fair for the Portugal fleet, and the weather pleasant and agreeable,
we heard the signal given to unmoor, and running in under the island of
Si---, we hauled our mainsail and foresail up in the brails, lowered the
topsails upon the cap, and clewed them up, that we might lie as snug as
we could, expecting their coming out, and the next morning saw the whole
fleet come out accordingly, but not at all to our satisfaction, for they
consisted of twenty-six sail, and most of them ships of force, as well
as burthen, both merchantmen and men-of-war; so, seeing there was no
meddling, we lay still where we were also, till the fleet was out of
sight, and then stood off and on, in hopes of meeting with further
purchase.
It was not long before we saw a sail, and immediately gave her chase;
but she proved an excellent sailer, and, standing out to sea, we saw
plainly she trusted to her heels--that is to say, to her sails. However,
as we were a clean ship, we gained upon her, though slowly, and had we
had a day before us, we should certainly have come up with her; but it
grew dark apace, and in that case we knew we should lose sight of her.
Our merry Quaker, perceiving us to crowd still after her in the dark,
wherein we could not see which way she went, came very dryly to me.
"Friend Singleton," says he, "dost thee know what we are a-doing?" Says
I, "Yes; why, we are chasing yon ship, are we not?" "And how dost thou
know that?" says he, very gravely still. "Nay, that's true," says I
again; "we cannot be sure." "Yes, friend," says he, "I think we may be
sure that we are running away from her, not chasing her. I am afraid,"
adds he, "thou art turned Quaker, and hast resolved not to use the hand
of power, or art a coward, and art flying from thy enemy."
"What do you mean?" says I (I think I swore at him). "What do you sneer
at now? You have always one dry rub or another to give us."
"Nay," says he, "it is plain enough the ship stood off to sea due east,
on purpose to lose us, and thou mayest be sure her business does not
lie that way; for what should she do at the coast of Africa in this
latitude, which should be as far south as Congo or Angola? But as soon
as it is dark, that we would lose sight of her, she will tack and stand
away west again for the Brazil coast and for the bay, where thou knowest
she was going before; and are we not, then, running away from her? I
am greatly in hopes, friend," says the dry, gibing creature, "thou wilt
turn Quaker, for I see thou art not for fighting."
"Very well, William," says I; "then I shall make an excellent pirate."
However, William was in the right, and I apprehended what he meant
immediately; and Captain Wilmot, who lay very sick in his cabin,
overhearing us, understood him as well as I, and called out to me that
William was right, and it was our best way to change our course, and
stand away for the bay, where it was ten to one but we should snap her
in the morning.
Accordingly we went about-ship, got our larboard tacks on board, set the
top-gallant sails, and crowded for the bay of All Saints, where we came
to an anchor early in the morning, just out of gunshot of the forts;
we furled our sails with rope-yarns, that we might haul home the sheets
without going up to loose them, and, lowering our main and fore-yards,
looked just as if we had lain there a good while.
In two hours afterwards we saw our game standing in for the bay with all
the sail she could make, and she came innocently into our very mouths,
for we lay still till we saw her almost within gunshot, when, our
foremost gears being stretched fore and aft, we first ran up our yards,
and then hauled home the topsail sheets, the rope-yarns that furled them
giving way of themselves; the sails were set in a few minutes; at the
same time slipping our cable, we came upon her before she could get
under way upon the other tack. They were so surprised that they made
little or no resistance, but struck after the first broadside.
We were considering what to do with her, when William came to me. "Hark
thee, friend," says he, "thou hast made a fine piece of work of it
now, hast thou not, to borrow thy neighbour's ship here just at thy
neighbour's door, and never ask him leave? Now, dost thou not think
there are some men-of-war in the port? Thou hast given them the alarm
sufficiently; thou wilt have them upon thy back before night, depend
upon it, to ask thee wherefore thou didst so."
"Truly, William," said I, "for aught I know, that may be true; what,
then, shall we do next?" Says he, "Thou hast but two things to do:
either to go in and take all the rest, or else get thee gone before they
come out and take thee; for I see they are hoisting a topmast to yon
great ship, in order to put to sea immediately, and they won't be long
before they come to talk with thee, and what wilt thou say to them when
they ask thee why thou borrowedst their ship without leave?"
