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Eaft'India Company, who ^were at. that time 
bunly eraployed in fiiipping rice for Eng- 
land, Inteliif^Gnce havin<>: reacJicd the fee- 
llements in Iiidia^ that a failure of corn 
throiiOTOut the whole of Great-Britain was 
likely to produce a famine, the moft active 
and laudable exertions v/ere made in India 
to fappiy the markets at home vvith rice ; 
and I received on board upwards nine thou- 
jand-bags^ with direcllons to proceed to Lon- 
don with every poiiible difpatch. The crew^, 
tnoft of which I en^ar^ed in India, coniifted 
of Americans^ Danes^ Swedes^ Dutchy Poriu- 
giicje^ but chiefly Lafcars^ amounting in the 
whole, men and boys, to about fixty-four 
perfons* The neceffary arrangements for 
the voyage being completed, I failed from 
Sagar-roads on the 17th of March, 1796, 
Nothing: material occurred durins^ the 
voyage, until the firft of June following, at 
w^hich time we reached the Latitude of 
about 3 ^. South, and 28. 40. EaftLongitude. 
L: then began to blov/ a gale from the weft- 
ward, and which olj^liged us to lay too un- 
der our irdzen (iay fail for about fix days.™ 
During tMs time, the gale continued to 
blo%y from the Vv'eft, but increafed progref- 
fively until the feventh, v/hen, the conten- 
tions of the fea and winds prefented a fcene 
of horror ; which, perhaps, the annals of 
marine liiftory give us no example. Al- 
though bred to tiie fea froixi my earlicft iifev, 
yet all I had ever feen before, all I had 
cv^r heard of or read, c^ave me no adequate* 
DSI ' 
