They continued scudding all that Night under their bare Poles, the next Morning the Main-Mast being sprung in the Step, they were forced to cut it away, and, at the same time, the Mizzen came by the Board. These Misfortunes made the Ship ring with Blasphemy, which was encreased, when, by trying the Pumps, they found the Ship made a great Deal of Water; tho’ by continually plying them, it kept it from gaining upon them: The Sloop as well as the Ship, was left to the Mercy of the Winds, tho’ the former, not having a Tant-Mast, did not lose it. The Wind shifting round the Compass, made so outrageous and short a Sea, that they had little Hopes of Safety; it broke upon the Poop, drove in the Taveril, and wash'd the two Men away from the Wheel, who were saved in the Netting. The Wind after four Days and three Nights abated of its Fury, and fixed in the North, North East Point, hourly decreasing, and the Weather clearing up, so that they spoke to the Sloop, and resolv'd for the Coast of Carolina; they continued this Course but a Day and a Night, when the Wind coming about to the Southward, they changed their Resolution to that of going to Rhode Island. All this while the Whidaw's Leak continued, and it was as much as the Lee-Pump could do to keep the Water from gaining, tho’ it was kept continually going. Jury-Masts were set up, and the Carpenter finding the Leak to be in the Bows, occasioned by the Oakam spewing out of a Seam, the Crew became very jovial again; the Sloop received no other Damage than the Loss of the Main-Sail, which the first Flurry tore away from the Boom. In their Cruise off Rhode Island, the Beginning of April, they took a Sloop commanded by Capt. Beer, belonging to Boston, in the Lat. of South Carolina, 40 Leagues from Land; they put the said Captain on Board the Whidaw Commodore, while they rifled and plundered his Vessel, which Williams and Bellamy proposed returning to him, but the Crews being averse to it, they sunk her, and put the Captain ashore upon Block Island.
I can't pass by in Silence, Capt. Bellamy's Speech to Capt. Beer. D— n my Bl — d, says he, I am sorry they won't let you have your Sloop again, for I scorn to do any one a Mischief, when it is not for my Advantage; damn the Sloop, we must sink her, and she might be of Use to you. Tho’, damn ye, you are a sneaking Puppy, and so are all those who will submit to be governed by Laws which rich Men have made for their own Security, for the cowardly Whelps have not the Courage otherwise to defend what they get by their Knavery; but damn ye altogether: Damn them for a Pack of crafty Rascals, and you, who serve them, for a Parcel of hen-hearted Numskuls. They villify us, the Scoundrels do, when there is only this Difference, they rob the Poor under the Cover of Law, forsooth, and we plunder the Rich under the Protection of our own Courage; had you not better make One of us, than sneak after the A— s of these Villains for Employment? Capt. Beer told him, that his Conscience would not allow him to break thro’ the Laws of God and Man. You are a devilish Conscience Rascal, d — n ye, replied Bellamy, I am a free Prince, and I have as much Authority to make War on the whole World, as he who has a hundred Sail of Ships at Sea, and an Army of 100,000 Men in the Field; and this my Conscience tells me; but there is no arguing with such sniveling Puppies, who allow Superiors to kick them about Deck at Pleasure; and pin their Faith upon a Pimp of a Parson; a Squab, who neither practices nor believes what he puts upon the chuckle-headed Fools he preaches to. — The pyrates wanting neither Provision nor Water, and the Whidaw's Damage being repaired, they past their Time very jovially. One of the Crew had been a Stroler, a Fellow who had pass'd thro’ a great many real as well as fictitious Scenes of Life, the stroling Business not answering the Greatness of his Soul (as he expressed it) he thought it more profitable, and less fatiguing, to turn Collector. Accordingly in Yorkshire he borrowed an excellent Gelding, (I make Use of his own Terms) with a hunting Saddle and Bridle, and with a Case of Pocket Pistols, which he before had, he set out to seek Adventures, without taking Leave of his Company; he met, he said, with several Knights Errant, whom as they declined the Combat, he spoiled and sent to offer themselves at the Feet of his Dulcinea, but being under the Influence of some malicious Enchanter, who envied his glorious Fears of Arms, and fear'd they would eclipse by the Brightness of their Lustre, those of some favourite Knight whom he protected; or otherwise, knowing by his Skill, that he should one Day succumb under the Weight of his irresistable Arm, by his magical Power, threw him into a loathsome Dungeon loaded with Irons, whence the wise Man, who had Care of his Affairs, and was destined to write the History of his heroick Deeds delivered, and putting him on board a Ship, transported him to the famous Island of Jamaica; and after various Turns of Fortune, link'd him in Society with these Marine Heroes, the Scourge of Tyrants and Avarice, and the brave Asserters of Liberty.