As William said, so it was. We could see by our glasses they were all
in a hurry, manning and fitting some sloops they had there, and a large
man-of-war, and it was plain they would soon be with us. But we were
not at a loss what to do; we found the ship we had taken was laden with
nothing considerable for our purpose, except some cocoa, some sugar, and
twenty barrels of flour; the rest of her cargo was hides; so we took
out all we thought fit for our turn, and, among the rest, all her
ammunition, great shot, and small-arms, and turned her off. We also took
a cable and three anchors she had, which were for our purpose, and some
of her sails. She had enough left just to carry her into port, and that
was all.
Having done this, we stood on upon the Brazil coast, southward, till we
came to the mouth of the river Janeiro. But as we had two days the wind
blowing hard at S.E. and S.S.E., we were obliged to come to an anchor
under a little island, and wait for a wind. In this time the Portuguese
had, it seems, given notice over land to the governor there, that a
pirate was upon the coast; so that, when we came in view of the port, we
saw two men-of-war riding just without the bar, whereof one, we found,
was getting under sail with all possible speed, having slipped her
cable on purpose to speak with us; the other was not so forward, but was
preparing to follow. In less than an hour they stood both fair after us,
with all the sail they could make.
Had not the night come on, William's words had been made good; they
would certainly have asked us the question what we did there, for we
found the foremost ship gained upon us, especially upon one tack, for we
plied away from them to windward; but in the dark losing sight of them,
we resolved to change our course and stand away directly for sea, not
doubting that we should lose them in the night.
Whether the Portuguese commander guessed we would do so or no, I know
not; but in the morning, when the daylight appeared, instead of having
lost him, we found him in chase of us about a league astern; only, to
our great good fortune, we could see but one of the two. However, this
one was a great ship, carried six-and-forty guns, and an admirable
sailer, as appeared by her outsailing us; for our ship was an excellent
sailer too, as I have said before.
When I found this, I easily saw there was no remedy, but we must engage;
and as we knew we could expect no quarter from those scoundrels the
Portuguese, a nation I had an original aversion to, I let Captain Wilmot
know how it was. The captain, sick as he was, jumped up in the cabin,
and would be led out upon the deck (for he was very weak) to see how it
was. "Well," says he, "we'll fight them!"
Our men were all in good heart before, but to see the captain so brisk,
who had lain ill of a calenture ten or eleven days, gave them double
courage, and they went all hands to work to make a clear ship and
be ready. William, the Quaker, comes to me with a kind of a smile.
"Friend," says he, "what does yon ship follow us for?" "Why," says I,
"to fight us, you may be sure." "Well," says he, "and will he come up
with us, dost thou think?" "Yes," said I, "you see she will." "Why,
then, friend," says the dry wretch, "why dost thou run from her still,
when thou seest she will overtake thee? Will it be better for us to be
overtaken farther off than here?" "Much as one for that," says I; "why,
what would you have us do?" "Do!" says he; "let us not give the poor man
more trouble than needs must; let us stay for him and hear what he has
to say to us." "He will talk to us in powder and ball," said I. "Very
well, then," says he, "if that be his country language, we must talk to
him in the same, must we not? or else how shall he understand us?" "Very
well, William," says I, "we understand you." And the captain, as ill as
he was, called to me, "William's right again," says he; "as good here
as a league farther." So he gives a word of command, "Haul up the
main-sail; we'll shorten sail for him."
Accordingly we shortened sail, and as we expected her upon our lee-side,
we being then upon our starboard tack, brought eighteen of our guns to
the larboard side, resolving to give him a broadside that should warm
him. It was about half-an-hour before he came up with us, all which
time we luffed up, that we might keep the wind of him, by which he was
obliged to run up under our lee, as we designed him; when we got him
upon our quarter, we edged down, and received the fire of five or six
of his guns. By this time you may be sure all our hands were at their
quarters, so we clapped our helm hard a-weather, let go the lee-braces
of the maintop sail, and laid it a-back, and so our ship fell athwart
the Portuguese ship's hawse; then we immediately poured in our
broadside, raking them fore and aft, and killed them a great many men.
