3-011-365 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Embarkation at Cape Coast Castle of the troops recalled from the Ashantee War, 1864. Engraving from a sketch by Dr. Eames of H.M.S. Gladiator, showing '...the harbour or roads of Cape Coast Castle...The transport-vessel which awaits the boats, in readiness to convey the soldiery from this unhealthy station, is escorted by the Gladiator and Rattlesnake ships of war. The town consists, except a few European houses, of straggling lines of mud huts, with clusters of palm-trees and tamarind-trees; but the fortress, which is large and well-built, standing on a rock close to the sea, is the most conspicuous feature in our View. On the summit of the hill behind is the lighthouse and fort erected by Governor Maclean, the husband of " L. E. L.; " and Fort Victoria stands upon another eminence. The population of this town is about ten thousand. It is the capital of the British possessions on the Gold Coast...As a place of trade for palm-oil, ivory, and gold-dust, it is of some importance, though its climate makes it a very undesirable residence for persons of English birth'. Cape Coast is one of about forty "slave castles", or large commercial forts, built on the Gold Coast of West Africa (now Ghana) by European traders. From "Illustrated London News", 1864.