fit for ourufe they fhould be bought. At their return, they,
informed me that all the ftores they had feén were rotten,
and unfit for ufe, except one pair o f tacks, which they
brought with th em: the malls, yards, and cables were all
dropping to pieces, and even the iron work was fo rufty that
it was worth nothing. They alfo went on board the Falmouth
to.examine h,er, hulk,-and.faundipsr in fo fhattereda
condition, that in their opinion fhe could not be kept together
during the next monfoon. Many o f her ports Wef e
walhed into one, the Hern-poll was quite decayed, and there
was noplace in her where a man could bé flickered from the
weather! The few people who belonged to her wére iii as
bad a Hate as their veftel, being quite broken and worn
down, and expedting to be drowned as foon as the monfoon
fhould fet in. .
Among other neceilarics, we" werè iii want of an anchor,
having loll two, and o f threp inch rope for founding the
' cables ; but the officers' whom I had fent to procure thefe
articles, reported, that the price which had been demanded
for them was fo exorbitant, that they had not agreed to give
Saturdays, it. On Saturday the yth, therefore, I went on fhore myfeljf,
for the firft time, and vifited the different ftprehöüfes and
arfenals, but found it impoffible to make a better bargain
than my officers. I fufpedled that the dealers took advantage
Of our apparent neceffity, and fuppofing that we could
not failwithout what we had offered to purchafe, determined
to extort from us more than four times its value. I was,
however, refolved to make any ffiift rather than fubmit to
what I thought a fhameful impofition, and therefore told
them that I Ihotild certainly fail on the next Tuëfday; that
i f they would agree to my terms in the mean time, I would
take the things I had treated for; i f not, that I would fail
without them.
Soon
Soon after I returned on board, I received a petition from
the Warrant-Officers of the Falmouth, reprefenting, that
there was nothing for them to look after: that the Gunner
had been long dead, and his ftores fpoiled, particularly the
powder, which, by order of the Dutch, had been thrown,
into the fea : that the boatfwain, by vexation and diftrefs,
had loft his fenfes, and was then a deplorable object in a
Dutch hofpital: that all his ftores had been long fpoiled and
rotten, the roof of the ftorehoufe having fallen in during a
wet monfoon, and left them expofed many months, all endeavours
to procure another place to put them in being ineffectual
: that the carpenter was in a dying condition, and
ÉÉ»
December.
Saturday 5.
the cook a wounded cripple. For thefe reafons, they re-
quefted that I would take them home, or at leaft difmifs
them from their charge. It was with the greateft regret and
compaffion that I told thefe unhappy people it was not in
my power to relieve them, and that as they had received
charge o f ftores, they muft wait orders from home. They
replied, that they had never received a fingle order from
England fince they had been left here, and earneftly in-
treated that I would make their diftrefs known, that it might
be relieved. They had, they faid, ten years pay due, in the
expectation of which they were grown old, and which now
they would be content to forfeit, and go home fweepers,
rather than continue to fuffer the miferies of their prefent
fituation, which were indeed very great. They were not
fuffered to fpend a fingle night on fhore, whatever was their
condition, and when they were fick, no one vifited them on
board; they were, befides, robbed by the Malays, and in
perpetual dread of being deftroyed by them, as they had
a fhort time before burnt the Siam prize. I allured them
that I would do my utmoft to procure them relief, and they
left me with tears in their eyes..
As
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