The Portuguese, we could see, were in the utmost confusion; and not
being aware of our design, their ship having fresh way, ran their
bowsprit into the fore part of our main shrouds, as that they could
not easily get clear of us, and so we lay locked after that manner. The
enemy could not bring above five or six guns, besides their small-arms,
to bear upon us, while we played our whole broadside upon him.
In the middle of the heat of this fight, as I was very busy upon the
quarter-deck, the captain calls to me, for he never stirred from us,
"What the devil is friend William a-doing yonder?" says the captain;
"has he any business upon, deck?" I stepped forward, and there was
friend William, with two or three stout fellows, lashing the ship's
bowsprit fast to our mainmast, for fear they should get away from us;
and every now and then he pulled a bottle out of his pocket, and gave
the men a dram to encourage them. The shot flew about his ears as thick
as may be supposed in such an action, where the Portuguese, to give them
their due, fought very briskly, believing at first they were sure of
their game, and trusting to their superiority; but there was William, as
composed, and in as perfect tranquillity as to danger, as if he had been
over a bowl of punch, only very busy securing the matter, that a ship of
forty-six guns should not run away from a ship of eight-and-twenty.
This work was too hot to hold long; our men behaved bravely: our gunner,
a gallant man, shouted below, pouring in his shot at such a rate, that
the Portuguese began to slacken their fire; we had dismounted several of
their guns by firing in at their forecastle, and raking them, as I said,
fore and aft. Presently comes William up to me. "Friend," says he, very
calmly, "what dost thou mean? Why dost thou not visit thy neighbour in
the ship, the door being open for thee?" I understood him immediately,
for our guns had so torn their hull, that we had beat two port-holes
into one, and the bulk-head of their steerage was split to pieces, so
that they could not retire to their close quarters; so I gave the word
immediately to board them. Our second lieutenant, with about thirty men,
entered in an instant over the forecastle, followed by some more with
the boatswain, and cutting in pieces about twenty-five men that they
found upon the deck, and then throwing some grenadoes into the steerage,
they entered there also; upon which the Portuguese cried quarter
presently, and we mastered the ship, contrary indeed to our own
expectation; for we would have compounded with them if they would have
sheered off: but laying them athwart the hawse at first, and following
our fire furiously, without giving them any time to get clear of us and
work their ship; by this means, though they had six-and-forty guns, they
were not able to fight above five or six, as I said above, for we beat
them immediately from their guns in the forecastle, and killed them
abundance of men between decks, so that when we entered they had hardly
found men enough to fight us hand to hand upon their deck.
The surprise of joy to hear the Portuguese cry quarter, and see their
ancient struck, was so great to our captain, who, as I have said, was
reduced very weak with a high fever, that it gave him new life. Nature
conquered the distemper, and the fever abated that very night; so that
in two or three days he was sensibly better, his strength began to come,
and he was able to give his orders effectually in everything that was
material, and in about ten days was entirely well and about the ship.
In the meantime I took possession of the Portuguese man-of-war; and
Captain Wilmot made me, or rather I made myself, captain of her for
the present. About thirty of their seamen took service with us, some of
which were French, some Genoese; and we set the rest on shore the next
day on a little island on the coast of Brazil, except some wounded men,
who were not in a condition to be removed, and whom we were bound to
keep on board; but we had an occasion afterwards to dispose of them at
the Cape, where, at their own request, we set them on shore.
Captain Wilmot, as soon as the ship was taken, and the prisoners stowed,
was for standing in for the river Janeiro again, not doubting but we
should meet with the other man-of-war, who, not having been able to
find us, and having lost the company of her comrade, would certainly be
returned, and might be surprised by the ship we had taken, if we carried
Portuguese colours; and our men were all for it.
