Herman Melville

Benito Cereno Herman Melville

Benito Cereno by Herman Melville A Classic Slave Insurrection Story Off the coast of Chile on one gray day in 1799, the sky filled with shadows "foreshadowing deeper shadows to come," captain Amasa Delano of the Bachelor's Delight, a Massachusetts sealer and trading ship, sees the Spanish vessel San Dominick in seeming distress. With some supplies he steps in his boat "The Rover" and boards the San Dominick, which carries a cargo of slaves, including women and children. He notes the figurehead, which is mostly concealed by a tarpaulin revealing only the inscription: "Follow your leaders and the fate of the slaves' master, Alexandro Aranda, who Cereno claims took fever aboard the ship and died. He sends his men back to bring more food and water, and stays aboard in the company of its Spanish captain, Don Benito Cereno and his Senegalese servant Babo who never leaves him alone. Don Benito