In 1685, Thomas Phelps and Edward Baxter, Englishmen, accomplished their escape from captivity in Machiness, in Morocco. One of them had made a previous unsuccessful attempt, which drew upon him the punishment of the bastinado, disabling him from work for a twelvemonth; "but such was his love of Christian liberty, that he freely declared to his companion, that he would adventure with any fair opportunity." By devious paths, journeying in the darkness of night, and by day sheltering themselves from observation in bushes, or in the branches of fig trees, they at length reached the sea. With imminent risk of discovery, they succeeded in finding a boat, not far from Sallee. This they took without consulting the proprietor, and rowed to a ship at a distance, which, to their great joy, proved to be an English man-of-war. Making known to its commander the exposed situation of the Moorish ships, they formed part of an expedition in boats, which boarded and burned them, in the night. "One Moor," says the account, "we found aboard, who was presently cut in pieces; another was shot in the head, endeavoring to escape upon the cable; we were not long in taking in our shavings and tar barrels, and so set her on fire in several places, she being very apt to receive what we designed; for there were several barrels of tar upon deck, and she was newly tarred, as if on purpose. Whilst we were setting her on fire, we heard a noise of some people in the hold; we opened the scuttles, and thereby saved the lives of four Christians, three Dutchmen and one French, who told us the ship on fire was Admiral, and belonged to Aly-Hackum, and the other, which we soon after served with the same sauce, was the very ship which in October last took me captive." The Englishman, once a captive, who tells this story, says it is "most especially to move pity for the afflictions of Joseph, to excite compassionate regard to those poor countrymen now languishing in misery and irons, to endeavor their releasement."[74] [Footnote 74: Osborne's Voyages, vol. ii. pp. 497-510.]