But our friend William gave us better counsel, for he came to me,
"Friend," says he, "I understand the captain is for sailing back to the
Rio Janeiro, in hopes to meet with the other ship that was in chase of
thee yesterday. Is it true, dost thou intend it?" "Why, yes," says I,
"William, pray why not?" "Nay," says he, "thou mayest do so if thou
wilt." "Well, I know that too, William," said I, "but the captain is a
man will be ruled by reason; what have you to say to it?" "Why," says
William gravely, "I only ask what is thy business, and the business
of all the people thou hast with thee? Is it not to get money?" "Yes,
William, it is so, in our honest way." "And wouldest thou," says he,
"rather have money without fighting, or fighting without money? I mean
which wouldest thou have by choice, suppose it to be left to thee?" "O
William," says I, "the first of the two, to be sure." "Why, then," says
he, "what great gain hast thou made of the prize thou hast taken now,
though it has cost the lives of thirteen of thy men, besides some hurt?
It is true thou hast got the ship and some prisoners; but thou wouldest
have had twice the booty in a merchant-ship, with not one quarter of the
fighting; and how dost thou know either what force or what number of
men may be in the other ship, and what loss thou mayest suffer, and what
gain it shall be to thee if thou take her? I think, indeed, thou mayest
much better let her alone."
"Why, William, it is true," said I, "and I'll go tell the captain what
your opinion is, and bring you word what he says." Accordingly in I went
to the captain and told him William's reasons; and the captain was of
his mind, that our business was indeed fighting when we could not help
it, but that our main affair was money, and that with as few blows as we
could. So that adventure was laid aside, and we stood along shore again
south for the river De la Plata, expecting some purchase thereabouts;
especially we had our eyes upon some of the Spanish ships from Buenos
Ayres, which are generally very rich in silver, and one such prize would
have done our business. We plied about here, in the latitude of ----
south, for near a month, and nothing offered; and here we began to
consult what we should do next, for we had come to no resolution yet.
Indeed, my design was always for the Cape de Bona Speranza, and so to
the East Indies. I had heard some flaming stories of Captain Avery,
and the fine things he had done in the Indies, which were doubled and
doubled, even ten thousand fold; and from taking a great prize in
the Bay of Bengal, where he took a lady, said to be the Great Mogul's
daughter, with a great quantity of jewels about her, we had a story told
us, that he took a Mogul ship, so the foolish sailors called it, laden
with diamonds.
I would fain have had friend William's advice whither we should go, but
he always put it off with some quaking quibble or other. In short,
he did not care for directing us neither; whether he made a piece of
conscience of it, or whether he did not care to venture having it come
against him afterwards or no, this I know not; but we concluded at last
without him.
We were, however, pretty long in resolving, and hankered about the Rio
de la Plata a long time. At last we spied a sail to windward, and it was
such a sail as I believe had not been seen in that part of the world a
great while. It wanted not that we should give it chase, for it stood
directly towards us, as well as they that steered could make it; and
even that was more accident of weather than anything else, for if the
wind had chopped about anywhere they must have gone with it. I leave any
man that is a sailor, or understands anything of a ship, to judge what
a figure this ship made when we first saw her, and what we could imagine
was the matter with her. Her maintop-mast was come by the board
about six foot above the cap, and fell forward, the head of the
topgallant-mast hanging in the fore-shrouds by the stay; at the same
time the parrel of the mizzen-topsail-yard by some accident giving way,
the mizzen-topsail-braces (the standing part of which being fast to the
main-topsail shrouds) brought the mizzen-topsail, yard and all, down
with it, which spread over part of the quarter-deck like an awning; the
fore-topsail was hoisted up two-thirds of the mast, but the sheets were
flown; the fore-yard was lowered down upon the forecastle, the sail
loose, and part of it hanging overboard. In this manner she came down
upon us with the wind quartering. In a word, the figure the whole ship
made was the most confounding to men that understood the sea that ever
was seen. She had no boat, neither had she any colours out.
When we came near to her, we fired a gun to bring her to. She took no
notice of it, nor of us, but came on just as she did before. We fired
again, but it was all one. At length we came within pistol-shot of one
another, but nobody answered nor appeared; so we began to think that
it was a ship gone ashore somewhere in distress, and the men having
forsaken her, the high tide had floated her off to sea. Coming nearer
to her, we ran up alongside of her so close that we could hear a noise
within her, and see the motion of several people through her ports.
