82 
MOCHA 
of his requests, but said he would with the utmost expedition com- 
municate them to the Government of India. The apphcation had 
at his desire been made in writing, signed by the Sheriffe and 
Pacha, who were, I beHeve, not a Httle disconcerted by his answer. 
The delay will, I suspect, be fatal to them. Provisions were already 
so scarce at Jidda, that the Sheriffe could not supply the Fox; and 
as the Wahabees were in possession of the whole country, they 
could only be procured by sea. The Janisaries from Yambo and 
Cosseir had come down thither, the latter of which places the Ma- 
melukes had seized, who prudently sent away the Turkish soldiers ; 
for if the enemy intended starving them out, this increase of force will 
only hasten their ruin. Captain Vashon brought down a man to 
buy rice, but the quantity to be procured at Mocha is but small. 
1 proposed to Captain Vashon to let the Antelope return to India 
with his dispatches, as she was of no farther use to me; and I 
thought the sooner she was gone the better, as she was daily losing 
her men. He approved of my plan, and it was decided that I should 
resign my nominal command the next day, and that she should be 
ordered off as soon as our letters were finished. 
July 7. — Captain Vashon came on shore in the morning, to whom 
I communicated all that had passed. I wrote officially to give 
up the vessel, and notified the same to Captain Keys, at the same 
time requiring the assistance of the apprentice Thomas Smith, who 
had acted as my servant during the voyage. This he complied 
with ; and here ended all my connections with the Antelope. As I 
had much to represent to the Government at Bombay, which could 
not be done by letter, and, as I thought it advisable that no misre? 
presentations should go abroad previously to my arrival there, I 
