It was to our great Satisfaction that we found no Ships at all here, and we
resolv'd not by any Means to let the Governor on Shore know our Ship's
Name, or any of our Officers Names; and I believe our Men were very true to
one another in that Point, but they were not at all shy of letting them
know upon what Account we were, _&c._ so that if he could have gotten any
of us in his Power, as we were afterwards told he endeavour'd by two or
three Ambuscades to do, we should have pass'd our Time but very
indifferently; for which, when we went away, we let him know we would not
have fail'd to have beat his little Port about his Ears.
We stay'd no longer here than just serv'd to refresh ourselves, and supply
our Want of fresh Water; the Wind presenting fair, _Feb._ 2. 1692, we set
Sail, and (not to trouble my Story with the Particulars of the Voyage, in
which nothing remarkable occur'd) we doubled the Cape the 13th of _March_,
and passing on without coming to an Anchor, or discovering ourselves, we
made directly to the Island of _Madagascar_, where we arriv'd the 7th of
_April_; the Sloop, to our particular Satisfaction, keeping in Company all
the Way, and bearing the Sea as well as our Ship upon all Occasions.
To this Time I had met with nothing but good Fortune; Success answer'd
every Attempt, and follow'd every Undertaking, and we scarce knew what it
was to be disappointed; but we had an Interval of our Fortunes to meet with
in this Place: We arriv'd, as above, at the Island on the 13th of _March_,
but we did not care to make the South Part of the Island our Retreat; nor
was it a proper Place for our Business, which was to take Possession of a
private secure Place to make a Refuge of: So after staying some Time where
we put in, which was on the Point of Land a little to the South of Cape
St._ Augustine_, and taking in Water and Provisions there, we stood away to
the North, and keeping the Island in View, went on till we came to the
Latitude of 14 Degrees: Here we met with a very terrible Tornado, or
_Hurricane_, which, after we had beat the Sea as long as we could, oblig'd
us to run directly for the Shore to save our Lives as well as we could, in
Hopes of finding some Harbour or Bay where we might run in, or at least
might go into smooth Water till the Storm was over.
The Sloop was more put to it than we were in the great Ship, and being
oblig'd to run afore it, a little sooner than we did, she serv'd for a
Pilot-Boat to us which follow'd; in a Word, she run in under the Lee of a
great Head-land, which jetted far out into the Sea, and stood very high
also, and came to an Anchor in three Fathom and a half Water: We follow'd
her, but not with the same good Luck, tho' we came to an Anchor too, as we
thought, safe enough; but the Sea going very high, our Anchor came Home in
the Night, and we drove on Shore in the Dark among the Rocks, in spight of
all we were able to do.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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