Upon this we manned out two boats full of men, and very well armed, and
ordered them to board her at the same minute, as near as they could, and
to enter one at her fore-chains on the one side, and the other amidships
on the other side. As soon as they came to the ship's side, a surprising
multitude of black sailors, such as they were, appeared upon deck, and,
in short, terrified our men so much that the boat which was to enter her
men in the waist stood off again, and durst not board her; and the men
that entered out of the other boat, finding the first boat, as they
thought, beaten off, and seeing the ship full of men, jumped all back
again into their boat, and put off, not knowing what the matter was.
Upon this we prepared to pour in a broadside upon her; but our friend
William set us to rights again here; for it seems he guessed how it was
sooner than we did, and coming up to me (for it was our ship that came
up with her), "Friend," says he, "I am of opinion that thou art wrong
in this matter, and thy men have been wrong also in their conduct. I'll
tell thee how thou shalt take this ship, without making use of those
things called guns." "How can that be, William?" said I. "Why," said he,
"thou mayest take her with thy helm; thou seest they keep no steerage,
and thou seest the condition they are in; board her with thy ship upon
her lee quarter, and so enter her from the ship. I am persuaded thou
wilt take her without fighting, for there is some mischief has befallen
the ship, which we know nothing of."
In a word, it being a smooth sea, and little wind, I took his advice,
and laid her aboard. Immediately our men entered the ship, where we
found a large ship, with upwards of 600 negroes, men and women, boys and
girls, and not one Christian or white man on board.
I was struck with horror at the sight; for immediately I concluded, as
was partly the case, that these black devils had got loose, had murdered
all the white men, and thrown them into the sea; and I had no sooner
told my mind to the men, but the thought so enraged them that I had much
ado to keep my men from cutting them all in pieces. But William, with
many persuasions, prevailed upon them, by telling them that it was
nothing but what, if they were in the negroes' condition, they would
do if they could; and that the negroes had really the highest injustice
done them, to be sold for slaves without their consent; and that the
law of nature dictated it to them; that they ought not to kill them, and
that it would be wilful murder to do it.
This prevailed with them, and cooled their first heat; so they only
knocked down twenty or thirty of them, and the rest ran all down between
decks to their first places, believing, as we fancied, that we were
their first masters come again.
It was a most unaccountable difficulty we had next; for we could not
make them understand one word we said, nor could we understand one word
ourselves that they said. We endeavoured by signs to ask them whence
they came; but they could make nothing of it. We pointed to the great
cabin, to the round-house, to the cook-room, then to our faces, to ask
if they had no white men on board, and where they were gone; but they
could not understand what we meant. On the other hand, they pointed to
our boat and to their ship, asking questions as well as they could, and
said a thousand things, and expressed themselves with great earnestness;
but we could not understand a word of it all, or know what they meant by
any of their signs.
We knew very well they must have been taken on board the ship as slaves,
and that it must be by some European people too. We could easily see
that the ship was a Dutch-built ship, but very much altered, having been
built upon, and, as we supposed, in France; for we found two or three
French books on board, and afterwards we found clothes, linen, lace,
some old shoes, and several other things. We found among the provisions
some barrels of Irish beef, some Newfoundland fish, and several other
evidences that there had been Christians on board, but saw no remains of
them. We found not a sword, gun, pistol, or weapon of any kind, except
some cutlasses; and the negroes had hid them below where they lay. We
asked them what was become of all the small-arms, pointing to our own
and to the places where those belonging to the ship had hung. One of
the negroes understood me presently, and beckoned to me to come upon the
deck, where, taking my fuzee, which I never let go out of my hand for
some time after we had mastered the ship--I say, offering to take hold
of it, he made the proper motion of throwing it into the sea; by which
I understood, as I did afterwards, that they had thrown all the
small-arms, powder, shot, swords, &c., into the sea, believing, as I
supposed, those things would kill them, though the men were gone.
After we understood this we made no question but that the ship's crew,
having been surprised by these desperate rogues, had gone the same way,
and had been thrown overboard also. We looked all over the ship to
see if we could find any blood, and we thought we did perceive some in
several places; but the heat of the sun, melting the pitch and tar upon
the decks, made it impossible for us to discern it exactly, except in
the round-house, where we plainly saw that there had been much blood. We
found the scuttle open, by which we supposed that the captain and those
that were with him had made their retreat into the great cabin, or those
in the cabin had made their escape up into the round-house.