CAPTURED BY A FRENCH PRIVATEER. 421 twenty-six guns appeared, and crowded after us with all the sail they could make. In short, our captain exchanged a broadside or two with them, which was terrible work to me, for I had never seen such before, the Frenchman's guns having raked us, and killed and wounded six of our best men. In short, after a fight long enough to show us, that if we would not be taken we must resolve to sink by her side, for there was no room to expect deliverance, and a fight long enough to save the master's credit, we were taken, and the ship carried away to St. Maloes. I was not much concerned for the loss I had in the ship, because I knew I had sufficient in the world somewhere or other; but as I was effectually stripped of everything I had about me, and even almost my clothes from my back, I was in but a very indifferent condition; but somebody informing the captain of the privateer, that I was a passenger and a merchant, he called for me and inquired into my circumstances, and coming to hear from myself how I had been used, obliged the seamen to give me a ccat and hat, and a pair of shoes, which they had taken off me, and himself gave me a morning-gown of his own to wear while I was in his ship, and, to give him his due, treated me very well. I had, however, besides my being taken, the mortification to be detained on board the cruiser, and seeing the ship I was in manned with Frenchmen and sent away, as above, for St. Maloes; and this was a greater mortification to me afterwards, when, being brought into St. Maloes, I heard that our ship was re-taken in her passage to St. Maloes by an English man-of-war, and carried to Portsmouth. When our ship was sent away, the Rover cruised abroad again in the mouth of the Channel for some time, but met with no purchase; at last they made a sail, which proved to be one of their nation, and one of their own trade, from whom they learned, the news having been carried to England, that some French privateers lay off and on in the soundings, that three English men-of-war were come out from Plymouth, on purpose to cruise in the Channel, and that they would certainly meet with us. Upon this intelligence, the Frenchman, a bold brave fellow, far from shrinking from his work, steers away N.E. for St. George's Channel, and in the latitude of 48 degrees and a half, unhappily enough, meets with a large and rich English ship, bound home from Jamaica; it was in the grey of the morning, and very clear, when a man on the roundtop cried out, Au voile, a sail. I was in hopes indeed it had been the English manof-war, and, by the hurry and clutter they were in, to get all ready for a fight, I concluded it was so, and got out of my hammock, for I had no cabin to lie in, that I might see what it was; but I soon found that my hopes were in vain, and it was on the wrong side; for that being on our larboard bow, the ship lying then northward to make the coast of Ireland, by the time I was turned out, I could perceive they had all their sails bent and full, having begun to chase, and making great way. On the other hand, it was evident the ship saw them too, and knew what they were; and, to avoid them, stretched away with all the canvass they could lay on for the coast of Ireland, to run in there for harbour. Our privateer, it was plain, infinitely outsailed her, running two feet for her one, and towards evening came up with them. Had they been able to have held it but six hours longer, they would have got into Limerick river, or somewhere under shore, so that we should not have ventured upon them, but we came up with them, and the captain, when he saw there was no remedy, bravely brought to, and prepared to fight. She was a ship of thirty guns, but deep in the sea, cumbered between decks with goods, and could not run out her lower deck guns, the sea also going pretty high, though at last she ventured to open her gun-room ports, and fire with three guns on a side; but her worst fate was, she sailed heavy, being deep loaden, and the Frenchman had run up by her side, and poured in his broadside, and was soon ready again. However, as she was well manned too, and that the English sailors bestirred themselves, they gave us their broadsides too very nimbly and heartily, and I found the Frenchman had a great many men killed at the first brush, but the next was worse, for the English ship, though she did not sail so well as the Frenchman, was a bigger ship and strong built, and as we (the French) bore down upon them again, the English run boldly on board us, and laid thwart our hawse, lashing themselves fast to us. Then it was that the English captain run out his lower tier of guns, and indeed tore the Frenchman so, that, had he held it, the privateer would have had the worst of it. But THE PRIVATEER FIGHTS WITH AN ENGLISH SHIP. 423 the Frenchman, with admirable readiness indeed, and courage, the captain appearing everywhere with his sword in his hand, bestirred themselves, and loosing themselves from the English ship, thrusting her off with brooms, and pouring their small shot so thick, that the other could not appear upon deck. I say, clearing themselves thus, they came to lie a broadside