1765_11_28_01_001_V

One of the people being interrogated gives his name as Bochom, his nation as Congo, his age as fifty-five years old, and his métier or craft as a tonnelier. I had to look up that word; it means barrel-maker. Here is a video from TVVendée that shows a contemporary tonnelier named Bernard making barrels in the Loire region of France: https://youtu.be/6_hRT21BUls

Bochom and his fellow travelers had a complot to leave the man who enslaved them in Jamaica, and Bochom named himself as "L'autheur du Complot" (as told by the notary and the interpreter). As part of this complot, Bochom and others "ils avoient ensemble traité avec un navire pour Les prendre" ("they had together negotiated that a ship would pick them up" and that's how they would travel to Cuba. But on the way they had trouble finding the ship (I think? I don't understand every word in this record) and their canoe or pirogue began filling with water. The notary says that the interpreter says that Bochom says they were "en danger de perir", or in danger of dying, until a ship called Le Baltimore picked them up.