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elf, and the Dutchman, would then have faced twenty
men. We had two cutlasses and a musquet, that I brought in the boat;
and, in this situation, we rowed alongside, and immediately boarded
her. I believe there were about forty hands on board; but how great
was our surprise, as soon as we got on board, to find that the major
part of them were in the same predicament as ourselves!

They belonged to a whaling schooner that was wrecked two days before
us about nine miles to the north of our vessel. When she was wrecked
some of them had taken to their boats and had left some of their
people and property on a key, in the same manner as we had done; and
were going, like us, to New Providence in quest of a ship, when they
met with this little sloop, called a wrecker; their employment in
those seas being to look after wrecks. They were then going to take
the remainder of the people belonging to the schooner; for which the
wrecker was to have all things belonging to the vessel, and likewise
their people's help to get what they could out of her, and were then
to carry the crew to New Providence.

We told the people of the wrecker the condition of our vessel, and we
made the same agreement with them as the schooner's people; and, on
their complying, we begged of them to go to our key directly, because
our people were in want of water. They agreed, therefore, to go along
with us first; and in two days we arrived at the key, to the
inexpressible joy of the people that we had left behind, as they had
been reduced to great extremities for want of water in our absence.
Luckily for us, the wrecker had now more people on board than she
could carry or victual for any moderate length of time; they therefore
hired the schooner's people to work on our wreck, and we left them our
boat, and embarked for New Providence.

Nothing could have been more fortunate than our meeting with this
wrecker, for New Providence was at such a distance that we never could
have reached it in our boat. The island of Abbico was much longer than
we expected; and it was not till after sailing for three or four days
that we got safe to the farther end of it, towards New Providence.
When we arrived there we watered, and got a good many lobsters and
other shellfish; which proved a great relief to us, as our provisions
and water were almost exhausted. We then proceeded on our voyage; but
the day after we left the island, late in the evening, and whilst we
were yet amongst the Bahama keys, we were overtaken by a violent gale
of wind, so that we were obliged to cut away the mast. The vessel was
very near foundering; for she parted from her anchors, and struck
several times on the shoals. Here we expected every minute that she
would have gone to pieces, and each moment to be our last; so much so
that my old captain and sickly useless mate, and several others,
fainted; and death stared us in the face on every side. All the
swearers on board now began to call on the God of Heaven to assist
them: and, sure enough, beyond our comprehension he did assist us, and
in a miraculous manner delivered us! In the very height of our
extremity the wind lulled for a few minutes; and, although the swell
was high beyond expression, two men, who were expert swimmers,
attempted to go to the buoy of the anchor, which we still saw on the
water, at some distance, in a little punt that belonged to the
wrecker, which was not large enough to carry more than two. She filled
different times in their endeavours to get into her alongside of our
vessel; and they saw nothing but death before them, as well as we; but
they said they might as well die that way as any other. A coil of very
small rope, with a little buoy, was put in along with them; and, at
last, with great hazard, they got the punt clear from the vessel; and
these two intrepid water heroes paddled away for life towards the buoy
of the anchor. The eyes of us all were fixed on them all the time,
expecting every minute to be their last: and the prayers of all those
that remained in their senses were offered up to God, on their behalf,
for a speedy deliverance; and for our own, which depended on them; and
he heard and answered us! These two men at last reached the buoy; and,
having fastened the punt to it, they tied one end of their rope to the
small buoy that they had in the punt, and sent it adrift towards the
vessel. We on board observing this threw out boat-hooks and leads
fastened to lines, in order to catch the buoy: at last we caught it,
and fastened a hawser to the end of the small rope; we then gave them
a sign to pull, and they pulled the hawser to them, and fastened it to
the buoy: which being done we hauled for our lives; and, through the
mercy of God, we got again from the shoals into deep water, and the
punt got safe to the vessel. It is impossible for any to conceive our
heartfelt joy at this second deliverance from ruin, but those who have
suffered the same hardships. Those whose strength and senses were gone
came to themselves, and were now as elated as they were before
depressed. Two days after this the wind ceased, and the water became
smooth. The punt then went on shore, and we cut down some trees; and
having found our mast and mended it we brought it on board, and fixed
it up. As soon as we had done this we got up the anchor, and away we
went once more for New Providence, which in three days more we reached
safe, after having been above three weeks in a situation in which we
did not expect to escape with life. The inhabitants here were very
kind to us; and, when they learned our situation, shewed us a great
deal of hospitality and friendship. Soon after this every one of my
old fellow-sufferers that were free parted from us, and shaped their
course where their inclination led them. One merchant, who had a large
sloop, seeing our condition, and knowing we wanted to go to Georgia,
told four of us that his vessel was going there; and, if we would work
on board and load her, he would give us our passage free. As we could
not get any wages whatever, and found it very hard to get off the
place, we were obliged to consent to his proposal; and we went on
board and helped to load the sloop, though we had only our victuals
allowed us. When she was entirely loaded he told us she was going to
Jamaica first, where we must go if we went in her. This, however, I
refused; but my fellow-sufferers not having any money to help
themselves with, necessity obliged them to accept of the offer, and to
steer that course, though they did not like it.

We stayed in New Providence about seventeen or eighteen days; during
which time I met with many friends, who gave me encouragement to stay
there with them: but I declined it; though, had not my heart been
fixed on England, I should have stayed, as I liked the place
extremely, and there were some free black people here who were very
happy, and we passed our time pleasantly together, with the melodious
sound of the catguts, under the lime and lemon trees

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