16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
since having been aboard an English ship they
are now, as I understand it, free men. Quite
how this squares with the slave-trade I cannot
tell, but that is how I understand the law.'
'Sure, you are right: there was that case in
Naples, where some slaves came aboard a
man-of-war and wrapped themselves in the
ensign. They were never given up. And in any
case Government abolished the trade in the
year seven. The law may be disobeyed; slavers
may still sail. But they do so illegally, since
Government certainly abolished the vile traffic.'
'Did they indeed? I was not aware. Where
were we in the year seven?' He pondered for a
while on the year seven, tracing back voyage
after voyage, and then he said, 'By the by, I
am sending in the Frenchmen who do not
choose to carry on with us and who are not
seamanlike enough for us to keep – I prom-