of each other, when, by long firing, the English ship was at length disabled, her mizen-mast and bowsprit shot away, and, which was worst of all, her captain killed; so that, after a fight which held all night, for they fought in the dark, and part of the next day, they were obliged to strike. I was civilly desired by the French captain to go down into the hold while the fight held, and, besides the civility of it, I found he was not willing I should be upon deck; perhaps he thought I might have some opportunity to do hurt, though I knew not how it could be. However, I was very ready to go down, for I had no mind to be killed, especially by my own friends, so I went down and sat by the surgeon, and had the opportunity to find, that the first broadside the English fired, seven wounded men were brought down to the surgeon, and thirty-three more afterwards, that is to say, when the English lay thwart their bow, and after they cleared themselves there were about eleven more; so that they had fifty-one men wounded, and about twenty-two killed; the Englishman had eighteen men killed and wounded, among whom was the captain. The French captain however triumphed in this prize, for it was an exceeding rich ship, having abundance of silver on board; and after the ship was taken, and they had plundered all the great cabin afforded, which was very considerable, the mate promised the captain, that, if he would give him his liberty, he would discover six thousand pieces of eight to him privately, which none of the men should know of; the captain engaged, and gave it under his hand to set him at liberty as soon as he came on shore. Accordingly, in the night, after all was either turned in, as they call it, or employed on the duty of the watch, the captain and the mate of the prize went on board, and having faithfully discovered the money, which lay in a place made on purpose to conceal it, the captain resolved to let it lie till they arrived, and then he conveyed it on shore for his own use; so that the owners, nor the seamen, ever came to any share of it, which by the way was a fraud in the captain; but the mate paid his ransom by the discovery, and the captain gave him his liberty very punctually, as he had promised, and two hundred pieces of eight to carry him to England, and to make good his losses. When he had made this prize, the captain thought of nothing more than how to get safe to France with her, for she was a ship sufficient to enrich all his men and his owners also. The account of her cargo, by the captain's books, of which I took a copy, was in general: 260 hogsheads of sugar. 28 casks of pimento. 80 cwt. of elephants' teeth. 18,000 pieces of eight, besides the six thousand Several parcels of drugs, tortoiseshell, sweetmeats, called succades, chocolate, lime juice, and other things of considerable value. This was a terrible loss among the English merchants, and a noble booty for the rogues that took it; but as it was in open war, and by fair fighting, as they call it, there was no objection to be made against them, and, to give them their due, they fought bravely for it. LANDED AT BOURDEAUX. 425 CHAPTER XII. WE LAND AT BOURDEAUX, IN FRANCE-I GET RID OF MY CAPTAIN WITHOUT PAYING RANSOM, AND ARRIVE AT GHENT, WHERE I JOIN THE ARMY-PROCEEDINGS THERE -I ARRIVE IN LONDON, AND HEAR NEWS OF MAJOR JACK-I FALL IN LOVE-MY MISTRESS'S ARTS TO ENTRAP ME INTO MATRIMONY—I MARRY, AND REPENT IT. THE captain was not so bold as to meet the English men-ofwar before, but he was as wary now; for, having a prize of such value in his hands, he was resolved not to lose her again, if he could help it: so he stood away to the southward, and that so far, that I once thought he was resolved to go into the Straits, and home by Marseilles. But having sailed to the latitude of 45 degrees 45 minutes, or thereabouts, he steered away east, into the bottom of the Bay of Biscay, and carried us all into the river of Bourdeaux, where, on notice of his arrival with such a prize, his owners or principals, came overland to see him, and where they consulted what to do with her. The money they secured to be sure, and some of the cargo; but the ships sailed afterwards along the coast to St. Malo, taking the opportunity of some French men-of-war which were cruising on the coast, to be their convoy as far as Ushant. Here the captain rewarded and dismissed the English mate, as I have said, who got a passage from thence to Dieppe by sea, and after that into England, by the help of a passport, through Flanders to Ostend: the captain, it seems, the more willingly shipped him off, that he might not discover to others what he had discovered to him. I was now at Bourdeaux, in France, and the captain asked me one morning what I intended to do? I did not understand him at first, but he soon gave me to understand, that I was now either to be delivered up to the state as an English prisoner, and so be carried to Dinant, in Britanny, or to find means to have myself exchanged, or to pay my ransom, and this ransom he told me at first was three hundred crowns. I knew not what to do, but desired he would give me time to write to England to my friends; for that I had a cargo of |