The Sufferings and Escape of Capt. Chas. H. Brown From an Awful Imprisonment by Chilian ConvictsBrown, Charles H., captain of the bark Florida
History
The Sufferings and Escape of Capt. Chas. H. Brown From an Awful Imprisonment by Chilian Convicts
Brown, Charles H., captain of the bark Florida
Brown, Charles H., captain of the bark Florida; Florida (Ship); Punta Arenas (Chile) -- History
I never knew why Mr. Shaw was shot, but I have every reason to suppose
that what I was told of Cambiaso’s reply to his request for medical
advice was the truth. It would have been too much trouble to take care
of a sick man. The same fear of trouble probably decided the poor boy’s
fate. Why captain Talbot was executed, while I was reserved, is also a
mystery to me. I never saw captain Talbot, but from his mate’s remarks
about him, I felt that he was a man of some spirit and character.
Perhaps his high spirit led him to say things that exasperated
Cambiaso. He gave some expression of this spirit at the time he was
seized. Two officers (Chilians,) were handling him rather roughly, when
he indignantly told them they need not look so surly, and at the same
time drew a dirk knife from the waist of his pantaloons. But it was
immediately taken from him.
Mr. Shaw’s death was a great shock to me, and is still a matter of
deep grief. We had been friends for some time, and I had the highest
respect for him. He was indeed a young man of great promise, and his
loss to his family and friends is one which cannot easily be replaced.
I grieved for them, even there in my prison, while I expected each
day to be my last, and while I remembered the agony of my own family,
when the news of our sad fate should reach them; and now that a kind
Providence has restored me to them, I grieve to remember him who met so
cruel a death from such barbarous hands, on a desert and far distant
shore.
I was told by one of the men who came into my cell that morning,
that the bodies were to be left hanging until we had all seen them.
Accordingly, about one o’clock that afternoon, three of the prisoners
(I think they were captain Avalos, with the captain of the regular
troops, and Mr. Dunn,) were taken from their prison, their irons
knocked off, and, when they were unshackled, Cambiaso walked up to
them, and with much mock politeness asked them to accompany him for
a walk. They were in no situation to refuse, but accompanied him in
silence, followed by a file of soldiers as guard. He led them out of
the barracks, toward the vessels. As they passed under the trees on
which hung the bodies of Mr. Shaw, captain Talbot, and the young lad,
Cambiaso pointed to them, and laughing, said, “You see what happens to
such villains when they fall into my hands; it will be your turn next.”
After compelling them to pass round the tree, so as to view the bodies
from every side, he conducted them back to the barracks and to their
crowded prison.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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