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Theophile Conneau at Galinhas and New Sestos, 1836–1841: A Comparison of the Sources

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2014

Adam Jones
Adam Jones*
Affiliation:
Centre of West African Studies, University of Birmingham
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Extract

The recent publication of the original manuscript of the autobiography of the slave trader Théodore Canot, alias Théophile Conneau, makes an important contribution to West African history. Previously historians have had to rely on the “improved” version by Brantz Mayer, published in 1854 and subsequently republished in several different forms and languages. The original manuscript is of far greater use; but we cannot altogether dispense with Mayer's book, since he obtained his information not only from Conneau's manuscript but from conversations with its author.

Unfortunately the editors of the original manuscript demonstrate little interest in African history, except as a theme for moral philosophy, and they ignore the considerable amount of research which has been conducted in order to verify particular aspects of Conneau's account. My aim here is to fill one of the gaps left by existing studies--the period between 1836 and 1841--and to assess the accuracy of Conneau's manuscript and Mayer's book for this period.

First, however, some information about Mayer's background is necessary. Born in Baltimore in 1809, he had by the time he met Conneau visited China, India, and Europe, and served as Secretary of the United States legation in Mexico for three years. But he never visited Africa and his interest in Africa must have been slight, for his huge library contained only two books relating to it. Like Conneau, he was an excellent linguist, fluent in Spanish and his father's native tongue, German. Whereas Conneau had received a fairly rudimentary education, Mayer had been taught by a private tutor and had studied law at the University of Maryland. In rewriting Conneau's autobiography, he took pains to demonstrate his knowledge of classical and contemporary literature, as well as of history.

Type
Research Article
Information
History in Africa , Volume 8 , 1981 , pp. 89 - 106
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1981

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References

NOTES

1. Conneau, Theophilus, A Slaver's Log Book, or 20 Years' Residence in Africa (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1976).Google Scholar Throughout his African career Conneau was know as Théodore Canot, but to avoid confusion I propose to use his original name, to which he reverted at the end of his life.

2. Mayer, Brantz, Captain Canot; or, Twenty Years of an African Slaver… (New York, 1854).Google Scholar Later editions are listed in Bouge, L.J., “Théophile Conneau alias Théodore Canot: négrier en Afrique, fonctionnaire en Nouvelle-Caledonie, 1804-1860,” Revue de I'Histoire des Colonies Françaises, 40(1953), 249–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

3. Ibid.; Debien, Gabriel, “Théodore Canot condamné comme négrier en 1854,” Revue Française d'Histoire d'Outre-Mer, 57(1970), 214–24CrossRefGoogle Scholar; idem, “Encore mon ami Canot, 1842-44,” Notes d'Histoire Coloniale, No. 152, Documents sur la traite (XVIe-XIXe siècles), Enquêtes et documents, 2(1973), 222-26; Pasquier, R., “A propos de Théodore Canot, négrier en Afrique,” Revue Française d'Histoire d'Outre-Mer, 55(1968), 352–54CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Holsoe, Svend E., “Theodore Canot at Cape Mount, 1841-1847,” Liberian Studies Journal, 4(1972), 163–81Google Scholar; Daget, Serge, “Encore Théodore Canot: quelques années de la vie d'un négrier et quelques questions,” Annales de l'Université d'Abidjan, Série I, 5(1977), 39–53 Google Scholar; Mouser, Bruce, “Captain Canot; or, retrieving value from the dubious,” paper presented at the Fourth Annual Conference on Liberian Studies, Western Michigan University, May 1972 Google Scholar; idem, “Theophilus Conneau: the Saga of a Tale,” History in Africa, 6(1979), 97-107.

