16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
and a dozen African slaves, the property, if I
may use the word, of the pirates; they were
shut up below and they took no part in the
fighting. There is no question of their being
sold to increase our people's prize-money,
since the most influential men in our crew,
deeply religious men, are abolitionists, and
they carry the others with them.'
'Bless them.'
'Bless them indeed. But the Captain does not
like to turn the black men ashore; he fears
they may be taken up and reduced to servitude
again: and although he does not feel so
strongly about slaves as I do – it is one of the
few points on which we differ – he is of opinion
that having sailed for even so short a time
under the British flag they ipso facto became
free, and that it would be an injustice to deprive
them of their liberty. He would value
your advice.'