Trouble started aboard the “Hesperus” sailing ship from the time the ruthless 25 year-olds Henry Jacobs and his friend Charles James Wiltshire were appointed the only two interpreters for the mixed group of 167 pioneering Indians bound for British Guiana (B.G). Within hours, he and his counterpart implemented a “cruel” secret scheme to relieve the vulnerable passengers of dwindling meagre advances, leading to the first of several deaths and alarming abuses that would last for years.
Described in the files as “Christians,” the predatory pair of named “Protestants” were also directly hired as superintendents for B.G sugar estates by the India-based mercantile house and recruiting agent, Gillanders, Arbuthnot and Company. Gillanders organised the consignment and that of the preceding “Whitby” following instructions from the influential Scottish merchant, former British Member of Parliament (M.P) and slave-owner, John Gladstone.
Since both men had worked in a similar capacity in Mauritius, Jacobs from Westun’s Lane, in the city was contracted to the Vreed-en-Hoop estate, owned by Gladstone on January 27, 1838, while the six-footer Wiltshire came on a day earlier, assigned to Plantation Anna Regina inherited by the wealthy British brothers and Gladstone’s friends, Liverpool banker and railway investor John and attorney Henry Moss.