4. Steiner, Bernard C., “Brantz Mayer,” Maryland Historical Magazine, 5 (March, 1910), 2–3.Google Scholar

5. Mayer, Brantz, Catalogue of a Choice Collection of Books (New York, 1870), 9, 21 Google Scholar, cited in Mouser, , “Conneau,” 105.Google Scholar

6. Steiner, , “Mayer,” 2–3.Google Scholar

7. Ibid., 8; Mayer, Brantz, History, Possessions and Prospects of the Maryland Historical Society: Inaugural Discourse of Brantz Mayer, as President of the Society (Baltimore, 1867), 6–7 Google Scholar; Cox, Joseph W., “The Origins of the Maryland Historical Society: a Case Study in Cultural Philanthropy,” Maryland Historical Magazine, 74(1979), 105.Google Scholar

8. Maryland Colonization Journal, passim; Campbell, Penelope, Maryland in Africa: the Maryland Colonization Society, 1831-1857 (Urbana, 1971), 70–91.Google Scholar

9. Maryland Colonization Journal, n.s. 1 No. 1 (15 June 1841).Google Scholar

10. Ibid., n.s. 1 No. 13 (15 June 1842).

11. Steiner, , “Mayer,” 6.Google Scholar McDonough himself had sent many of his slaves to Liberia during his lifetime: African Repository, 18(1842)Google Scholar, passim.

12. Baltimore American, 17 June 1862.

13. Maryland Colonization Journal, n.s. 7 No. 16 (September 1854).Google Scholar Mayer's statement that Hall became acquainted with Conneau “during his residence at Cape Mount” ( Mayer, , Canot, iii Google Scholar) is incorrect. They first met in 1836-37 and formed a closer acquaintance in 1840--before Conneau moved to Cape Mount.

14. Mayer, , Canot, vi–vii.Google Scholar

15. References to this campaign are to be found in the Maryland Colonization Journal and the African Repository throughout the 1840s and 1850s.

16. Debien, , “Théodore Canot,” 223–24.Google Scholar Cf. Conneau, , Log Book, 237–38Google Scholar; Mayer, , Canot, 314–15.Google Scholar

17. Conneau, , Log Book, 243 Google Scholar; Mayer, , Canot, 324.Google Scholar Conneau did not, as Mouser maintains, “stay away from the coast for several years”: Mouser, , “Conneau,” 98.Google Scholar

18. PP 1837 LIV (Class A), passim.

19. In 1841 he claimed to have been at Sierra Leone “in the latter part of 1835”: PP 1842 XLII 403 No. 57, F.O. 28 June 1841 to Admiralty Enc. 6, Seagram, 17 February 1841.

20. Conneau, , Log Book, 243 Google Scholar; Mayer, , Canot, 324.Google Scholar

21. Conneau, , Log Book, 246 Google Scholar; Mayer, , Canot, 327.Google Scholar

22. Mayer, , Canot, 325–6Google Scholar; Maryland Colonization Journal, n.s. 5 No. 7 (December 1849).Google Scholar

23. Mayer, , Canot, 326.Google Scholar

24. Africa's Luminary, 18 December 1840; Forbes, Frederick E., Six Months' Service in the African Blockade, From April to October 1848, in Command of H.M.S. Bonetta (London, 1849), 91.Google Scholar

25. I cite Parliamentary Papers rather than the original documents (FO 84 series), to indicate sources which Mayer would have been able to consult.

26. PP 1825 XXVII Class A Nos. 78, 96, Kilbee 4 September 1824 and 1 January 1825 to F.O.; PP 1826 XXIX Class A Nos. 48, 62, Kilbee 30 June 1825 and 20 October 1825 to F.O.; Royal Gazette and Sierra Leone Advertiser, 23 July 1825.

27. PP 1829 XXVI Class A No. 70, Kilbee and Macleay 1 January 1828 to F.O. See also: PP 1826-7 XXVI Class A No. 8, Williams 30 March 1826 to F.O.

28. PRO, FO 84/100, Macleay 21 July 1829 to Backhouse.

29. Mayer, , Canot, 327.Google Scholar

30. Ibid., 326-27.

31. Ibid., 327, 391; Conneau, , Log Book, 286.Google Scholar

32. Mayer, , Canot, 327–28.Google Scholar

33. PP 1849 LV 1127 No. 20, Kennedy 25 May 1848 to Forbes, F.O., Six Months, 91 Google Scholar, stated that Blanco was ruined by a law suit against Captain Denman. This is conceivable, as the verdict of the Denman case was announced in February 1848, just before the collapse of the house of Pedro Blanco & Co.