This whimsical Fellow made a Play whilst he was on Board, which he called the Royal Pyrate; and this (which to see once would make a a Cynick laugh) was acted on the Quarter-Deck with great Applause, both of the Actors and Poet; but an Accident which turn'd the Farce into Tragedy, occasioned an Order of Council to forbid its being play'd a second Time. The Case was thus; Alexander the Great, environ'd by his Guards, was examining a Pyrate who was brought before him: The Gunner, who was drunk, took this to be in earnest, and that his Mess-Mate was in Danger, and hearing Alexander say,
Know'st thou that Death attends thy mighty Crimes, And thou shall'st hang to Morrow Morn betimes.
Swore by G— d he'd try that, and running into the Gun Room where he left three Companions over a Bowl of Rum Punch as drunk as himself, told them, they were going to hang honest Jack Spinckes; and if they suffered it, they should be all hang'd one after another, but by G— d, they should not hang him, for he'd clear the Decks; and taking a Grenade with a lighted Match, followed by his Comrades with their Cutlash, he set Fire to the Fuze and threw it among the Actors. The Audience was on the Gang Ways and Poop, and falling in with their Cutlash, poor Alexander had his left Arm cut off, and Jack Spinckes his Leg broke with the bursting of the Shell: The Ship was immediately in an Uproar, and the Aggressors seiz'd, who else would have made Havock with the Guards, or have been cut to Pieces by them, for they had all Cutlashes. Alexander the Great revenged the Loss of his Arm by the Death of him who deprived him of his Limb. The Gunner and two surviving Comrades were that Night clapp'd into Irons, and the next Day at a Court-Marshal, not only acquitted but applauded for their Zeal. Alexander and his Enemies were reconciled, and the Play forbad any more to be acted.
A Fortnight after the setting Capt. Beer ashore, Williams boarded and took a Vessel off Cape Cod, laden with Wine; the Crew of which encreased the Number of their Prisoners: They put seven Men on Board the Prize, with Orders to keep Company with the Ship and Sloop, commanded by
Bellamy and Williams, and left aboard her the Master.
As the Ship and Sloop had been long off the Carreen, they stretch'd away to the Northward, and made the best of their Way to Penobscott River, which lies between Nova Scotia and the Province of Main, where they designed to heave down. This Tract of Land is along the Coast about 190 Miles from West to East, reckoning from the Province of Main to St. Croix; and about 200 Miles over from North to South, counting from the River Quebeck to the Sea. King Charles the Second made a Grant of it in 1663, to his Royal Highness James Duke of York, who made a Settlement at Pemaquid; it abounds in all Sorts of Timber, and would bear excellent Hemp and Flax, and all Sorts of Naval Stores; is rich in Copper, Lead, and Iron Ore; and the Seas are stock'd with Whales, Cod, Sturgeon, Herrings, Mackrel, Salmon, Oysters, Cockles, &c. the Soil produces all Sort of European Grain and Fruits; and the Woods shelter a great Number of Deer, as Elks, Red and Fallow Deer, &c. and this Country, if settled, would certainly be of great Advantage to England. I hope the Reader will pardon this small Digression which the Interest I take in every Thing, which may tend to the enriching or extending the Dominions of our glorious Britain, my dearly loved Country, forced me into: But to return, when they were at the Mouth of this