Captain Benito Cereno hurried aboard his ship. It was ready to sail. Abright sun in a soft breeze promised good weather ahead. The ship’sanchor was raised and the San Dominick, old but still seaworthy, movedslowly out of the harbor of Valparaiso on the west coast of Chile. Itwas carrying valuable products and slaves up the Pacific Coast toCallao, another Spanish colonial port near Lima Peru.
The slaves both male and female slept on deck. They were not chainedbecause their owner Don Alessandro said they were peaceful.
The San Dominick moved steadily forward under a clear sky. The weathershowed no sign of change. Day after day, the soft breeze kept the shipon course toward Peru.
Slave traffic between Spain’s colonial ports in this year of 1799 hadbeen steady. But there were few outbreaks of violence. What happenedtherefore on board the San Dominick could not have been expected.
On the seventh day out, before daybreak, the slaves rose up inrebellion. They swept through the ship with handspikes and hatchets,moving with the fury of desperate men. The attack was a completesurprise. Few of the crew were awake. All hands, except the twoofficers on the watch, lay in a deep, untroubled sleep. The rebelssprang upon the two officers and left them half dead.
Then, one by one, they killed 18 of the sleeping crew. They threw someoverboard, alive, a few hid and escaped death. The rebels tied upseven others but left them alive to navigate the ship.
As the day began to break, Captain Cereno came slowly, carefully upthe steps toward the chief rebel leader, Babo, and begged for mercy.
He promised to follow Babo’s commands if he would only put an end tothe killings. But this had no effect. Babo had three men brought up ondeck and tied, then the three Spaniards were thrown overboard. Babodid this to show his power and authority. That he was in command.
Babo, however, promised not to kill Captain Cereno. But everything hesaid carried a threat. He asked the captain if in these seas, therewere any Negro countries. "None." Cereno answered. "Then take us toSenegal or the neighboring island of St Nicolas."Captain Cereno was shaken. "That is impossible." He said, "It wouldmean going around Cape Horn. And this ship is in no condition for sucha voyage and we do not have enough supplies, or sails or water." "Takeus there anyway," Babo answered sharply, showing little interest insuch details. "If you refuse, we will kill every white man on board."Captain Cereno knew he had no choice. He told the rebel leader thatthe most serious problem in making such a long voyage was water. Babosaid they should sail to the island of St. Maria, near the southernend of Chile. He knew that no one lived on the island. But water andsupplies could be found there. He forced Captain Cereno to keep awayfrom any port. He threatened to kill him the moment he saw him startto move toward any city, town or settlement on shore.
Cereno had to agree to sail to the island of St. Maria. He still hopedthat he might meet along the way or at the island itself a ship thatcould help him. Perhaps, who knows, he might find a boat down theisland and be able to escape to the nearby coast of Arucal. Hope wasall he had left and that was getting smaller each day.
Captain Cereno steered south for St. Maria. The voyage would takeweeks. Eight days after the ship turned south, Babo told CaptainCereno that he was going to kill Don Alessandro, owner of the slaveson board. He said it had to be done. Otherwise he and the other slavescould never be sure of their freedom. He refused to listen to thecaptain's appeals and ordered two men to pull Don Alessandro up frombelow and kill him on deck. It was done as ordered. Three otherSpaniards were brought up and thrown overboard. Babo warned Cereno andthe other Spaniards that each one of them would go the same way if anyof them gave the smallest calls for suspicion.
Cereno decided to do everything possible to save the lives of thoseremaining. He agreed to carry the rebels safely to Senegal if theypromised peace and no further bloodshed. And he signed a document thatgave the rebels ownership of the ship and its cargo.
Later, as they sailed down along the coast of Chile, the wind suddenlydropped. The ship drifted into a deep calm. For days, it lay still inthe water. The heat was fierce, the suffering intense. There waslittle water that made matters worse. Some of those on board weredriven mad. A few died. The pressure and tension made many violent andthey killed a Spanish officer.
After a time, a breeze came up and set the ship free again and itcontinued south. The voyage seemed endless. The ship sailed for weekswith little water on board. It moved through days of good weather andperiods of bad weather. There were times when it sailed under heavyskies and times when the wind dropped and the ship lay becalmed inlifeless air. The crew seemed half dead.
At last, one evening in the month of August, the San Dominick reachedthe lonely island of St Maria. It moved slowly toward one of theisland’s bays to drop anchor. Not far off lay an American ship andthe sight of the ship caught the rebels by surprise.
The slaves became tense and fearful. They wanted to sail away quicklybut their leader Babo opposed such a move. Where could they go? Theirwater and food were low. He succeeded in bringing them under controland in quieting their fears. He told them they had nothing to fear.
And they believed him. Then he ordered everyone to go to work, toclean the decks and put the ship in proper and good condition so thatno visitor would suspect anything was wrong. Later he spoke to CaptainCereno, warning him that he would kill him if he did not do as he wastold. He explained in detail what Cenero was to do and say if anystranger came on board. He held a dagger in his hand, saying it wouldalways be ready for any emergency.
The American vessel was a large trade ship and seal hunter, commandedby Captain Amasa Delano. He had stopped at St. Maria for water. On theAmerican ship shortly after sunrise, an officer woke captain Delanoand told him a strange sail was coming into the bay. The captainquickly got up, dressed and went up on deck. Captain Delano raised hisspyglass and looked closely at the strange ship coming slowly in. Hewas surprised that there was no flag. A ship usually showed its flagwhen entering a harbor where another ship lay at anchor. As the shipgot closer, Captain Delano saw it was damaged. Many of its sails wereripped and torn, a mast was broken and the deck was in disorder.
Clearly, the ship was in trouble. The American captain decided to goto the strange vessel and offer help. He ordered his whaleboat putinto the water and had his men bring up some supplies and put them inthe boat. Then they set out toward the mystery ship.
As they approached, Captain Delano was shocked at the poor conditionof the ship. He wondered what could have happened and what he wouldfind.
That will be our story next week.
You have heard part one of the American story "Benito Cereno". It waswritten by Herman Melville. Your storyteller was Shep O’Neal. Listenagain next week at this time when we continue the American story"Benito Cereno" in VOA Special English. I’m Barbara Klian. |