34. Mayer, , Canot, 328 Google Scholar; Maryland Colonization Journal, n.s. 5 No. 7 (December 1849).Google Scholar

35. Mayer, , Canot, 329 Google Scholar; Maryland Colonization Journal, n.s. 5 No. 7 (December 1849).Google Scholar

36. Mayer, , Canot, 329.Google Scholar

37. Ibid., 330; Conneau, , Log Book, 243.Google Scholar Whereas Conneau stated that he sold gunpowder to Don Pancho Ramón, Mayer gives the name as “Don José Ramon.” Conneau's version is confirmed by an independent source: PP 1837 LIV Class A No. 39, Lewis and Campbell 16 August 1836 to F.O.

38. Conneau, , Log Book, 247–48Google Scholar; Mayer, , Canot, 333–34.Google Scholar

39. Jones, Adam, “A History of the Galinhas Country, Sierra Leone, c. 1650-1890,” (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Birmingham, 1979), 196–99.Google Scholar

40. Conneau, , Log Book, 247 Google Scholar; Mayer, , Canot, 333 Google Scholar; PP 1834 XLIV 471 Class A No. 18, Smith and Macaulay 18 July 1833 to F.O.

41. Conneau, , Log Book, 248 Google Scholar; Mayer, , Canot, 333–34.Google Scholar Cf. Frobenius, Leo, Atlantis: Volksmärchen und Volksdichtungen, (12 vols.: Munich, 1921–1928), 6:171.Google Scholar

42. Conneau, , Log Book, 248.Google Scholar Cf. Mayer, , Canot, 334.Google Scholar

43. Liberia Herald, 23 December 1842.

44. Jones, Adam, “A Preliminary Investigation of Oral Traditions in the Galinhas Area of Sierra Leone” (typescript, 1978: copies deposited at the Centre of West African Studies, University of Birmingham, and Institute of African Studies, University of Sierra Leone).Google Scholar It is unlikely that traditions have been influenced by “feedback” from the newspaper reports or Mayer's book, since as far as I am aware these have never been easily accessible anywhere near Galinhas.

45. Madina was destroyed in about 1842, but its mud walls, ditches, and wells are still visible.

46. Interview with Sondufu Bangoma and Simana Rogers (Bangoma), 27 January 1978.

47. Conneau, , Log Book, 247.Google Scholar

48. Interviews with Mahamud Luseni Rogers (Nyanyahun), 24 November 1977; Alhaji Abu Mansare (Foindu), 22 November 1977; Easue Kooka (Koranko), 23 November 1977.

49. PRO, CO 267/164/11, Carr 27 May 1841 to SoS Enc. 1, Canot 30 April 1841.

50. Conneau, , Log Book, 249.Google Scholar

51. Ibid., 165, 312-15.

52. Huberich, Charles H., The Political and Legislative History of Liberia, (2 vols.: New York, 1947), 1:675.Google Scholar

53. Maryland Colonization Journal, 1 No. 21 (September 1838)Google Scholar and n.s. 7 No. 16 (September 1854).

54. PP 1839 XLIX 188 No. 14, Macaulay and Doherty 22 December 1838 to F.O. For the connection between Blanco and Conneau see PRO, FO 84/272, Macaulay and Doherty 15 November 1839 to F.O. Enc. 2, Blanco 28 March 1838. The two-story house which Conneau erected at New Sestos (Log Book, 252) was probably the “slave factory on the Grain Coast” illustrated in Bouët-Willaumez, Edouard, Description nautique des côtes de l'Afrique Occidentale comprise entre le Sénégal et l'Équateur (2nd ed., Paris, 1849), 179.Google Scholar

55. Conneau, , Log Book, 258–62Google Scholar; Mayer, , Canot, 344–55.Google Scholar

56. African Repository, XV, 4 (March 1839).Google Scholar Cf. ibid., XV, 15 (September 1839).

57. Africa's Luminary, 15 March 1839; 3 May 1839.

58. PRO, FO 84/272, Macaulay and Doherty 15 November 1839 to F.O.

59. Conneau, , Log Book, 266–69Google Scholar; Mayer, , Canot, 362–68.Google Scholar

60. PRO, ADM 51/3071, log of H.M.S. Bonetta. See also PP 1840 XLVI 265 No. 57, Macaulay and Doherty 14 January 1839 to F.O.

