Madagascar; and that if they were cast away, stranded, taken, or whatever befel them, they should never rest till they got to Madagascar, if it was possible.

They all came most readily into this Proposal, for those who should go into the Sloop, but with this Alteration in them, (which was easy to be seen in their Countenances) viz. that from that Minute there was no striving who should go, but every Man was willing to stay where they

were: This was what I wanted, and I let it rest for two or three Days; when I took Occasion to tell them, that seeing they all were sensible that it was a very good Proposal to send the Sloop out to Sea, and see what they could do for us, I thought it was strange they should so generally shew themselves backward to the Service for fear of parting from their Money; I told them that no Man need be afraid, that the whole Body should agree to take his Money from him without any pretended Offence, much less when he should be Abroad for their Service: But however, as it was my Proposal, and I was always willing to hazard myself for the Good of them all, so I was ready to go on the Conditions I had propos’d to them for others, and I was not afraid to flatter myself with serving them so well Abroad, that they should not grudge to restore me my Share of Money when I came Home, and the like of all those that went with me.

This was so seasonably spoken, and humour’d so well, that it answer’d my Design effectually, and I was voted to go nemine contradicente; then I desir’d they would either draw Lots for who and who should go with me, or leave it in my absolute Choice to pick and cull my Men: They had for some Time agreed to the first; and forty Blanks were made for those to whose Lot it should come to draw a Blank to go in the Sloop; but then it was said, this might neither be a fair nor an effectual Choice; for Example, if the needful Number of Officers, and of particular Occupations, should not happen to be lotted out, the Sloop might be oblig’d to go out to Sea without a Surgeon, or without a Carpenter, or without a Cook, and the like: So, upon second Thoughts, it was left to me to name my Men; so I chose

me out forty stout Fellows, and among them several who were trusty bold Men, fit for any thing.

Being thus Mann’d, the Sloop rigg’d, and having clear’d her Bottom, and laid in Provisions enough for a long Voyage, we set Sail the 3d of January 1694, for the Cape of Good Hope. We very honestly left our Money, as I said, behind us, only that we had about the Value of 2000 Pound in Pieces of Eight allow’d us on Board for any Exigence that might happen at Sea.

We made no Stop at the Cape, or at St. Helena, tho’ we pass’d in Sight of it, but stood over to the Caribbee Islands directly, and made the Island of Tobago the 18th of February, where we took in fresh Water, which we stood in great Need of, as you may judge by the Length of the Voyage. We sought no Purchase, for I had fully convinc’d our Men, that our Business was not to appear, as we were used to be, upon the Cruise, but as Traders; and to that End I propos’d to go away to the Bay of Campeachy, and load Logwood, under the Pretence of selling of which we might go any where.

It is true, I had another Design here, which was to recover the Money which my Comrade and I had bury’d there; and having the Man on Board with me to whom I had communicated my Design, we found an Opportunity to come at our Money with Privacy enough, having so conceal’d it, as that it would have lain there to the general Conflagration, if we had not come for it our selves.

My next Resolution was to go for England, only that I had too many Men, and did not know

what to do with them: I told them we could never pretend to go with a Sloop loaden with Logwood to any Place, with 40 Men on Board, but we should be discover’d; but if they would resolve to put 15 or 16 Men on Shore as private Seamen, the rest might do well enough; and if they thought it hard to be set on Shore, I was content to be one, only that I thought it was very reasonable that whoever went on Shore should have some Money given them, and that all should agree to rendezvous in England, and so make the best of our Way thither, and there perhaps we might get a good Ship to go fetch off our Comrades and our Money. With this Resolution, sixteen of our Men had three hundred Pieces of Eight a Man given them, and they went off thus; the Sloop stood away North, thro’ the Gulph of Florida, keeping under the Shore of Carolina and Virginia; so our Men dropp’d off as if they had deserted the Ship; three of the sixteen run away there, five more went off at Virginia, three at New York, three at Road Island, and myself and one more at New England; and so the Sloop went away for England with the rest. I got all my Money on Shore with me, and conceal’d it as well as I could; some I got Bills for, some I bought Molosses with, and turn’d the rest into Gold; and dressing myself not as a common Sailor, but as a Master of a Ketch, which I had lost in the Bay of Campeachy, I got Passage on Board one Captain Guillame, a New England Captain, whose Owner was one Mr. Johnson a Merchant, living at Hackney, near London.

Being at London, it was but a very few Months before several of us met again, as I have said we agreed to do. And being true to our first Design of going back to our Comrades, we had several

close Conferences about the Manner and Figure in which we should make the Attempt, and we had some very great Difficulties appear’d in our Way: First, to have fitted up a small Vessel, it would be of no Service to us, but be the same Thing as the Sloop we came in; and if we pretended to a great Ship, our Money would not hold out; so we were quite at a Stand in our Councils what to do, or what Course to take, till at length our Money still wasting, we grew less able to execute any Thing we should project.

This made us all desperate; when as desperate Distempers call for desperate Cures, I started a Proposal which pleas’d them all, and this was, that I would endeavour among my Acquaintance, and with what Money I had left, (which was still sixteen or seventeen hundred Pound) to get the Command of a good Ship, bearing a quarter Part, or thereabout, myself; and so having gat into the Ship, and got a Freight, the rest of our Gang should all enter on Board as Seamen, and whatever Voyage we went, or wheresoever we were bound, we would run away with the Ship and all the Goods, and so go to our Friends as we had promis’d.

I made several Attempts of this Kind, and once bought a very good Ship, call’d, The Griffin, of one Snelgrove a Shipwright, and engag’d the Persons concern’d to hold a Share in her and fit her out, on a Voyage for Leghorn and Venice; when it was very probable the Cargo, to be shipp’d on Board casually by the Merchant, would be very rich; but Providence, and the good Fortune of the Owner prevented this Bargain, for without any Objection against me, or Discovery of my Design in the least, he told me afterwards his Wife had an ugly Dream

or two about the Ship; once, that it was set on Fire by Lightning, and he had lost all he had in it; another Time, that the Men had mutiny’d and conspir’d to kill him; and that his Wife was so averse to his being concern’d in it, that it had always been an unlucky Ship, and that therefore his Mind was chang’d; that he would sell the whole Ship, if I would, but he would not hold any Part of it himself.

Tho’ I was very much disappointed at this, yet I put a very good Face upon it, and told him, I was very glad to hear him tell me the Particulars of his Dissatisfaction; for if there was any Thing in Dreams, and his Wife’s Dream had any Signification at all, it seem’d to concern