- description
- # Deposition Testimony
## Overview - What this is (type, form, dates, scope)
This is a subsection of text labeled "Deposition Testimony" extracted from a larger section titled "Deposition of Benito Cereno". It is part of the "Melville Complete Works" collection and was extracted from the file [the_piazza_tales.txt](arke:01KG89J1F4D8P9BBX9AMGZ7TX7) on January 30, 2026. The text spans lines 5318-5356 of the source file.
## Context - Background and provenance from related entities
This deposition is part of the "Deposition of Benito Cereno" section, which is contained within the larger file [the_piazza_tales.txt](arke:01KG89J1F4D8P9BBX9AMGZ7TX7). The file is part of the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection. The "Deposition of Benito Cereno" section also contains other subsections, including a preceding subsection and a following subsection titled "Deponent's Personal Statement".
## Contents - What it contains, key subjects and details
The testimony describes events aboard a ship, including the degradation of a clerk, the killing of Don Joaquin, and the discovery of a jewel intended for a shrine in Lima. It also details the actions of Captain Amasa Delano and the sailors after the capture of the ship, including the killing of shackled negroes. The deponent states that he cannot give a full account of all events due to the time the ship was in the hands of the negro Babo, but that the provided information is the truth.
- description_generated_at
- 2026-01-30T20:48:58.495Z
- description_model
- gemini-2.5-flash-lite
- description_title
- Deposition Testimony
- end_line
- 5356
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T20:48:08.105Z
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- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 5318
- text
- like Hermenegildo Gandix, the third clerk, was degraded to the office
and appearance of a common seaman; that upon one occasion when Don
Joaquin shrank, the negro Babo commanded the Ashantee Lecbe to take tar
and heat it, and pour it upon Don Joaquin’s hands; * * *—that Don
Joaquin was killed owing to another mistake of the Americans, but one
impossible to be avoided, as upon the approach of the boats, Don
Joaquin, with a hatchet tied edge out and upright to his hand, was made
by the negroes to appear on the bulwarks; whereupon, seen with arms in
his hands and in a questionable attitude, he was shot for a renegade
seaman; * * *—that on the person of Don Joaquin was found secreted a
jewel, which, by papers that were discovered, proved to have been meant
for the shrine of our Lady of Mercy in Lima; a votive offering,
beforehand prepared and guarded, to attest his gratitude, when he
should have landed in Peru, his last destination, for the safe
conclusion of his entire voyage from Spain; * * *—that the jewel, with
the other effects of the late Don Joaquin, is in the custody of the
brethren of the Hospital de Sacerdotes, awaiting the disposition of the
honorable court; * * *—that, owing to the condition of the deponent, as
well as the haste in which the boats departed for the attack, the
Americans were not forewarned that there were, among the apparent crew,
a passenger and one of the clerks disguised by the negro Babo; * *
*—that, beside the negroes killed in the action, some were killed after
the capture and re-anchoring at night, when shackled to the ring-bolts
on deck; that these deaths were committed by the sailors, ere they
could be prevented. That so soon as informed of it, Captain Amasa
Delano used all his authority, and, in particular with his own hand,
struck down Martinez Gola, who, having found a razor in the pocket of
an old jacket of his, which one of the shackled negroes had on, was
aiming it at the negro’s throat; that the noble Captain Amasa Delano
also wrenched from the hand of Bartholomew Barlo a dagger, secreted at
the time of the massacre of the whites, with which he was in the act of
stabbing a shackled negro, who, the same day, with another negro, had
thrown him down and jumped upon him; * * *—that, for all the events,
befalling through so long a time, during which the ship was in the
hands of the negro Babo, he cannot here give account; but that, what he
has said is the most substantial of what occurs to him at present, and
is the truth under the oath which he has taken; which declaration he
affirmed and ratified, after hearing it read to him.
- title
- Deposition Testimony