61. Conneau may have meant H.M.S. Brisk, which spent a few days near New Sestos in September 1838: PRO, ADM 51/3059; PP 1840 XLVI 265 No. 15, Macaulay and Doherty 31 December 1838 to F.O. A search of logs of other cruisers known to have been in the area has failed to throw light on Conneau's account.

62. Conneau, , Log Book, 270–73Google Scholar; Mayer, , Canot, 369–73.Google Scholar

63. Africa's Luminary, 3 May 1839; PRO, ADM 51/3071, log of the Bonetta, 25 January 1839; PRO, ADM 51/3446, log of the Saracen, 19 April - 9 May 1839; PP 1839 XLIX 191 No. 6, Palmerston 16 May 1839 to Clanricarde Enc. 2, Hill 11 February 1839; PP 1841 XXX 330 No. 51, Macaulay and Lewis 13 May 1839 to F.O.; PP 1841 XXX 333 No. 18, Palmerston 19 October 1840 to Brunnow. The Galupchik returned from Britain to Galinhas under a new name: PP 1842 XI p. 323, Macaulay 15 June 1842 and p. 447, Hill 27 June 1842.

64. Conneau, , Log Book, 274–75Google Scholar; Mayer, , Canot, 374.Google Scholar

65. PP 1841 XXX 330 No. 41, Macaulay and Lewis 11 July 1839 to F.O. This report gave the name of the Merced's captain as “Jozé Urresti”, a name later used by Conneau: Conneau, , Log Book, 293.Google Scholar

66. Huberich, , Liberia, 1:675.Google Scholar

67. Conneau, , Log Book, 279–82Google Scholar; Mayer, , Canot, 382–86Google Scholar; Holsoe, Svend E., “A Study of Relations Between Settlers and Indigenous Peoples in Western Liberia, 1821-1847,” African Historical Studies, 4(1971), 344, 349 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; African Repository, XIV, 8 (August 1838).Google Scholar An attack by the same chief was reported in the middle of 1836: Colonization Herald, 17 September 1836.

68. Conneau, , Log Book, 286 Google Scholar; Mayer, , Canot, 392 Google Scholar; Africa's Luminary, 19 July 1839.

69. Conneau, , Log Book, 286–87, 292 Google Scholar; Mayer, , Canot, 392–93, 396–97Google Scholar; PP 1842 XI pp. 145-48, Redman 13 May 1842.

70. Conneau, , Log Book, 293 Google Scholar; Mayer, , Canot, 397.Google Scholar Conneau's absence from New Sestos at this time in confirmed in African Repository, XVI, 12 (15 June 1840).Google Scholar

71. PRO, FO 84/272, Macaulay and Doherty 15 November 1839 to F.O.

72. PP 1840 XLVII 268 p. 94, papers of the Mary (1839).

73. Conneau, , Log Book, 294 Google Scholar; Mayer, , Canot, 397–98Google Scholar; African Repository, XVI, 12 (15 June 1840) and 18 (15 September 1840)Google Scholar; PP 1841 XXXI 300 No. 2, Denman 12 December 1840 to Jeremie.

74. African Repository, XVI, 18 (15 September 1840).Google Scholar

75. Monrovia, Liberia Government Archives, Colonial Agent's Correspondence, Buchanan 28 October 1839 to Wilkeson; Liberia Herald, 21 February 1840.

76. Conneau, , Log Book, 295–96Google Scholar; Mayer, , Canot, 399–400.Google Scholar See also African Repository, XVI, 18 (15 September 1840)Google Scholar; Africa's Luminary, 20 March 1840.

77. African Repository, XVI, 18 (15 September 1840).Google Scholar

78. Ibid.

79. Ibid., 299; Mayer, , Canot, 403 Google Scholar; Maryland Colonization Journal, n.s. 7 No. 16 (September 1854).Google Scholar Russwurm's purchase of the cutter is also mentioned in Campbell, , Maryland in Africa, 148.Google Scholar

80. African Repository, XVI, 18 (15 September 1840), letter dd 1 July 1840.Google Scholar

81. Conneau, , Log Book, 297 Google Scholar; Mayer, , Canot, 402.Google Scholar

82. African Repository, XVI, 5 (1 March 1840), letter dd 6 November 1839.Google Scholar

83. Conneau, , Log Book, 299–300 Google Scholar; Mayer, , Canot, 404–06.Google Scholar Conneau stated in 1841 that the Volador had once been the yacht of the Governor of Sierra Leone and had been purchased on Pedro Blanco's behalf as a slave vessel: PP 1842 XLII 403 No. 57, Palmerston 28 June 1841 to Aston Enc. 6, Seagram 17 February 1841.

