ST. HELENA 287 



VICE-ADMIRALTY COURT. 

 4th September, 1848. 



In the Vice- Admiralty Court of this Colony a case has been adjudi- 

 cated, which for some time past has been contested. From the 

 unusual number of persons present, on judgment being pronounced 

 by His Honour William Wilde, Esquire, the Judge of the Court, on 

 Monday last, the 4th inst., it seemed to have excited very general 

 interest. 



This was the case of a Brazilian schooner named the Bella Maria, 

 taken by Her Majesty's brigantine Kestrel, commanded by Lieut. 

 Baker, and sent to the Colony for adjudication, as engaged in the 

 slave trade. The vessel, by the affidavit of Mr. Winnicott, the 

 Prize Officer in charge, appeared to have been detained immediately 

 after she had left the harbour of Rio de Janeiro, at a distance of 

 about 14 miles from Santa Crux. She was fitted and provided with 

 all the equipments, etc., usually found on vessels engaged in the 

 transport of negroes from the African coast, having a slave-deck 

 laid, a larger number of shackles, rice, farina, beans, and jerked beef, 

 than could possibly have been requisite for the consumption of her 

 crew ; a number of mess tins and kids, large boilers and other articles 

 employed in that trade. A monition was therefore issued citing the 

 Master to appear and show cause why the vessel should not be 

 declared to be subject to forfeiture to her Majesty, upon which a 

 claim by the Master on behalf of the Owner, with an affidavit in 

 support thereof, was filed and Mr. Proctor N. Solomon was retained 

 to defend the vessel. The points on which the defence rested were 

 four : 



i st. That the vessel when taken was without the jurisdiction of 

 the Courts. 



andly. That the authority under which the Seizor acted was not 

 valid. 



3rdly. That the vessel was not charged with what alone she was 

 subject to confiscation for, that of being engaged in the African 

 Slave Trade ; and 



4thly. That she was not engaged therein. 



The first and last of these points were the only material ones, the 

 other two having been merely technical objections as to whether 

 the slave trade and the African slave trade were, in this case, to be 

 considered as one ; the treaty under which Brazilian vessels are 

 seized extending only to the African slave trade, whil ein the 

 authority given by the Admiralty to Lieut. Baker to seize, and the 

 charge made against the vessel, the word African was omitted. 



The Queen's Proctor, Mr. Knipe, conducted the suit on the part 

 of the Seizor. The following is a very brief and imperfect sketch of 

 the clear and elaborate judgment delivered by Judge Wilde on 

 decreeing the condemnation of the vessel. His Honour, after going 

 through the evidence contained in affidavits filed by the Counsel 

 on the day of final hearing, proceeded in the first instance to detail 

 the reasons which had induced him to decide that the Bella Maria 

 was engaged in the slave trade. This point he considered most 



