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Three accounts of the revolution at Para, 1835 and related events including the capture of the brig Clio and the rescue of the only survivor by HMS Racehorse. (Ref HIS/34, formerly REC/18)

The following account is the narrative of the brig Clio’s only survivor Alex Paton and his escape from capture by pirates.

The Clio sailed from Liverpool for Para, Brazil, in 1835 (Para was then the only port of entry to the vast Amazon basin area). Her cargo included ‘musquets’, butter, dry goods, soap and porter ale. The crew of seven included George Reid (captain), James Boyd (mate) and Alex Paton (2nd mate).

On 30 September 1835 they anchored off Salinas, the pilot-station for ships sailing to Para. They were met by an American, John Priest, who explained (on the governor’s orders) that due to civil war activities all pilots had left the village. He then tried to strike a bargain with them by offering his services as a pilot in exchange for part of the Clio’s cargo. His motives, however, were apparently only to exploit the visitors.

Eventually, faced with the threat of armed piratical attack, Captain Reid confessed to having arms on board: literally, as they had ‘musquets’ but no gunpowder. On hearing this, three local men (‘Indians’) took the vessel up a creek to the east end of the town, the captain repeatedly trying to reassure his men that ‘they will not surely take our lives’. John Priest obviously had connections with the Governor and was using the situation to his own advantage, mediating with the locals to capitalize on these kinds of situations as they arose.

One night, four local men came while the crew were asleep, threatened them with knives and ‘musquets’, took them to a high cliff and attempted to open fire on them. Paton heard the ‘musquets’ snap and sparks flew. The Captain’s demise was fatefully caused by the fall of his hat: as he attempted to pick it up the ‘Indians’ struck him.

The next part of Paton’s tale tells of the escape of the rest of the crew. Paton and Lloyds escaped separately, and Paton describes how they ventured through woods, waiting for the tide to turn to cross channels. The two attempted to cross a particularly large river, but only Paton reached the other side; his friend had drowned. Later, he recalls resting in a tree while the tide rose all about him, only continuing when the tide had subsided.

After continuing for a long time on foot through difficult terrain, Paton met a young local woman who at first refused to give him water. She then relented, but afterwards ran away and alerted the local men near her house. They came and told Paton he must go into the woods with a man in a red shirt who carried a long knife. Paton refused and ran away into plantation land. More locals came in search of him, also carrying knives, but he survived and ran to the next village where he was finally caught.

The men who captured him took pity on him and allowed him to rest. They showed him a letter obviously taken from the Clio’s cargo and gave him some bottles of beer stolen from the ship but which they did not like: in Paton’s words ‘they could not drink it but spit it out of their mouths’.

Later on, he was sent to the Governor who informed Paton of the death of his remaining crewmates. Three of the four had been killed with knives and the fourth jumped overboard and drowned.

Paton was finally given a letter delivered by a fisherman from the Captain of the HMS Racehorse, Sir James Everard Home, detailing a chance of escape for the last survivor of the Clio. Paton escaped in the canoe mentioned in the letter and reached the HMS Racehorse at anchor off Vigia on 4th December 1835.

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