84. PP 1841 XXX 330 No. 152, Kennedy and Dalrymple 24 October 1840 to F.O.

85. PRO CO 267/163/24, Jeremie 4 March 1841 to SoS Enc., Denman 1 January 1841.

86. PP 1842 XLII 402 No. 191, Kennedy and Dalrymple 25 October 1841 to F.O.

87. Conneau, , Log Book, 300–05Google Scholar; Mayer, , Canot, 405–08Google Scholar; PRO, CO 267/167, Admiralty 15 July 1841 to CO. Enc.

88. Conneau, , Log Book, 302 Google Scholar; Mayer, , Canot, 408 Google Scholar; PRO, CO 267/163/2, Jeremie 4 January 1841 to SoS Enc., Seagram 14 December 1840.

89. PRO, CO 267/166/5, Fergusson 24 September 1841 to SoS; Schramm, P.E., Deutschland und Übersee (Brunswick, 1950), 187–88.Google Scholar Nowhere did Conneau give the Prince's name. Mayer, presumably as a result of conversations with Conneau or someone else, gave it on one occasion as “Prince Freeman.” Documents written in the 1820s and in 1837 refer to a King Freeman of New Sestos, but Conneau's failure to use this name suggests that by about 1838 “Prince” may have been the ruler's personal name rather than his title: cf. African Repository, XVI, 18 (15 September 1840).Google Scholar There was certainly a chief near Little Bassa called Prince: African Repository, XXI, 7 (July 1845)Google Scholar, and XXIII, 10 (October 1847).

90. PP 1842 XI p. 430, Denman 24 June 1842. At the end of December 1840 Conneau and several Spaniards travelled from New Sestos to Galinhas, probably to transfer some of their property: Africa's Luminary, 1 January 1841.

91. Conneau, , Log Book, 302 Google Scholar; Mayer, , Canot, 409–10.Google Scholar

92. PP 1841 XXXI 300 No. 1, Doherty 7 December 1840 to SoS and enclosures.

93. African Repository, XVII, 6 (15 March 1841).Google Scholar

94. Conneau, , Log Book, 306–08Google Scholar; Mayer, , Canot, 411–13.Google Scholar

95. PP 1842 XLII 403 No. 57, Palmerston 28 June 1841 to Aston and enclosures.

96. PP 1840 XLVI 265 No. 47, Macaulay 8 April 1839 to F.O.; PRO, ADM 51/3184, log of the Forester, 12 March 1839.

97. PP 1843 LVIII 482 No. 100, Kennedy and Campbell 1 January 1842 to F.O. Another description of the Termagant's skirmish with the Gabriel appeared in Africa's Luminary, 5 March 1841. Conneau himself mentioned the departure of the Gabriel in a letter written two months later: PRO, CO 267/164/11, Carr 27 May 1841 to SoS Enc. 1, Canot 30 April 1841.

98. African Repository, XVII, 6 (15 March 1841), letter dd 13 December 1840.Google Scholar

99. Ibid., XVII, 13 (1 July 1841).

100. Maryland Colonization Journal, n.s. 1 No. 2 (15 July 1841).Google Scholar

101. PRO, CO 267/164/11, Carr 27 May 1841 to SoS Enc. 1, Canot 30 April 1841; CO 267/166/19, Fergusson 31 December 1841 to SoS Enc. 1, Canot 25 October 1841.

102. Conneau, , Log Book, 329 Google Scholar; Mayer, , Canot, 436.Google Scholar

103. African Repository, XVI, 18 (15 September 1840).Google Scholar

104. Liberia Herald, 29 April 1842, 21 January 1843, 28 December 1845; Africa's Luminary, 26 November 1845; African Repository, XIX, 1 (January 1843).Google Scholar

105. Bouge, , “Conneau,” 249.Google Scholar

106. Here I disagree with Mouser, , “Conneau,” 102–03.Google Scholar

107. Conneau, , Log Book, 321, 339–41, 342–43.Google Scholar