fortune to me ten minutes before, proved the
only means for me to preserve my life; for if
I had been struggling in the water along with
my shipmates, I should have had no thought of
kicking my shoes off to preserve my life; for I
know, myself, that three men out of the four
that we saw struggling for their lives, had
heavy sea boots on, and they being full of
water caused them soon to go down; for the
mate told me himself afterwards that the
rocks being so slippery that he would never
have got up, if he had not hove his shoes
away; so, here we got on the top of the
rock, seeing our poor shipmates drowning
one after the other, and we were not
able to help them. But, as I said before
that it was near high-water when our second
misfortune happened; and we soon found
that as the tide ebbed, the water got a good
deal smoother, and me and the mate
considered it best for us to contrive to get nearer
to the island, from which we were about
three quarters of a mile. So we waited till
about half-past two o'clock, for the mate had
his watch in his pocket; and then we
contrived to get in shore, and a tiresome
job we had of it, for we had several places
to swim across; and the mate being an old
man, was very much fatigued, being wet and
cold such a long time—for a north-east wind
blows pretty cold in the month of March.
But, thanks be to God, we contrived to get to
the main island about six o'clock that evening,
and we both kneeled down to thank the
Almighty for his mercy to us.

And now, that through the mercy of the
Almighty we got safe landed, what to do next
was to be considered, for you may depend that
we both were hungry; and night coming on, and
in a strange place, where there are no roads to
direct you—for I had been upon the highest
rock that I could see near us, to see if I could
see anything of a house, or any signs of any
habitation; but I could not see anything:
so we resolved to try to get under the lee of
some rock, for we were still on the windward
part of the island. But before we left the
beach, I went to see if I could find any shell-
fish, for I felt hunger pinching me since I came
on shore, and, thanks be to God, I found
some; and I took them up to my partner in
distress, and we eat them; and afterwards we
went to look for some place to shelter us
from the wind and the weather; and after a
little time we found a place like a cave, under
the lee of a rock; and close by, I found a
small puddle of fresh water, which we wanted
very much, for we were very thirsty; and,
after returning thanks to the Almighty, we
laid ourselves down to sleep, and, thanks be
to God, I slept very well till the morning,
when my partner called me, for he was very
poorly, and could not stand upon his legs.
I felt very stiff when I first got up; but,
thanks be to God, I soon got pretty well
again. And now we resolved that, as my
partner was not able to move, I was to go
by myself to see if I could find anybody to
help me to bring my partner away, and to
get something to eat; for the old mate, as
luck would have it, had three shillings and
sixpence in his pocket, besides his watch;
the money he gave to me, and I parted from
him with a heavy heart, for I was afraid I
should never see him again alive, for he was
very bad; so away I went: and then I found
for the first time what it was to be alone in
a strange place. I had travelled, I suppose,
about two miles, when coming to an open
bay, where I saw some ships lying at an
anchor; and you may depend I was glad
enough at seeing them; and shortly afterwards
I had the pleasure of seeing some
houses, but I was still a good distance from
them; but I travelled on till I got pretty
near them, when I had the satisfaction of
seeing two men. I sung out to them as loud
as I could, for fear of losing them again;
but they heard me, and they came towards
me; and when I came to them I told them
my case, and they very kindly took me home
with them, and gave me something to eat and
to drink; and I told them of my poor old
partner that I had left in the cave, and I told
them what state I had left him in. I offered
them some money for what they gave me,
but they refused it; and as soon as I had
finished what they had given me to eat, they
took me to a man by the name of Mr. Gilbert,
who I found afterwards was the head man in
the place—and a very good man he was;—
and he sent three men along with me to fetch
my old partner from the cave, which after
a good deal of trouble we found; and glad
enough I was to find that he was alive: and,
after giving the old man something to eat
and to drink, we carried the old man to
Grimsby, for that was the name of the place
I had been to, where the people used us very
kindly; but my poor old partner got worse
and worse every day. Though Mr. Gilbert was
kind enough to send for a doctor to St. Mary's
for him, which is the head town in the island,
he died the sixth day after we were wrecked.
As for myself, thanks be to God, I got pretty
well in a few days; and after staying and
lending a hand to bury my old shipmate, I
shipped myself on board of a brig called the
"Hope," belonging to Bridgewater, which
was bound to London. But before I left Old
Grimsby, I told Mr. Gilbert where the owner
of the brig lived that I had been cast away
in, so that he might get paid for the trouble
and expenses he had been at during our stay
there; and as soon as the wind and weather
would permit, I sailed for London in my new
brig. The master of her was a very good
man, and we arrived in London the 17th day
of April. My new master liked me very
well, and he wrote to Mr. Ingelow in Boston,
about me, to let him know where I was;
and Mr. Ingelow having no ship that wanted
an apprentice, sent me my indentures and my
wages, after serving him five years out of