NARRATIVE. 
CHAPTER I. 
Sailing of the ship Hercules from Sagar-roads in the 
province of Bengal. — Description of the tempest. — 
Dreadful situation of the ship. — Second mate and 
three men ordered into the long boat. — Raft pre- 
pared. — Carpenter and sailors address the captain. — 
Remarkable instance of prejudice and intrepidity in 
a Lascar. — The captain holds a consultation with his 
officers. — Determines, if possible, to run the ship on 
the eastern coast of Africa. 
The American ship Hercules which I 
commanded, and whose fate will be de- 
scribed in the succeeding Narrative, ar- 
rived at Bengal about the month of De- 
cember, 1795. My intention was to take 
in a private freight for Hamburgh; but 
not finding one that would answer my 
expectations, I chartered my ship to the 
British East India Company, who were at 
that time busily employed in shipping rice 
for England. Intelligence having reached 
D Q 
