Page:The American Slave Trade (Spears).djvu/247

 them. Then the British sailed away and the Wanderer slipped away up the Congo to the barracoons.

The owners of the Wanderer, besides Corrie, were Charles A. L. Lamar, of Savannah; N.C. Trowbridge, of New Orleans; Captain A.C. McGhee, of Columbus, Ga.; Richard Dickerson, of Richmond, Va., and Benjamin Davis, of Charleston, S.C. Captain McGhee, in an interview with a correspondent of the New York Sun, printed four or five years ago, said that the cargo purchased consisted chiefly of young negroes from thirteen to eighteen years of age, and that seven hundred and fifty were taken on board.

That she got clear of the slave-coast with a full load is beyond doubt. The exact date of her arrival on the Georgia coast is not known, but it was not far from December 2, 1858. The first mention of the matter in print is found in the Savannah Republican of December 11th of that year, wherein it is asserted that her cargo was landed "in the neighborhood of St. Andrews Sound, near Brunswick." and that "part of her cargo was subsequently sent up Saltilla River on board a steamer."

The Savannah Republican said a few days later that it had heard "that the slaves were landed on Jekyl Island, for which privilege, it is said, the negro traders paid $15,000, and that a steamboat from this city went down and brought one hundred and fifty of them past Savannah and up the river to a plantation from whence they were scattered over the country."

Captain McGhee tells how this was done:

"The most difficult part of the voyage was to get into port. The only way to enter the mouth of the Savannah River was under the black muzzles of the