was about half-past ten o’clock yesterday (Thursday) morning. We passed her close to, but she did not hail us in any way.
I was on shore at Saldanha bay on Wednesday for about ten minutes, and again yesterday morning for a short time, but I did not see any strangers there.
The vessel I call the English man-of-war had two funnels painted yellow and was bark-rigged, and seemed to be coming from the Cape. When the men went on board the Sea Bride that vessel held on until the next morning, when she put out to sea and stood to the westward until we lost sight of her.
The Sea Bride was between two and two and a half miles from the Heads when the men were taken on board. When I say the swell took her into the bay, I mean that it fell calm, and that she steered for the passage to avoid going on the rocks.
JOSEPH WILSON.
Before me,