364 The Story of the New England Whalers 



called to save the ship, the two Africans jumped 

 into the sea. Lines were thrown to them, but 

 neither would accept the offer of help, and one of 

 them soon sank. The other was picked up by a 

 boat and brought on board, where he confessed 

 that he and the other negro had set fire to the 

 ship, because they believed they were to be 

 carried to America and sold as slaves. The 

 efforts to extinguish the flames proved vain. The 

 crew were driven to the boats, in which they 

 drifted without food for ten days before they 

 were picked up. In the meantime two of them 

 had died from starvation. 



