r, and I having few
friends, my business began to fail; for my conscience would not suffer
me to imitate the bad practice of too many among my brethren. Having
therefore consulted with my wife and some of my acquaintance, I
determined to go again to sea. I was surgeon successively in two
ships, and made several voyages, for six years, to the East and West
Indies, by which I got some addition to my fortune. My hours of
leisure I spent in reading the best authors, ancient and modern, being
always provided with a good number of books; and when I was ashore, in
observing the manners and dispositions of the people, as well as
learning their language, wherein I had a great facility, by the
strength of my memory.

The last of these voyages not proving very fortunate, I grew weary of
the sea, and intended to stay at home with my wife and family. I
removed from the Old Jewry to Fetter Lane, and from thence to Wapping,
hoping to get business among the sailors, but it would not turn to
account. After three years' expectation that things would mend, I
accepted an advantageous offer from Captain William Prichard, master
of the Antelope, who was making a voyage to the South Sea. We set sail
from Bristol, May 4, 1699, and our voyage at first was very
prosperous.

It would not be proper, for some reasons, to trouble the reader with
the particulars of our adventures in those seas; let it suffice to
inform him that in our passage from thence to the East Indies, we were
driven by a violent storm to the northwest of Van Diemen's Land. By an
observation, we found ourselves in the latitude of 30 degrees 2
minutes south. Twelve of our crew were dead by immoderate labor and
ill food; the rest were in a very weak condition. On the 5th of
November, which was the beginning of summer in those parts, the
weather being very hazy, the seamen spied a rock within half a cable's
length of the ship; but the wind was so strong that we were driven
directly upon it, and immediately split. Six of the crew, of whom I
was one, having let down the boat into the sea, made a shift to get
clear of the ship and the rock. We rowed, by my computation, about
three leagues, till we were able to work no longer, being already
spent with labor while we were in the ship. We therefore trusted
ourselves to the mercy of the waves, and in about half an hour the
boat was overset by a sudden flurry from the north. What became of my
companions in the boat, as well as of those