RETURN TO ENGLAND. 



291 



thence, I was afraid of being delayed some 

 months for a conveyance, therefore I thought it 

 better to take my passage in one of the ships 

 which were about to sail. I preferred the Brutus, 

 as I was intimate with the supercargo, a young 

 Portuguese. We set sail from St. Luiz on the 

 8th of April, in company of another British 

 ship ; but we were soon out of sight of each 

 other, owing to one vessel holding a better wind. 

 On the 18th we reached variable winds, in 

 lat. 22° N. Ion. 50° W. It is not usual to find 

 them so far to the southwards, therefore we 

 might consider ourselves remarkably fortunate. 

 We passed our time pleasantly, as the weather 

 was fine and the wind favourable. On the 7th 

 of May, the wind freshened, but we had a good 

 ship and plenty of sea-room. A wave struck the 

 stern and entered the cabin on the 8th in the 

 morning, setting every thing afloat ; this oc- 

 curred soon after we had risen. On the 9th we 

 discovered two vessels at a great distance a-head 

 and rather to windward, both of them were laying 

 to, but soon each appeared to stand on different 

 tacks. One proved to be an English brig loaded 

 with timber ; she was water-logged and about to 

 sink, and the latter was an American ship, which 

 had lain-to, and was in the act of assisting the 

 people in leaving her. If the brig had not been 

 loaded with timber she must have gone down 

 long before. As the American ship was bound 



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